Not usually an entry level job, the role of a Marketing Manager is to create, define, and develop the strategic marketing policy of a business.
The great news is that with ever-increasing technology, marketing is a booming business and is predicted to continue to increase throughout 2019, with managers attracting an average salary of around $120,000 per annum.
This is most often advertised with a need for both relevant experience in marketing and relevant qualifications.
A bachelor’s or master’s degree in Marketing or a master’s degree in Business Administration with a focus on Marketing are usually the preferred routes, followed by at least 3 years of multi-media marketing experience.
To achieve this position, you must have great IT skills, coupled with innovation, leadership, and persuasive communication – in other words, you must be able to get people to agree with you and follow your lead.
With the assistance of your sales or marketing team, you will be responsible for researching the marketplace and assessing the best opportunities for promoting and selling your business’s services or products.
You must ensure that the prices are set realistically with a view to maximum profitability and to ensuring that your company can be competitive.
As a manager, you will be responsible for the marketing budget and for recruiting, training, and developing all sales/marketing team staff.
This means you need great interpersonal skills, a sound head for business and numeracy, good research skills, a flair for market research and the ability to collate, analyze and present a wide range of statistical information.
Your resume must demonstrate exceptional leadership, ambition, and drive.
Median Pay
The 2019 median salary for Marketing Managers according to polling done by the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics was just over $123,000 per year, while salary aggregator Payscale put that figure quite a bit lower at around $86,676 per year.
There are bound to be large discrepancies, depending on who is polled and how they are polled. Additionally, the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics seems to consider Marketing Managers and Marketing Directors one in the same, whereas Payscale seems to consider them separate job titles.
Naturally, “Director” denotes a slightly higher level of superiority within a company; however, “Managers” can also be quite comprehensive and in the Bureau of Labor Statistics case, they include Advertising and Promotions both under the purvey of “Marketing Manager”, which sounds a little more like a director position as these separate marketing arms are often denoted as unique teams within larger companies.
Needless to day, annual salaries for Marketing Managers and Directors are well above the national average and can range from high (mid $80K figures) to outstanding ($190K+) for top level Directors.
Marketing is very much an industry in which reputation pays and if you are able to pull off successful campaigns that get attention from others in your industry, or win industry awards for your work, you can command a very comfortable salary package.
Industry Forecast
Job outlook for managerial marketing positions is quite positive with a growth rate of over 9% between 2014 and 2024.
To put this in perspective, the national average for all industries in America for the same time period is just 7%. Of particular strength are Marketing Managers, Digital Marketing Managers, Marketing, and PR and Sales managers.
Only managers who are strictly “Advertising and Promotions” are expected to grow at slightly slower-than-national average rate of 5%.
This is due to the fact that traditionally, many advertising and promotions-focused professionals worked strictly with print media such as magazines and newspapers, both of which are declining in readership, particularly newspapers.
The area that has seen the biggest growth is digital advertising and promotions which include everything from paid advertising (PPC) to things like email marketing campaigns, search engine optimization (SEO) and social media marketing (SMM).
As the world is ever increasingly digital and mobile oriented, managers with a digital background will be uniquely suited to capitalize on this booming segment of the larger marketing industry.
Titles and Classifications of Marketing Managers
Marketing Managers and Directors, by default, are supposed to manage large teams of professionals that span multiple aspects of multi-channel marketing. This includes everything from print advertorials to PR to social media and everything in between.
There are almost an infinite number of specialized marketers that focus on specific aspects of selling. Don’t believe us? Here is a list of 131 unique marketing job titles, each with it’s own unique area of focus.
Large companies may have multiple Marketing Managers and they can be categorized by either their medium (Print, Digital, TV/Radio) or by the geographical region they oversee, like a “Director of Marketing Asia-Pacific”, for example.
There may be a Marketing Director that works in headquarters with senior management to which all other Marketing Managers report. Managers sometimes also report directly to CEOs, although this is more common in smaller-sized businesses and startups.
In terms of job titles and avenues Marketing Managers can take, there are multiple, consisting of advancement to Sales & Marketing Director, Marketing Communications Director, Marketing & Business Development Director, Vice President (VP) of Marketing, Senior Vice President (SVP) of Marketing, and eventually, even Chief Marketing Officer (CMO).
Not all companies have all of the previously mentioned positions as it is not economical for small to mid-sized businesses to have such granular refinement in seniority.
Your specific title will depend a lot on where you prefer operating and what you excel most at. If exploring new channels and optimizing conversion rates are your strengths, you may fall into a more “sales” oriented managerial position.
