Marketing is an essential part of growing a brand—making customers aware of your company and getting your message and product in front of them. Companies must be equally effective with digital and traditional channels, building awareness of the brand and nurturing leads through each stage of a sales funnel.
A marketing manager is responsible for oversight of advertising and marketing campaigns, managing talent, analyzing the results of campaigns, driving brand awareness, and increasing customer conversions.
What is a Marketing Manager?
A marketing manager is responsible for planning, developing, and implementing a company’s marketing strategies, with the intention of building brand awareness, growing a customer base, and supporting a company’s customer acquisition initiatives. Typically, a marketing manager has both creative and analytical skills, and leads a team of specialists who develop campaigns for digital and traditional media.
In small companies, a marketing manager may be in charge of all marketing channels, campaigns, and advertising, working on both strategy and campaign creation. In larger companies, there may be specialized managers of different channels (Social Media Manager, SEO Manager, Legacy Media Marketing Manager, etc.) In every case, the marketing manager collaborates with other departments to support the overall business goals of the organization. In enterprise companies, a Marketing Manager will have much more responsibility than a marketing associate, but less decision making power than a Marketing Director or Senior Marketing Manager.
What Does a Marketing Manager Do?
A marketing manager in most companies is responsible for oversight of a company’s customer outreach programs, brand awareness, marketing and advertising campaigns, and other marketing activities. They lead a team that works on these initiatives. In enterprise-level or large companies, there may be different specialized marketing managers that oversee different departments under a Marketing Director. In small to medium sized companies, the marketing manager will be more of a generalist with expertise in many different areas. Their role is to advance marketing initiatives to expand the customer base, build brand awareness, and reach new customers, while fostering brand loyalty with existing customers. In the digital age, much of the marketing is inbound, attracting customers through content, though advertising and traditional media channels are still important.
Marketing managers have many responsibilities, leading a team to reach business objectives and goals.
- Developing marketing strategies. Creating meticulous plans for promoting goods or services to achieve business goals, promote brand awareness, and increase sales.
- Market research. Analyzing competitors, market trends, customer behavior, industry news, exploring new markets, polls and surveys from consumers. This research will help influence marketing decisions.
- Finding new marketing opportunities. Can be new technologies, social media websites, or marketing channels. Making sure the company is marketing to customers where they’re at.
- Budget management. Where is the money going to maximize return on investment (ROI). Which channels are receiving funds? Results are measured to make adjustments.
- Campaign execution and optimization. Designing ads and posts, content creation, scheduling posts, measuring audience engagement, managing ad placement on different platforms and channels-both traditional and digital.
- Brand positioning. Setting and maintaining brand guidelines across all marketing materials, ensuring consistent brand messaging across all channels.
- Customer experience. Using digital and traditional channels to improve the customer relationship with the brand. May use personalization, promotions, and targeted communications to nurture customer relationships.
- Lead generation. Finding inbound leads, moving them through a marketing and sales funnel, collaborating with the sales team to reach company revenue goals.
- Measuring key performance indicators (KPIs). Analyzing data and improving campaigns to make sure goals are being met.
- Team leadership. Managing the marketing team, mentoring talent, delegating tasks, building inter-team collaboration, fostering healthy company culture and morale.
- Making sales projections. Evaluating the cost to benefit ratio of new or expanded marketing initiatives.
- Collaboration with other departments. Working closely with Sales, Customer Service, Product Development, and other company teams to reach business goals.
- External contractors. Researching, selecting, and working with outside agencies, freelancers, consultants, and strategic partners to help support your marketing team.
- Delegating tasks. Assigning work to team members, coordinating and making sure it gets done, quality control for marketing campaigns.
- Presentations. Giving presentations and data to executives and stakeholders.
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Salary and Job Outlook
Marketing managers in 2024 made a median annual salary of $159,660 [1] [2] according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Marketing managers in May 2024 earned a median hourly wage of $76.76. The total compensation for marketing managers may vary by company, local market, and industry. Marketing manager positions typically require professional experience and may require education beyond an associate degree.
Jobs for marketing managers are projected to grow by 6% between 2024 and 2034, faster than the average of all occupations, according to the most recent BLS data. More than 26,000 marketing manager jobs are projected to be added over this ten-year period.
How to Become a Marketing Manager
There are some general steps that most marketing managers go through to get to their position.
1. Earn a Relevant Degree
Earning a degree is often an important step toward a career in marketing management. Many marketing managers and directors hold bachelor’s degrees in Business Administration, Marketing, Communications, or related fields. An associate degree can provide foundational business and marketing knowledge that supports entry-level opportunities in the field and may serve as a pathway toward continued education and career advancement.
Business Administration programs provide students with foundational knowledge in key areas of business and organizational operations. Coursework commonly includes topics such as:
- Marketing fundamentals
- Business communications
- Accounting and finance
- Economics
- Databases and data analysis
- Business law
- Digital marketing
- Consumer data analysis and other marketing principles
- Business management
These topics help students develop a broad understanding of how businesses operate and can support entry-level opportunities in business-related fields. The knowledge gained may also serve as a foundation for continued education, professional development, and future advancement into leadership or management roles.
2. Getting Hands-On Experience
Many future marketing managers and directors gain necessary hands-on experience in entry-level roles such as social media marketing, marketing researcher, account executive, marketing coordinator, or associate marketing specialist. From there, they go on to more senior positions in traditional or digital marketing, learning how large and enterprise level companies work at a high level.
