TL;DR
- A marketing manager is responsible for the marketing activities and strategy of an organisation: planning and running campaigns, managing the marketing budget, tracking results and reporting to senior management, and usually leading a team of executives and assistants.
- The job has six responsibilities: set the marketing strategy and plan, run the campaigns, commission research and use the data, manage the budget and return on investment, oversee the brand and creative work, and manage the team, agencies and stakeholders.
- Employers look for in-depth marketing experience, commercial awareness, analytical skill, creativity and the confidence to lead. In England the marketing manager apprenticeship is a level 6 standard, typically 24 months, and the role normally reports to a director.
Every company wants more customers, and most of them have someone whose job is to find them. Between the director who sets the sales target and the executive who writes the posts sits the marketing manager: the person who decides what the marketing should do this year, spends the budget and answers for the results.
This marketing manager job description explains what the role is, sets out six responsibilities, separates the marketing manager from the executive below and the director above, lists the skills and qualifications employers ask for, gives a job specification template and suggests how to describe the work on a CV.
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What is a marketing manager?
Skills England's marketing manager apprenticeship standard, a level 6 standard that typically takes 24 months, gives a description that any employer can borrow: “A Marketing Manager is responsible for the marketing activities and strategy of their organisation. From overseeing the marketing budget, planning and implementing campaigns to tracking their success and reporting back to senior management.” The standard adds that the role has a strategic focus, that the manager “will develop, position and promote the products or services of the company, selecting appropriate channels and using appropriate messaging”, and that the job “requires in-depth experience of marketing as well as great communication skills, high levels of creativity and the confidence to manage a team of marketers”.
The word marketing itself is broader than advertising. The Cambridge Dictionary defines marketing as “a job that involves encouraging people to buy a product or service”. The standard's own definition is wider still: the process of researching, developing, promoting and distributing products or services through effective channels to engage target audiences. A marketing manager works across all of that, not only the promotion.
Skills England lists the typical job titles as marketing manager, marketing and communications manager, corporate communications manager, product or proposition manager and insight or innovations manager. It also says that a marketing manager normally reports to a director and, depending on the size of the team, may be responsible for marketing executives and assistants.
Marketing manager duties: six responsibilities
Skills England's list of typical responsibilities, regrouped:
- Set the strategy and plan. Develop and implement the operational marketing strategy, the key campaigns and the stakeholder engagement plans, so that marketing delivers the business objectives.
- Run the campaigns. Plan, launch and manage campaigns across the chosen channels, on time and on brand, and track how each one performs.
- Commission research and use the data. Commission reliable research, track and report marketing and sales data to inform senior management, and set marketing goals based on campaign analysis, product performance and market forecasts.
- Manage the budget and the return. Own the marketing budget, build cost-effective plans and show the return on investment.
- Oversee the brand and creative work. Approve and oversee the creative development of marketing materials and channels, and keep everything aligned to the brand guidelines.
- Manage the team, agencies and stakeholders. Lead the executives and assistants, brief and manage external agencies or specialist internal teams, and manage relationships with the stakeholders who support marketing delivery and the organisation's reputation.
Marketing executive, marketing manager, marketing director
The three titles form a ladder, and job descriptions go wrong when they describe one rung with the duties of another.
| Role | What they do |
|---|---|
| Marketing executive | Delivers the activity: content, campaigns, events, social channels, databases and research, as directed by the plan |
| Marketing manager | Sets the plan, runs the campaigns and the budget, reports the results and leads the executives |
| Marketing director | Sets the marketing strategy for the whole business, owns the brand and the total budget, sits on the leadership team and manages the managers |
Prospects, the UK graduate careers service, describes the executive rung in its marketing executive job profile, sometimes called a marketing coordinator: helping with marketing plans and campaigns, writing copy, producing content, running social media channels, organising events, maintaining customer databases and conducting market research. It notes that with experience an executive may go on to develop and implement a marketing strategy, evaluate and review campaigns, track performance and return on investment, lead external agencies and oversee and manage the marketing budget. Those are the manager's duties, which is why the executive job is the usual route in.
In a small company one person may hold all three rungs. In a large one the director may be a chief marketing officer; our guide to the meaning of the C-suite explains where that title sits.
Skills employers ask for
The Skills England standard sets out the knowledge, skills and behaviours a marketing manager needs. In summary, employers look for:
- Marketing knowledge, including the marketing mix, brand development, customer behaviour and communication planning.
- Commercial awareness: the organisation's strategy, customers and competitors, and how marketing delivers a return.
- Research and analysis, from commissioning research to reading the metrics and acting on them.
- Creativity and judgement about messages, channels and creative work.
- Financial control of a budget and the ability to show what it bought.
- Leadership and stakeholder management, of a team, of agencies and of the senior people who fund the plan.
- Knowledge of the rules, including data protection and any sector regulation that governs what can be said and to whom.
