Let’s be candid – You’re here on this page because you are interested to know about the job role of a Marketing Manager. You must have either completed your MBA and are looking for career options or you are an MBA aspirant trying to figure out what to do after MBA. Now here’s a fact that you should know about the Marketing Manager job role. LinkedIn has more than 1,00,000 jobs for people looking out to become a Marketing Manager anywhere in the world.

Great, right?

Also watch: Marketing Manager: Job Responsibilities | Skills & Salaries [2021]

Since you are keen to know more about the Marketing Manager job role, we would like to tell you that you have come to the right place. And here’s why you should read this blog post until the very end – This blog post covers every aspect of being a Marketing Manager and even provides guidance on how to become one. 

Not convinced yet?

Check out the topics we will cover in this blog post below:

      1. Who is a Marketing Manager?

      2. After MBA What are the qualities of a Marketing Manager?

      3. What does a Marketing Manager do?

      4. What are the responsibilities of a Marketing Manager?

      5. What are the skills necessary to become a Marketing Manager?

      6. What is the salary of a Marketing Manager and how is the demand?

      7. How can you become a Marketing Manager?

So grab a cup of coffee and let’s get you a step closer to becoming a successful Marketing Manager.

1. Who is a Marketing Manager

Before we move ahead with all the details, let us get the basics right. 

So, who is a Marketing Manager?

Let us put this out in very simple terms for you.

A Marketing Manager is a multitasker. They ensure that all marketing activities in a company — from planning to execution — take place smoothly.

Here are the four key tasks of a Marketing Manager:

i. Control all communications between the company and consumers

ii. Manage internal teams

iii. Publish marketing material on the right platforms

iv. Promote the marketing message of the company

i. Control all communications between the company and consumers

The Marketing Manager of a company is responsible for all the messages that reach its consumers. They have to be aware of every message that is being sent from the company’s end to the consumer’s end so that they can make decisions quickly in times of crisis. 

Here’s an example of how Zomato dealt with their advertisement controversy situation in India.

So, if you become a Marketing Manager, you will have to decide what needs to be communicated to the company’s customers.

    ii. Manage internal teams

There will be several teams working within the marketing team in a company. This includes the content team, the design team, the social media marketing team, the SEO specialization team, etc. The number of teams and team members will vary based on the size of the company and also based on the amount of company marketing activities.

You can make use of online tools that will help you keep track of your colleagues’ work progress and other tasks. Here is an example of an online tool that will help you manage your internal teams.

As a Marketing Manager, you will be responsible for all their activities and you will also have to manage them to get the work done.

    iii. Publish marketing material on the right platforms

Every company’s marketing activities will differ. The activities are decided based on the target consumer’s profile and company’s requirement – sometimes it will be limited to advertisements on newspapers, magazines or other print materials. And there will be times when the focus of the marketing team will be on social media promotions.

At these junctures, you as a Marketing Manager will be responsible for choosing the right media to communicate the company’s message and carry out the marketing activities successfully.

    iv. Promote the marketing message of the company

First of all, you need to create a marketing message for your company. And then you will have to decide how to promote it.

So, what is a marketing message? It is any media or communication, created by the Marketing Manager of a company, to influence customers. This message should create a demand for the product or service offered by the company.

The message should be promoted using different online and offline platforms which serve as customer touch points. 

You must have received emails from brands that you have subscribed to. That is one of the ways in which you can promote the marketing message of the company.

2. After MBA What are the Qualities of a Marketing Manager

Just like any other job, you need to have certain qualities that will make you a perfect fit for the role of a Marketing Manager.

Here’s a chance for you to figure out whether you have it in you to become a good marketing manager.

Check out the seven qualities mentioned below and see if you will be right for the role. The qualities mentioned below are self-explanatory and we are sure that you possess almost all of them.

i. Ambitious

ii. Assertive

iii. Highly energetic

iv. Optimistic

v. Leadership

vi. Adaptability

vii. Creative

These qualities are necessary for you to ensure that the marketing activities in the company take place smoothly.

P.S. Even if you feel that you lack a particular quality, you can definitely develop them in time.

Also read: Post-MBA Careers: Management Consulting

3. What does a Marketing Manager do?

Moving on to the duties of a Marketing Manager, you need to understand that it can vary by company and by industry. However, most of them have commonalities.

While a Marketing Manager has to create promos and themes to drive business, they also have to come up with marketing strategies.

