Fancy a career as a Marketing Manager? Here are the basics to help you on your way…

A job in Marketing can always seems like a rather attractive proposition and can be made more attractive by an often misconstrued idea that people in Marketing just create snazzy campaigns and brochures! Whilst this is an important job duty for many Marketers, a Marketing Manager often has a busy, pressured and varied workload and Marketing can be a rather target driven environment to work in – here are some top tips to help you decide if a career as a Marketing Manager is for you…

Qualifications

This is not a junior level position! As well as experience, a  Marketing Manager will most likely be expected to have a Degree in Marketing or a Business Related subject and post Degree have gone on to study specific accredited marketing qualifications from the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM).

Experience

While your qualifications may be important when being shortlisted for a Marketing Manager position, there are three to four more junior roles that you will have to gain experience in prior to being considered an applicable candidate. If you commence your Marketing career post University (or perhaps even A-Level), experience gained as a Marketing Assistant and Marketing Executive level will be essential. As Marketing and Sales are interrelated – gaining experience in Business Development, managing profit and loss and working to targets is also key. As this is a Management position, experience in managing people and projects will also be an important aspect of any shortlisting criteria.

 Type of Person

A job in Marketing ultimately is about finding the best way of promoting your company’s message or product / service. You should therefore expect to feel the pressure if you do not do a very good job of doing the above! You need to be able to deal with pressure and targets, planning and forecasting, and managing time and responsibilities. As you will most likely be managing other people, you need to be able to delegate responsibility, be good at listening and good (at times) telling and instructing! As most Marketing departments now have Social Media strategies, being hot on using all forms of Social Media will also be key.

Skills to become a Marketing Manager

Common sense perhaps, but don’t underestimate just how important great communication skills are, as is a creative mind and creative ability. (The lack of these skills is perhaps the reason as to why there are a few dud Marketing Managers around we think!)

Good business development and presentation skills are also key and the ability to manage finances and budgets would certainly help too!

How to become a Marketing Manager

If you already have a CIM qualification, Marketing Executive Experience, people management experience and the skills highlighted above, you are pretty much spot on for a role as a Marketing Manager in a medium size company. If you have only a degree and little else,  expect to take at least 5-7 years post degree to get to the level required. It may help by working for a small company or Startup as you will gain more varied experience and be expected to take more responsibility very early on in your career.

If you are keen to become a Marketing Manager and don’t have a degree – don’t necessarily despair, becoming a well known face in Marketing and working your way through the ranks could mean that  you and your  talents could become readily identifiable and perhaps even known in the industry too.

Fancy a career as a Marketing Manager? Good luck!! We hope these basic tips help you along the way..

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