Likewise, if you are more analytical in nature, have a knack for excel sheets, and are plugged into the company’s accounting office, something like VP of Marketing would be a good fit for you.
No matter what your speciality, to achieve “Manager” or “Director” status you need to not only excel at marketing, but also competently manage people, which are two very different yet equally important skills to have.
Marketing Resume Sample Download (MS Word Format)
Below is an example of a professionally written managerial level marketing resume you can download, sample, and print to have on hand to reference when crafting your own resume.
[tnc-pdf-viewer-iframe file=”https://copymyresume.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Marketing-Manager-Resume.pdf” width=”600″ height=”800″ download=”true” print=”true” fullscreen=”true” share=”true” zoom=”true” open=”true” pagenav=”true” logo=”true” find=”true” language=”en-US” page=”” default_zoom=”auto” pagemode=””]
How To Write Your Own
You have spent most of your life cleverly figuring out how to market other people’s products and services to the public, but when it comes times to market yourself, you may not know where to start.
Do not worry; it can be a little intimidating crafting your own resume from scratch as it is pretty much one long professional bragging list. Bragging about a company’s brand is at the core of a many successful MARCOM campaigns, but when it is time to look in the mirror, things can get a little more difficult.
First, understand what a resume is. The whole purpose of a well written resume is to capture the reader’s attention, which is done with a direct and impactful Career Objective (or Qualifications Summary if you are a senior level candidate) and descriptive, action-oriented experience, educational, and additional skills sections.
Note that the goal of the resume is not to actually land the job. Just like multi-phase marketing channels, job hunting should be planned in a logical series of steps. Very few HR professionals offer jobs after simply reading a resume.
The goal of the resume is to simply land an interview, where once in person, you actually have the opportunity to land another interview and then eventually the job itself.
The goal of the resume is akin to that of lead generation or lead capture. Most managers spend just a few seconds scanning through piles of resumes, so just like a strong call-to-action (CTA) is vital to digital marketing efforts, so is your resume to building a “lead” with the HR that could turn into an interview.
How do we pique a seasoned HR’s interest? The same way we pique consumer interest! Think about applying to the “7 P’s of Marketing” to yourself with yourself as the product.
Product: What do you offer? What are your core features that differentiate you from other similar products in your market segment?
Price: What’s your price? Know your salary expectations and apply to jobs with seniority levels that match those expectations.
Promotion: How will you promote yourself? Utilize your professional network, LinkedIn, even previous clients to share your availability and your laser targeted resume of course!
Place: How are you going to approach your job search? Have you contacted a recruiter or head hunter? Are you active on the top job boards like Indeed? What about online marketing forums and communities?
Packaging: This is all about presentation. Your resume “packaging” is relatively standardized with set margins, conservative fonts, and required information. Do not deviate. For interviews, your clothing, hair style, etc., are the packaging and the interviewers are the customers. Dress for success!
Positioning: You will never be the ONLY person applying for a position, at least not for a position worth having. How do you differentiate yourself from other applicants? What makes you unique, what valuable benefits will you bring to the company?
People: Are you writing personalized cover letters for each job you apply for? Are you addressing the recipient by his or her name instead of the impersonal and overused “Sir/Ms.”? Are you following up with emails in a timely and friendly manner?
Do not error by thinking potential employers are not noting your behavior every step of the way..as how you go the actual process of being hired can say a lot about your communication skills.
Once you begin seeing yourself as the product, everything should begin to fall into place. You want to describe your professional experiences in a detailed way that will speak to the reader.
You can do this by highlighting your most important achievements and your biggest projects.
You can further make these experiences jump off the page by numerically quantifying your achievements throughout the resume.
For example, stating budgets managed in dollar terms, increased customers base or users in percentage terms, team size managed; these all give scope to your achievements to the reader of your resume.
Try to stand out as an applicant. Do this by including experiences that pertain to whatever you may have specialized in in the past, from SEO achievements to killer PPC campaigns or a piece of content that went viral.
Likewise, use more flexible sections of the resume, like the additional skills section to share broad software knowledge, up-to-date Google Adwords certification or Google Analytics certifications.
State industry seminars you have attended and even top marketing blogs/communities you are active in. These will all help build a more clear picture of who you are as an applicant and how you can be differentiated from others competing for the same position.
Triple check your spelling and grammar, do some “user testing” and “QA” by giving your resume to friends or trustworthy colleagues to get a third party perspective and suggestions.
