Marketing Manager Career Guide

Are you looking for a fast-paced and exciting career that is centered around creativity and productivity?

If yes, then look no further… you may thrive as a marketing manager! Marketing managers are the driving forces behind many of the print, television, and other types of marketing campaigns that you are surrounded by on a daily basis. They estimate the demand for products and services, and its competition and they identify potential markets.

Would you like to learn even more about this career path and how to become a marketing manager? Take a look at the career profiles below. We have interviewed actual marketing managers to help give you a better idea of what life really looks like for these individuals.

Marketing Manager Career Ratings

(What these ratings mean)

Income

Career
Growth

Personal Growth

Contribution

Influence

Job Profiles

Real-Life Marketing Manager Job Profiles

Below is a list of links to anonymous job profiles of REAL PEOPLE who have filled out our survey and offered to share their insights with our users about their job in the Marketing Manager field.

ID	Job Title	Gender	Age	Earnings	City & State	Date
33829	Marketing Manager	Female	28	$40,000	charlotte, NC	01/01/2010
33784	New Social Media Director	Male	28	$75,000	Washington, NY	01/01/2010
33758	Advertising Project Manager	Male	37	$85,000	Guttenberg, NY	01/01/2010
33740	Internet Marketing Coordinator	Male	34	$47,000	Denver, NY	01/01/2010
33701	Senior Marketing Manager	Female	56	$58,000	Los Angeles, CA	01/01/2010

Overview

What a sales manager actually does

Marketing managers are the driving forces behind many of the print, television, and other types of marketing campaigns that you are surrounded by on a daily basis. They estimate the demand for products and services, and its competition. They identify potential markets and develop strategies to help maximize profit. In their role as a ‘manager’, these professionals will also typically oversee a group of marketers who will implement all of the strategies and tactics that they decide upon as a team.

As well as being responsible for the success of the entire marketing team, marketing managers also have duties and responsibilities such as:

Working with department heads or staff to discuss marketing plans
Planing promotional campaigns (e.g., contests, coupons, or giveaways)
Evaluating the look and feel of websites used in campaigns or layouts
Initiating market research studies and analyzing the findings
Working to understand customer and market opportunities for businesses
Developing pricing strategies for products or services marketed to the target customers
Meeting with clients to provide marketing advice
Directing the hiring of marketing staff and overseeing their daily activities

Why they are needed

To successfully market different products, services, and brands there is never a ‘one size fits all’ way of thinking. The target market must first be identified, and then the marketing campaign must be tailored to best reach this audience in the most effective way. Would you market ketchup and baby dolls in the same way? We don’t think so!

Marketing managers have the special skills and training to think of these strategies. Therefore, they play a crucial role in helping a business to promote and sell its products. Essentially, if there were no marketing manager, then products would not be correctly promoted and business would not make a good profit.

Pros and cons of a career as a sales manager

Pros:

There is a high sense of job satisfaction as marketing managers play a huge role in ensuring that organizations are successful
Marketing managers have a great deal of responsibility and control over your decisions
It is a very important and well respected role
It is a flexible and diverse role
There are jobs available globally

Cons:

Like lots of jobs, there are some tedious and mundane tasks (e.g., paperwork and data entry)
Marketing managers are responsible for overseeing the entire sales team, so they may often face staffing challenges and conflicts
Marketing managers can often work long hours. They may also have to travel for work
It can be a stressful job as marketing managers are constantly under pressure to perform, and to ensure that their team performs

Employability

Job market

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the employment of marketing managers is projected to grow 7 percent from 2019 to 2029, which is faster than the average for all occupations. This employment growth is expected because marketing managers will continue to be needed to help organizations use marketing campaigns to maintain and expand their market share. Marketing managers are highly sought after because their advice on pricing strategies and finding new ways to reach clients in invaluable.

Career paths

To become a marketing manager, you will typically need a bachelor’s degree in marketing or a related field, such as promotions, advertising or business law. Some positions may only require a high school diploma and suitable work experiences, but in general those with bachelors degrees will have the best job prospects.

As well as a degree and/or a high school diploma, most marketing managers will need 1 to 5 years work experience in sales or a related occupation (e.g., marketing assistant, marketing executive or sales representative). In larger organization, marketing personnel can progress relatively quickly and are likely to get promoted to sales manager faster than in a smaller retail company.

Example Job Titles for Marketing Manager

Below is a list of common job titles in the Marketing Manager field. Click the links below for more information about these job titles, or view the next section for actual real-life job profiles.

Benefits & Conditions

Income and benefits

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median annual wage for marketing managers in the United States was $142,170 in 2020. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $74,620 per annum and the highest 10 percent earned more than $208,000.

The top paying industry was the professional, scientific and technical services ($150,840). This was followed by the finance and insurance industry ($150,280) and then management of companies and enterprises ($149,480), manufacturing ($143,800) and wholesale trade ($134,630).

Autonomy and Flexibility

Marketing managers have a lot of responsibility. They are responsible for budgets, compiling marketing campaigns, recruiting new team members, motivating the team and much more. They have a lot of control over many decisions and, as a result, marketing managers are likely to have high autonomy.

Marketing managers are likely to have set working hours and may have to work overtime. Therefore, it is unlikely that they will have flexibility over the hours they work. They are likely to, however, have flexibility over how they arrange their day and who they delegate tasks to.

