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Career Description

Plan, direct or coordinate marketing policies and programs, such as determining the demand for products and services offered by a firm and its competitors, and identify potential customers. Develop pricing strategies with the goal of maximizing the firm's profits or share of the market while ensuring the firm's customers are satisfied. Oversee product development or monitor trends that indicate the need for new products and services.

What Job Titles Marketing Managers Might Have

• Brand Manager
• Business Development Manager
• Marketing Director
• Marketing Manager

What Marketing Managers Do

• Identify, develop, or evaluate marketing strategy, based on knowledge of establishment objectives, market characteristics, and cost and markup factors.
• Formulate, direct, or coordinate marketing activities or policies to promote products or services, working with advertising or promotion managers.
• Evaluate the financial aspects of product development, such as budgets, expenditures, research and development appropriations, or return-on-investment and profit-loss projections.
• Develop pricing strategies, balancing firm objectives and customer satisfaction.
• Compile lists describing product or service offerings.
• Direct the hiring, training, or performance evaluations of marketing or sales staff and oversee their daily activities.
• Consult with product development personnel on product specifications such as design, color, or packaging.
• Use sales forecasting or strategic planning to ensure the sale and profitability of products, lines, or services, analyzing business developments and monitoring market trends.
• Negotiate contracts with vendors or distributors to manage product distribution, establishing distribution networks or developing distribution strategies.
• Coordinate or participate in promotional activities or trade shows, working with developers, advertisers, or production managers, to market products or services.
• Initiate market research studies or analyze their findings.
• Confer with legal staff to resolve problems, such as copyright infringement or royalty sharing with outside producers or distributors.
• Consult with buying personnel to gain advice regarding the types of products or services expected to be in demand.
• Consult with buying personnel to gain advice regarding environmentally sound or sustainable products.
• Conduct economic or commercial surveys to identify potential markets for products or services.
• Recommend modifications to products, packaging, production processes, or other characteristics to improve the environmental soundness or sustainability of products.
• Advise business or other groups on local, national, or international factors affecting the buying or selling of products or services.

What Marketing Managers Should Be Good At

• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Written Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
• Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
• Fluency of Ideas - The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
• Inductive Reasoning - The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
• Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
• Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
• Near Vision - The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
• Speech Recognition - The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.

What Marketing Managers Need to Learn

• Sales and Marketing - Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Administration and Management - Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
• Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
• Communications and Media - Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.
• Computers and Electronics - Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
• Mathematics - Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
• Design - Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.
• Economics and Accounting - Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking and the analysis and reporting of financial data.
• Education and Training - Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.