Marketing Director: Job Profile and Role

A marketing director is responsible for researching and analysing data and market trends related to his or her company. He or she is also in charge of coming up with innovative and successful marketing strategies and campaigns. In short: a marketing director’s task is to make sure that the marketing side of a business runs smoothly. Maybe this is a job you might be interested in because you have always been fascinated by marketing, strategizing and data analysis.

In the following blog, you will discover what the job of a marketing director entails. We will not only look at your annual salary but also at your potential employers and the qualifications and skills you need for this job. To give you an idea of the working day of a marketing director, we will then look into a day in the life of a marketing director. We will also give you some tips for thriving as a marketing director.

Short Summary

• As a marketing director, you are responsible for researching and analysing numbers and trends relating to your company’s products and customer behaviour.
• As a marketing director, you are responsible for brainstorming, developing and implementing successful marketing strategies, promotions and campaigns.
• As a marketing director, you are responsible for increasing your company’s customers and sales, thus contributing to a brand that is easily recognisable and memorable.

Job description

A marketing director is responsible for developing and implementing marketing strategies and campaigns with a team of marketing experts. In order to achieve this, a marketing director needs to research, read and analyse important data, sales figures and market trends related to the company’s products. By knowing the customers’ preferences and needs, a marketing director can adjust products and sales techniques in order to increase both the number of customers and the sales. Depending on the exact job description, a marketing director may be in charge of corporate branding, for example.

Responsibilities

• Developing Marketing Strategies
• Stakeholder Communication
• Marketing Campaigns
• Metrics and Analytics
• Brand Management
• Crisis Management
• Product Launches
• Market Research
• Team Leadership
• Digital Marketing

Different types of Marketing Directors

• Chief Marketing Officer/CMO
• Content Marketing Director
• Product Marketing Director
• Digital Marketing Director
• Brand Director

Salary

Marketing directors in the UK are typically paid between £82,700 and £93,800 per year. These salaries are a direct result of a marketing director’s level of work experience and position. Slight increases in the annual salary can occur through the employer, the company size and the location.

Working hours

Typically, a marketing director’s working hours amount to 40 hours per week, usually performed between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. The exact number of working hours can, however, depend on various factors. For one, your company/employer may have other ideas, especially, when it comes to overtime. These extra hours can increase your weekly workload considerably. And overtime is by no means always paid, which you should keep in mind.

Moreover, marketing directors are often expected to work irregular hours, especially during peak times or product launches. You should discuss with your future employer if these hours are considered overtime and if so, what the policy on unpaid/paid overtime is.

Also note that marketing directors typically attend various events, such as networking events, meetings and conferences. These can take part in the evenings or even at the weekend. They may also involve travelling, which naturally will take up even more of your time.

Employers

Marketing directors are usually employed by medium-sized businesses and large corporations. As a future marketing director, you can also find employment with advertising agencies and digital marketing companies. Other employment options are startups and consulting firms specialising in financial and strategic consulting.

Qualifications

You can become a marketing director by either completing an academic degree or an advanced or higher apprenticeship. Relevant fields of study or apprenticeships can be business management, marketing or advertising.

Further qualifications should refer to your familiarity with the most commonly used software and apps, such as HubSpot, Google Analytics, Salesforce and Zapier.

Skills

Most people choose their education based on their personal preferences and skills. This means that they have a particular set of soft skills that helps them to complete their education successfully. It almost goes without saying that these skills are also mandatory for your future job, for example, as a marketing director.

In this section, we will tell you which skills you should have when planning on becoming a marketing director.

Logical/analytical Thinking

Reading and understanding numbers and data is an important part of your job as a marketing director. Therefore, you need to have strong skills in logical and analytical thinking. Without this vital skill, you will not be able to get to the bottom of market trends and the customers’ buying behaviour. Only by thinking logically and analytically will you be able to extract all the relevant information you need from the numbers and data you are looking at.

Leadership Qualities

A marketing director will never work without a great team. Therefore, you will be in charge of a certain number of people. You will also be in charge of delegating daily tasks to them, according to their individual areas of expertise. While this sounds pretty straightforward and only requires good leadership qualities, peak times and stressful times will require a higher level of leadership skills. These include an above-average understanding of crisis management and empathy to avoid nervous breakdowns and bickering among your team members.

Financial Expertise

Financial expertise is another skill you should have when you want to become a marketing director. It is all well and good that you can read and understand sales and ROI figures. But you will need the financial skills to turn potential losses into profits and to increase great profits even more. Moreover, your financial expertise is needed to compare budgets and apply processed sales.

