How to Become a Marketing Manager

By Remington College Posted November 9. 2017

If you've ever heard an advertisement on the radio, read about a grand opening in the newspaper, or watched a commercial on television, then you are already somewhat familiar with what a marketing manager does.

Are you able to ...
Come up with creative ideas?
See solutions where others can't?
Change direction easily?
Give great presentations?
Work well under pressure?
Motivate a successful team?

If any of these sounds like you, then you may have the type of go getter personality that with the right training could help you become a great marketing manager.

What is a Marketing Manager

Every day we see advertisements that guide us to buy the things that we do. A marketing manager's job is to figure out who buys certain products or services and then to motivate customers to choose their company's product or service over the competition.

What Does a Marketing Manager do?

A marketing manager looks at current and potential customers to determine who buys their business's products or services and how to market to them effectively.¹

A big part of their job is helping the business maintain customer satisfaction. They look at existing customers in order to figure out how they can improve their products or services and research potential customers to determine how to make them buy their products or services instead of someone else's.

A marketing manager works with many different members of a team which may include sales, public relations, and product development staff. Together they determine prices based on the cost to the business and what they expect to earn back, while maintaining a high level of customer satisfaction.

Marketing managers and advertising managers sometimes work together to determine the type of advertising that is most likely to influence customers to buy their product. They compare different types of advertising (web, print, radio, television) and monitor what works best.

What Skills Do I Need?

Most marketing managers will need to possess a high school diploma and a Bachelor's degree in Marketing. Courses that are helpful include accounting, law & legal procedure, management, finance, computer science, business ethics, and leadership.¹ If you are pursuing a degree in marketing, then you should consider taking courses in all of these

Some other important skills to have are being able to look at and analyze information, and find solutions to problems in consumer trends. You should have strong mathematical skills and the ability to make decisions based on numbers.¹

In addition, a marketing manager should have a "go getter" personality. The ideal person is outgoing, team-oriented, and creative.¹ He or she should be good at managing and motivating a team to achieve their goals. Creativity is a must, as the marketing manager is the one who's coming up with new strategies and ideas!

How Long Does it Take to Become a Marketing Manager?

The path to becoming a marketing manager typically begins with a Bachelor's degree, which can take forty-eight months to earn as a full-time student.

How Much Money Will I Make?

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median salary for marketing managers was $127,130 in May of 2014. The lowest paid marketing managers earned less than $65,980, and the highest paid earned more than $187,200.¹

Please keep in mind employment and income cannot be guaranteed by any educational institution for students or graduates. Additionally, salary data cited in this article is based on median data provided by the United States Department of Labor, does not reflect starting or entry level salaries, and can vary widely based on geographic location.

1. http://www.bls.gov/ooh/management/advertising-promotions-and-marketing-managers.htm#tab-1