Locations and commute

According to Zippia, the best states to be a marketing manager, based on average annual salary and the number of jobs available, are:

Washington, where the average annual salary is $103,774
North Carolina, where the average annual salary is $94,051
New York, where the average annual salary is $97,412
California, where the average annual salary is $97,058
Connecticut, where the average annual salary is $161,000

The worst states to be a retail manager, according to Zippia, are Alaska, Louisiana, Nebraska, Mississippi and Iowa.

Work environment

23% of marketing managers in the United States were employed by the professional, scientific and technical services industry. 14% were employed by the management of companies and enterprises industry, 10% by the finance and insurance industry, 9% by the manufacturing industry and a further 8% were employed by the wholesale trade.

Marketing managers will have a lot of responsibility and the position can be stressful, particularly near deadlines. Marketing managers may also have to travel nationally, regionally and locally to meet clients or media representatives.

Career Satisfaction

Common Matching Personality Types

Which personalities tend to succeed and thrive in Marketing Manager careers? Based on our research, there is a relatively strong positive correlation between the following personality types and Marketing Manager career satisfaction. This doesn’t mean that there aren’t many exceptions, of course, but if you fit into one of the following personality types then we suggest you give strong consideration to a career in Marketing Manager.

16 Types (Myers-Briggs)

ENTJ
ESTJ

Big Five (OCEAN)

Openness

DISC

Enneagram

Holland Codes (RIASEC)

Personality types

It is likely that successful retail managers will be an ENTJ personality type. The ENTJ is decisive, confident and firm. They tend to rise to positions of responsibility, due to their devoted and ambitious nature, which is why they are often well suited to a marketing manager position. ENTJ’s are also capable of working tirelessly to achieve goals and are strategic leaders. All of these qualities are suited to a marketing manager, who is in charge of a team and must be focused on increasing the companies sales and productivity.

Accomplishment and mastery

Typically, marketing managers must first achieve a bachelor’s degree and then progress to a management positions through hard work, dedication and graft. Therefore, when a marketing manager finally secures a sales management role, they will feel a huge sense of accomplishment and skill mastery. Furthermore, throughout their career, marketing managers will be constantly motivate their team to produce excellent marketing campaigns. Each time a marketing team produced a successful campaign, they marketing manager will feel a further sense of accomplishment.

Meaning and contribution

Although marketing managers can’t single handedly save the lives of thousands of children, they do play a very important role in many businesses. They work to ensure that products are marketed correctly. They ensure their work has high meaning and contribution to the economy, customers and employees.

Life fit

Most marketing managers will work full time. Due to the busy nature of their job, they may also work additional hours in the evenings and weekends. Therefore, it is a busy career that can sometimes provide a difficult life fit.

Who will thrive in this career?

You will thrive as a marketing manager if:

You are confident interacting with others and with leading teams (large or small)
You are able to effectively delegate tasks
You are imaginative and creative
You are productivity focused
To be able to correctly train others
You are incredibly organized, as well as decisive and confident

Who will struggle in this career?

There are some things that might mean you will struggle as a marketing manager, such as:

Not being authoritative or confident when leading a team
Having no imagination and creativity
Not being able to confidently make decisions
Those who are not willing to put in the hard work

Requirements

Quick Glance

Skills

Degrees

Skills and talents

As well as adequate experience in the field, marketing managers will need skills and talents such as:

Verbal communication skills, as marketing managers will communicate clearly with their team
Leadership skills, are marketing managers are responsible for overseeing teams and are responsible for motivating them
Analytical skills, as marketing managers need to evaluate industry trends and determine the most promising strategy
Creativity, as marketing managers must be able to generate new and imaginative ideas

Education

Most marketing manager positions require a bachelors degree in a related field (e.g., marketing, law or business management). In general those with bachelors degrees will have the best job prospects. On top of this, marketing managers will then need 1 to 5 years work experience in relevant roles (e.g., marketing assistants or sales representatives).

Certifications

There are no specific certification requirements to become a marketing manager.

How to Become

Summary

A career as a marketing manager is fast-paced, exciting and high-pressured, that is centered around creativity and producing high-quality campaigns. They are the driving forces behind many of the print, television, and other types of marketing campaigns that you are surrounded by on a daily basis. They estimate the demand for products and services, and its competition and they identify potential markets.

Immediate action

If becoming a marketing manager sounds like the career for you, then we recommend deciding what relevant degree most appeals to you. We then recommend seeking out some relevant work experience in marketing, for example as a marketing assistant.

Education and learning

Some marketing manager positions may only require a high school diploma and relevant work experience. However, many positions require a bachelors degree in a related field (e.g., business management, marketing or finance). In general those with bachelors degrees will have the best job prospects.

Skill development

Marketing managers learn and develop all their skills through their experience in the industry. They may also continue to get additional training throughout their career, which will continue their skill development.

FAQs

Ask a Question

Have a question about Marketing Manager careers? If so, our mentors would love to help! Just click on a mentor’s profile below and then fill out the “Ask a Question” form on that page. Your question will then be emailed to the mentor, who can then email you a reply.

ID	Job Title	Gender	Age	Earnings	City & State	Date
33829	Marketing Manager	Female	28	$40,000	charlotte, NC	01/01/2010
33784	New Social Media Director	Male	28	$75,000	Washington, NY	01/01/2010
33758	Advertising Project Manager	Male	37	$85,000	Guttenberg, NY	01/01/2010
33740	Internet Marketing Coordinator	Male	34	$47,000	Denver, NY	01/01/2010
33701	Senior Marketing Manager	Female	56	$58,000	Los Angeles, CA	01/01/2010

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