Want to know what more a Marketing Manager does in a company? Here are the seven main duties of a Marketing Manager:

i. Create promos and themes to drive business

ii. Create and maintain relationships with media outlets

iii. Troubleshoot campaigns that are not performing well

iv. Test new marketing opportunities

v. Brainstorm ways to promote new products or initiatives

vi. Analyze customer service problems

vii. Analyze returns on advertising spends

i. Create promos and themes to drive business

What you need to first understand is that the ultimate goal of a marketing team in a company is to drive business. If not for that, there is no point in coming up with campaigns or promotional ideas.

A Marketing Manager has to be the driving force behind every promotional activity and they have to ensure that it is done on time.

Take the example of Nike’s “Just Do It” campaign.

Nike’s sales were $800 million before the launch of the campaign. Ten years after the launch of the campaign, Nike’s sales touched $2 billion. This is a typical example of a winning campaign.

    ii. Create and maintain relationships with media outlets

As a Marketing Manager, you will have to develop relationships with media outlets. These relationships are important to ensure that you get the best price for your company when it comes to advertising or any other promotions.

For instance, let us say that you want a front page newspaper advertisement for your brand. You will definitely get the space if you inform their office on time and if you make the payment. But if you are someone who has been maintaining good relationships with the marketing team at the newspaper, you might get that advertisement space even if you let them know a day earlier.

Maintaining these relationships are even more important to get your work done on time. There are so many companies who are waiting to get work done. So, you should give them a reason to prioritize you over others.

    iii. Troubleshoot campaigns that are not performing well

Let us imagine this, you are the Marketing Manager and you came up with a mindblowing idea for a campaign for your company. Your boss approves it and your team works towards it. The campaign hits the target market. But you do not receive the response you expected. By response, we mean the traction that you were expecting out of the campaign.

As a Marketing Manager, you have to figure out what went wrong with the campaign. Is it the messaging? Is it the platform you chose? Is it the set of people you reached out? You have to figure out the problem and fix it, just like how you troubleshoot when there is an internet connection error.

There are several online tools that help you avoid such costly mistakes Here’s a tool that will help you run more profitable campaigns.

    iv. Test new marketing opportunities

You are reading this article because of your interest in marketing. Else, you wouldn’t have thought of becoming a Marketing Manager.

While marketing might sound a lot of fun, you also need to understand that it is an ever-evolving industry. It is very difficult but important to be aware of all the new trends in marketing. As a Marketing Manager, you should be aware of the new marketing opportunities that have opened up for your company.

To give it to you in a nutshell, we are telling you that you cannot be living under a rock and be a Marketing Manager as well. It does not work that way.

    v. Brainstorm ways to promote new products or initiatives

Just like your marketing team, the other teams in the company will also constantly be at work. They will come up with new products, new services, maybe add new features to existing products, etc.

You as a Marketing Manager will be responsible to find ways to promote these new initiatives of your company.

There are many online platforms where you can promote your new products or services. Facebook Ads is an example of such a platform.

You will have to brainstorm with your team to come up with marketing strategies that will work in the market at that point. The ideas have to be fresh and you should look at each activity with a fresh pair of eyes.

    vi. Analyze customer service problems

You must be wondering now: Why should a Marketing Manager analyze customer service problems?

What if we ask you this: How will you decide the company’s message without knowing what you need to solve for the consumer?

If you put both these questions together, you will realize why you need to analyze customer service problems. This analysis is key to understanding what the customer wants. Only then can you create campaigns and promotions that will generate good returns for the company.

These are more like the “We Fixed It” campaigns, where you understand the issues of the customers, find solutions and convert this into a useful scenario for your brand!

“The Pizza Turnaround” campaign by Dominos is one example of such a campaign. There are many examples of such campaigns out there on the internet.

    vii. Analyze returns on advertising spends

So, your company has given you a budget for your advertising spends. Your job is not to spend all of it and get nothing. Your job is to ensure that you spend the money wisely on the best available platforms to get customers to purchase your products or services.

You should be thorough with the advertising spends. Otherwise, you might just end up spending all the money with no definite returns. And remember that you will be answerable to the CEO of the company.

So, constantly analyze your spends and take necessary steps to ensure that the company gets enough returns.

4. What are the responsibilities of a Marketing Manager?

On a day-to-day basis, it is a Marketing Manager’s responsibility to identify, develop, and evaluate the marketing strategy based on the objectives, market characteristics and cost.

Let us assume that you are a Marketing Manager working in a company and take you through the responsibilities you will have. You will have five key responsibilities as a Marketing Manager:

i. Market analysis

ii. Campaign creation

iii. Content creation

iv. Campaign analysis

v. Competitor analysis

vi. Market analysis

Let us say that you are the Marketing Manager of an e-commerce company. 

You are aware that e-commerce giants like Amazon and Flipkart have hooked their customers onto their websites via marketing strategies. 