Marketing Directors work best under Pressure

Which is a good thing considering the marketing world is one of the most fast-paced ones. Marketing directors are accustomed to tight deadlines and constant changes and developments, and they generally have the ability to quickly adapt to everything that is thrown at them. A fast-paced work environment with a high pressure level is therefore something they are both used to and thrive under.

Career Path

First things first: you will not start your career in this job as an actual marketing director. To achieve this position, you need to climb the career ladder first. One of your first steps will likely be starting as a marketing assistant before you get promoted to marketing manager. The next promotion to marketing director will take another few years since this position is considered one of the senior positions in a company. However, after that, there is no reason why you should not be the Chief Marketing Officer/CMO of your company at some point.

Educational Background

The usual approach to becoming a marketing director is by completing a relevant field of study. You can look into doing a Bachelor’s degree or a Master’s degree in marketing, business management, advertising or even psychology.

Alternatively, you can become a marketing director by doing an marketing executive advanced apprenticeship. Depending on your previous experience or qualifications, you can also look into doing a marketing manager higher or degree apprenticeship.

Training

If you want to become a marketing director, you must be prepared to undertake a lot of technical training. This usually starts at entry-level positions, such as marketing assistant. By monitoring market movements, this training helps you to read and analyse the relevant numbers and data correctly. In this training, you also learn how to use the relevant technical tools, such as sales and marketing software. Lastly, future marketing directors need to become familiar with the employing company’s products and customers, including their needs and preferences.

Continuous Learning

Your training is one part of the continuous learning process that is part of your job as a marketing director. Your learning curve will never stop since there are always new developments and market trends that you must be aware of. Continuous learning also extends to your technical knowledge. You need to know which software is obsolete. You also need to know which new apps will be cost-efficient and which ones will optimise your work processes and flows.

A Day in the Life of a Marketing Director

As a marketing director, you have a certain number of daily tasks that you need to perform while working. Being on top of your inbox and scheduled video and phone conferences is only one part of your daily job. Besides, there are other things that you should keep in mind as a marketing director.

This section takes a close look at a day in the life of a marketing director.

Delegating Tasks to your Team Members

Naturally, you are a marketing director because you not only have work experience but also a certain skill set. But you also have a team with its own skill sets and competencies. Therefore, one of your first jobs of the day is to delegate the day’s tasks to your team members – according to their specific skill sets and their areas of expertise.

Analysing Live Marketing Campaigns

Some marketing campaigns are scheduled for a certain time frame, whereas others are so-called live campaigns. These can give you valuable insights into your company’s sales performance and customer image. Part of your day as a marketing director is to track and analyse these live marketing campaigns. The relevant data will help you develop strategies to reduce sales losses or generate more sales leads.

Liaising with other Departments

As a marketing director, you are required to work with other departments, for example, your company’s suppliers or the financial department. Discussing recent market trends and developments is important to come up with new strategies. And in general, these should be okayed by your colleagues working in finance since they are the ones holding the purse strings. Liaising with your suppliers also makes sense, especially when new merchandise is needed or some products should not be sold anymore.

Tips for Thriving as a Marketing Director

Being a marketing director means that you are already in a high and powerful position that comes with quite a few responsibilities. But you have not reached the absolute top yet. And if that should be your career goal, you may want to know a few tips for thriving as a marketing director. So, let’s take a look at three of those tips that will help you thrive in this job:

• Gain relevant certifications
• Build a strong team
• Embrace digital marketing

Gain relevant Certifications

Technically, gaining the relevant certifications as a marketing director is part of your continuous learning process. But it is also one way to thrive as a marketing director. For instance, you can acquire your certificate as a Certified Marketing Management Professional. You can already obtain this certification while working as a marketing assistant. Internationally, this certification is regarded as highly prestigious. Alternatively, you can earn your Professional Certified Marketer certification.

Build a Strong Team

As a marketing director, you are responsible for a team of marketing experts. Always treat your team as your equals and never look down on them. After all, you started as an assistant or a junior digital marketer. By being on the same level as your team and by seeing yourself as one of them, you build a very strong relationship with your team. This will also enable you to channel all your professional resources, making your marketing team a force to be reckoned with.

Embrace Digital Marketing

Not every one of us is a huge fan of anything digital – even though a great deal of our daily lives takes part in the digital world. Having a strong and professional online presence is a necessity for every business. As a marketing director, you should therefore not shy away from digital developments and trends. You should also be willing to use every digital outlet there is to really put your company on the map. This includes making use of Social Media and knowing the basics of SEO and unique web content.

Frequently Asked Questions