Finally, make sure you abide by the laws of resume writing, that means fitting your history to one page, whenever possible, unless you are a senior level candidate, in which you have earned a second page.
Be sure you are saving your final draft in PDF form so that when the reader (think consumer) gets it, everything is just the way you want it to appear.
Sample Bullet Points
Below is a selection of bullet points specifically designed to be compatible with marketing-oriented resumes. Of course, these bullet points are not your own, and thus should just be used as a reference. Customize them and mix in your own unique experiences to help stand out more as an applicant.
Useful Marketing Manager Bullet Points
| Identify, develop, or evaluate marketing strategy, based on knowledge of establishment objectives, market characteristics, and cost and markup factors. |
| Formulate, direct, or coordinate marketing activities or policies to promote products or services, working with advertising or promotion managers. |
| Evaluate the financial aspects of product development, such as budgets, expenditures, research and development appropriations, or return-on-investment and profit-loss projections. |
| Develop pricing strategies, balancing firm objectives and customer satisfaction. |
| Compile lists describing product or service offerings. |
| Direct the hiring, training, or performance evaluations of marketing or sales staff and oversee their daily activities. |
| Consult with product development personnel on product specifications such as design, color, or packaging. |
| Use sales forecasting or strategic planning to ensure the sale and profitability of products, lines, or services, analyzing business developments and monitoring market trends. |
| Negotiate contracts with vendors or distributors to manage product distribution, establishing distribution networks or developing distribution strategies. |
| Coordinate or participate in promotional activities or trade shows, working with developers, advertisers, or production managers, to market products or services. |
| Initiate market research studies or analyze their findings. |
| Confer with legal staff to resolve problems, such as copyright infringement or royalty sharing with outside producers or distributors. |
| Consult with buying personnel to gain advice regarding the types of products or services expected to be in demand. |
| Consult with buying personnel to gain advice regarding environmentally sound or sustainable products. |
| Conduct economic or commercial surveys to identify potential markets for products or services. |
| Recommend modifications to products, packaging, production processes, or other characteristics to improve the environmental soundness or sustainability of products. |
| Advise business or other groups on local, national, or international factors affecting the buying or selling of products or services. |
| Select products or accessories to be displayed at trade or special production shows. |
| Develop business cases for environmental marketing strategies. |
| Integrate environmental information into product or company marketing strategies, policies, or activities. |
Career Objective Writing
Career Objectives are like titles/pitches. They must be short, yet still clearly convey a message. If your name at the top of your resume is your brand, then think of your Career Objective as your tagline. When the reader of your resume finishes, they should think “Name+ objective” so that they will put your resume in the “interview” stack and not the trash can.
In one or two sentences, convey your experience level, your background/speciality, and the position you are seeking with the company. Experience and desired job… that is it!
Once these things match the position you are applying to, the reader will continue down the body of your resume, which does the heavy lifting of actually getting you an interview.
If you are a senior level candidate, that is someone with 15+ years of experience, you can forgo the Career Objective for a Professional Summary where you can use up to two or three sentences in combination with a few key bullet points (your hallmarks) to convey your extra years of experience.
While Career Objectives can only be used on reverse chronological resumes, the Professional Summary, or Professional Profile as it is sometimes called, can be used on a combination style resume.
Combination resumes list their experiences in reverse chronological order but often in less detail in exchange for a more detailed “Summary” at the top of the resume which can consist of 3-5 sentences and up to 6 select featured, more descriptive bullet points.
Useful Additional Skills & Certifications
Marketing Managers have to always stay up to date on the latest and greatest tools of the trade and the Additional Skills section is where you do that. It is here you will want to list not only soft skills like problem-solving, critical thinking, and conflict resolution skills, but also “hard” skills including coding, software, and other industry tools.
For example, including knowledge of Google Search Console & Google Analytics in addition to Adwords are critical bits of information to include on a digitally-oriented resume.
Likewise, someone in PR should have an understanding of popular PR providers such as Newswire and PRWeb. If your medium is video, you should state knowledge with Final Cut or other similar editing tools
Including project management suites such as Asana, Wrike, and Trello is always beneficial. Marketing tools like Hootsuite, Buffer or Mention are also useful.
Being active in marketing communities like Hubpages or Moz will also show you are passionate about your profession and actively try to keep up to date with the latest developments.
The Additional Skills section really is a place for marketers to shine, even if they are applying for a managerial level as while you may not be expected to use certain softwares or apps on a daily basis, a fundamental understanding of their function and how they are incorporated into a wholistic marketing effort is vital in directing a team of marketers carrying out a successful campaign.