As a Marketing Manager, it is your responsibility to analyze the strategies implemented by you and your team and keep track of the effects of the existing marketing strategies.

    ii. Campaign creation

You have to come up with the most exciting campaigns to attract your customers.

Your campaign should influence people’s purchase decisions and ensure that they buy from your website. 

Let us take the example of Mastercard. The brand increased its social media mentions through their campaign #PricelessSurprises in 2019.

Similarly, you will be responsible for coming up with brilliant campaign ideas and implementing them.

    iii. Content creation

Content is an integral part of every marketing campaign.

As a Marketing Manager, you need to manage and coordinate with the creative staff in your company to get the best content to market the products and services.

You can use any of the content marketing strategies based on your target customers.

    iv. Campaign analysis

You will have one or more live campaigns at all times. Let us say that you have a monsoon campaign which is live.

You have to constantly monitor and analyze the campaign to make necessary changes to it to improve campaign quality.

    v. Competitor analysis

You need to stay updated regarding marketing trends to ensure that your e-commerce company does not fall behind in the race.

You can make use of different software to get the exact results. BuiltWith is one such website that provides you detailed insights on your competitors’ performance.

Be online. Be alert. Be proactive.

5. What are the skills of a Marketing Manager?

What sets a Marketing Manager apart from an assistant is their skill set.

Since you are interested in looking at Marketing Management as a career option, you must know that with the rise of digital marketing in the past decade, the skill set required of a Marketing Manager has also changed dramatically. 

Here are the three skills that every Marketing Manager has to possess:

i. Communication

ii. Design

iii. Analysis

vi. Communication

As a general rule, there is nothing you can do without communication in the marketing industry.

If you are a Marketing Manager with a team of 20, you need to communicate clearly with them. 

Meanwhile, communication involves the copies you produce to sell products online as well.

    ii. Design

As the Marketing Manager of the e-commerce platform, you cannot be clueless about anything related to marketing.

This includes design as well. While creativity is a quality that you need to have, designing will be a skill that you possess.

You can also enhance the quality of the designs if you use the best available tools.

One other way to ensure that your campaign looks the best is by having a highly talented design team working for you.

Tip: You need not have a full-time design team. You can always work with freelancers.

    iii. Analytics

Your company would be expecting a certain return on investment (ROI) for the money you spend in marketing it. 

Analytics will help to keep a check on the amount you spend based on the returns you receive.

Now, don’t be disappointed even if you have the slightest feeling that you might not be fit for this job role. 

There are many other career options to choose from right after you finish your MBA.

6. What is the salary of a Marketing Manager

So, if you are looking for a job that would pay you well, then this is it.

For your information, the Marketing Manager’s salary has steadily risen between 2010 and 2018.

The national average salary for a Marketing Manager is approximately above INR 8,00,000 per annum in India this year. Whereas the annual pay for a Marketing Manager outside the country has been above $ 1,40,000 since 2018.

Since you are keen on becoming a Marketing Managers in business, here is something that will make you feel better.

According to recent research, the Marketing Manager job market has been expected to grow by 10.1% between 2016 and 2026. 

Employment options for the role are particularly diverse.

So, as a Marketing Manager, you can work in all industries that sell products, services or ideas.

Healthcare, technology, hospitality, entertainment, food and beverage, and apparel are just a few of the wide variety of industries that use the services of Marketing Managers.

7. How can you become a Marketing Manager

Now that you know the roles and responsibilities of a Marketing Manager, here is how you can successfully achieve that dream.

If you are a graduate, you need to garner work experience and then pursue an MBA from the right B-school.

If you do not have work experience, there is no need to worry. You can apply to B-schools that offer MBA programs without work experience. 

If you are to ask us how long it will take you to become a Marketing Manager, we would like you to know that it purely depends on the duration of your degree or post graduation course and on how you develop yourself over the years.

If you believe that you have what it takes to become a Marketing Manager and have the passion to pursue a career in this dynamic field, do not forget to tick all the boxes in the three-step checklist to become successful in the industry.

You might want to take note that hiring managers for big corporate companies like Britannia, Flipkart, Amazon, etc. often seek MBA graduates as they are equipped to handle large corporates in management, leadership, business strategies, finance, product development, and corporate communications.

If you plan to do an MBA program from any of the reputed institutions, you must definitely prepare for the GMAT.

Also read: Improving your MBA profile – 40 ways to an awesome MBA application!

Wondering if your profile is good enough for an MBA? Talk to an expert to see how good your profile is to get admitted to an MBA program or to do a Master’s Program in Marketing.

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