Some students are able to take internships and mentorship roles while still in school. Getting relevant experience prepares candidates for even more responsibility.
3. Pursue Promotions to Marketing Management Positions
After getting a solid educational foundation and hands-on experience in marketing, a seasoned professional can become a marketing manager, social media manager, brand manager, and ultimately, a Senior Marketing Manager or Marketing Director. Most companies will look for candidates with hands-on experience in marketing roles before giving them a management position. Your career path depends on many factors, including your education, experience, results in your organization, and networking. Career advancement depends on many factors, including education, experience, employer requirements, professional performance, and market conditions.”
What Channels Are Marketing Managers Responsible For?
Marketing has evolved over the last several decades to expand beyond traditional channels, now including digital channels and emerging platforms. Here are all the marketing channels a marketing manager or director might be responsible for including:
- Content Marketing. This includes blogging, videos on YouTube, podcasting and other forms of content. These are a means to attract new customers and build brand awareness. Marketing managers are in charge of content strategy that targets the intended customer base, increasing brand perception, and supporting company initiatives for customer acquisition.
- Social Media Marketing (SMM). Social media channels such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter/X, and LinkedIn are a means of bringing new customers to the brand. Marketing managers oversee content strategy, content creation, post scheduling, brand messaging, and influencer outreach.
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO). The science of increasing visibility and ranking in search engines like Google and Bing. The marketing manager must ensure the team’s content is optimized to get the maximum reach possible.
- Email Marketing. A reliable, cost effective way to build customer relationships, nurture leads, improve conversions, and send interested customers information about the company.
- Pay-Per-Click/Digital Advertising (PPC). Pay-per-click is part of an advertising strategy, mostly used with search engines like Google and social media channels like Facebook. PPC offers the opportunity to reach customers at their highest point of interest (“bottom of the marketing funnel”). Marketing managers will allocate a certain amount of budget for gaining new customers, and delegate team members to analyze results and make improvements to ad assets.
- Other Online Marketing. Some brands will partner with online “influencers” to promote their brand and gain new customers. Companies that sell products online will have e-commerce platforms to manage, including promotions, product listings in search engines, and advertising.
- TV and Radio Advertising. A Marketing Director will work with local, regional, and national stations to buy ad placements, develop ads, and target key audiences.
- Print Advertising. This includes advertising in newspapers, magazines, catalogs, and niche publications. The marketing manager is in charge of development, approval, and placement of print ads for the company.
- Outdoor Advertising. This is for digital and traditional billboards or sponsored ads in other public venues. Marketing managers may research the most strategic placement of outdoor advertising, and oversee the design and placement of the ads for the highest possible visibility.
- Direct Mail. One of the most cost effective methods of marketing, direct mail relies heavily on reaching targeted audiences, sometimes repeat customers. Marketing managers play a big role in collecting and organizing the customer list, designing and printing the ad, and making sure the mail goes to the correct audience. Success of the mailer is measured and analyzed through one-time codes.
- Trade Shows / Industry Events. Some brands can benefit by connecting directly with customers at trade shows. Marketing managers may oversee the design of the booth, marketing materials, and booth placement for the events.
You might also see the term “omnichannel” mentioned, and this means multiple channels or all marketing channels, including traditional and digital media channels.
What Skills Do Marketing Managers Have?
- Interpersonal communication. One of the biggest parts of the job is communication. You’ll be working closely with team members, collaborating with other departments, speaking with art directors, and enforcing brand guidelines both inside and outside the organization. This career path relies on good communication.
- Project management. You’ll be in charge of managing teams, ensuring deliverables are completed on time, running multiple projects simultaneously, and delegating effectively. Having elite project management skills is a must.
- Problem-solving. Marketing in itself is an immense problem-solving scenario. Your job will encompass solving multiple challenges, reaching KPIs, hitting targets, and reaching company goals.
- Organization. Running an efficient marketing department includes making sure posts are published on time, getting new materials created and approved, researching customers and competitors, and coordinating tasks for an entire team. You’ll have to be organized to succeed.
- Time management. There are only so many hours in a day, and you’ll have to effectively use your time and attention to further company initiatives and develop effective marketing strategies and campaigns, manage team members, and make important decisions.
- Creative thinking. You’ll help cultivate a team where new innovative ideas flourish, and attention grabbing strategies build a solid customer base.
- Analytical skills. Marketing uses analytics in every step to measure campaign efficacy, plan new campaigns, analyze public reaction, and extrapolate meaning of campaign engagement. Using marketing funnels to build awareness and bring leads closer to a sales cycle, marketing is a crucial part of any company’s success.
- SEO fundamentals. Search engine optimization is the art and science of maximizing visibility on different platforms, including organic search and social media. You must know effective methodologies for keeping the company brand in the public eye.
- Leadership. Working with a marketing team requires vision, effective delegation of tasks, checking in with creatives, and ensuring the marketing department is supporting the company initiatives.
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Disclaimer: This blog provides general information about careers and educational pathways in business administration. It is not intended to describe specific career outcomes for any Campus program. Job requirements vary by employer and may include additional education, certifications, training, or work experience beyond an associate degree.
[1] Note: The data provided in this article is from sources unaffiliated with Campus is for informational purposes only and represent the employment field as a whole. They are not solely specific to Campus graduates and, by providing the above information, Campus makes no representation, direct or implied, or opinion regarding employability.
[2] Bureau of Labor Statistics, https://www.bls.gov/ooh/management/advertising-promotions-and-marketing-managers.htm , Retrieved on March 25, 2026.