Prospects lists the qualities behind these for anyone in marketing: communication and interpersonal skills, commercial awareness, copywriting skills, digital marketing awareness, creativity, attention to detail, analytical and strategic thinking, drive, teamwork and influencing and negotiation skills.
Qualifications
A marketing manager is usually promoted from a marketing executive or specialist role after several years. Prospects says that a career in marketing is open to all graduates, and that a degree in advertising, business, communications, marketing or psychology is likely to be more useful, but that you can enter as a marketing assistant without a degree. The Chartered Institute of Marketing's professional qualifications are widely recognised in the UK, and in England the level 6 marketing manager apprenticeship offers a work-based route.
Marketing manager job specification template
Adapt the channels, the team and the measures to your business.
Job title: Marketing manager
Reports to: Marketing director or commercial director
Direct reports: [Marketing executives and assistants]
Purpose of the role: To plan and deliver the marketing strategy and campaigns that bring the business the customers it needs, within budget and with measurable results.
Main responsibilities:
- Develop and implement the annual marketing plan and key campaigns against the business objectives
- Plan, run and evaluate campaigns across [website, email, social, search, events, press]
- Commission research, track marketing and sales data and report monthly to senior management
- Manage the marketing budget and demonstrate the return on investment
- Oversee creative development and keep all activity aligned to the brand guidelines
- Lead and develop the marketing team, and brief and manage external agencies
Skills and experience:
- Several years' marketing experience, including running campaigns from brief to results
- Strong analytical skills and confidence with data, budgets and reporting
- Creativity and sound judgement about messaging, channels and design
- Experience of leading people or agencies
- Working knowledge of data protection rules as they apply to marketing
- [Sector experience, if essential]
Measures of success: Enquiries, conversion and revenue against plan, campaign performance, budget control, and the development of the team.
For the layout of the whole document, use our job description template, and for how to turn the measures into quarterly goals, see our OKR guide.
How to describe marketing management on a CV
Employers want the plan, the budget, the results and the team. The lines below are invented examples, to show the form.
- Show the scope. “Managed a £400,000 annual budget and a team of three across email, search, social and events.”
- Show results. “Grew qualified enquiries by 35% in a year at a lower cost per lead.”
- Show a campaign. “Led the launch campaign for a new product line, from research to results report.”
- Show agencies. “Briefed and managed a creative agency and a search agency.”
- Show reporting. “Reported monthly to the board on performance against plan.”
Common mistakes in marketing manager adverts
A list of channels instead of a purpose. Naming every platform tells candidates what tools you use, not what you need marketing to achieve.
Executive duties at manager level. If the advert is mostly writing posts and organising events, you are hiring an executive, and a good manager will not apply.
No budget or team size. Managers want to know what they will manage. Say it.
No measures. If you cannot say how you will judge success, the candidate cannot judge the job.
Frequently asked questions
What does a marketing manager do?
A marketing manager is responsible for the marketing activities and strategy of an organisation. They set the marketing plan, run and evaluate campaigns, commission research and use the data, manage the marketing budget and its return, oversee brand and creative work, and lead the marketing team and external agencies, reporting to a director.
What is a marketing manager?
A marketing manager is the person who plans and runs an organisation's marketing and answers for its results. Skills England describes the role as responsible for the marketing activities and strategy of the organisation, from overseeing the budget and implementing campaigns to tracking their success and reporting to senior management.
What is the difference between a marketing executive and a marketing manager?
A marketing executive delivers the activity: content, campaigns, events, social channels and research. A marketing manager sets the plan, runs the campaigns and the budget, reports the results and leads the executives. Prospects notes that experienced executives take on strategy, evaluation, agency management and budgets, which is the usual route to the manager role.
What skills does a marketing manager need?
Marketing knowledge, commercial awareness, research and analytical skills, creativity and judgement, financial control of a budget, leadership of a team and agencies, stakeholder management, and a working knowledge of data protection and sector rules.
What qualifications does a marketing manager need?
There is no required qualification. Most marketing managers are promoted from executive roles after several years. A degree in marketing, business or communications helps, professional qualifications from the Chartered Institute of Marketing are widely recognised in the UK, and England has a level 6 marketing manager apprenticeship.
What should a marketing manager job specification include?
The purpose of the role, the reporting line and direct reports, six responsibilities covering strategy, campaigns, research and data, budget, brand and creative, and team and agencies, the skills and experience required, the budget and team size, and the measures of success.
Your next step: write the advert around the results
- State what marketing must achieve this year: enquiries, conversion, revenue, or awareness with a number attached.
- Say what the manager will manage: budget, team, agencies, channels.
- Keep the executive duties out, or you will hire an executive.
- Name the measures of success and the reporting rhythm.
To turn those measures into quarterly objectives and key results, read and download our OKR guide. The guide is free to read, and the PDF uses our short download form.
Want marketing goals, owners and progress visible to the whole leadership team? Book a New Dynamics demo and bring your current plan. You can also email contact@new-dynamics.com.
