Essential Skills for Marketing Directors

Job Title

The formal title of the job is marketing director. This person is a Head of Marketing department with the team of marketing managers under control.

Status

Employees in this position are classified as exempt.

Primary Purpose

The main purpose of this job is developing marketing strategies, planning, organization and coordination of marketing activities in order to achieve short and long-term organizational goals. Besides, ensuring that marketing function works effectively and the needs of the company’s target audience are fulfilled is also very important. If marketing department works efficiently – the company`s brand is strong and recognizable. Therefore, it is crucial for the company to have professional marketing directors who can take marketing departments under their control (J. Wilson, personal communication, October 14, 2015).

Major Responsibilities

The main responsibility of marketing directors is development and implementation of the marketing strategy of the company. They set goals and KPIs for marketing department and are responsible for their achievement. Moreover, these people manage, coach, consult and track the staff of marketing department. Marketing director is the person responsible for everything in marketing department. The director coordinates the appearance of all organization print and electronic materials such as letterhead, use of logo, brochures, etc., This person analyzes the internal and external environment activities and consumer’s expectations, forecasting the market condition, the development of marketing policy, and brand management. Determination of the level of advertising activity and the analysis of the research results, as well as development propositions for marketing activities are also included in responsibilities of this position (“Marketing Director,” 2015).

Furthermore, marketing directors are people accountable for preparation and managing the budget of the marketing, communications or public relations program and its activities. Their daily duties comprise operational communication with the sales department, as these two departments always intersect, approval of the selection of the research, creative advertising and other organizations to fulfil the necessary work (J. Wilson, personal communication, October 14, 2015).

Decision Latitude

This position has quite wide autonomy in decision-making relation to marketing activities. The person occupying it should know every part of marketing and be able to teach others, as well as make independent decisions. The marketing director develops strategy of the department, plans of the marketing activities, but the executive director should approve all of that. Concerning budgeting, human resources, producing goods, company services and others, the managing director has to consult with an appropriate department because some of them are strongly linked with each other.

Reporting Relationships

Marketing director controls and gives tasks to the staff of marketing function. That is why subordinates should always report to their leader. From the other side, this person reports about effectiveness and performance of marketing department`s duties to Executive Director.

The Environment of Job

Marketing directors usually work in offices with a computer. The intensity of work may increase due to the changes in the schedule or various critical situations, but goals and deadlines must still be met. This position has many subordinates and cooperation with directors of other departments. That is why meetings with them take a lot of work time.

Travel is often required in order to meet with clients or other managers. Most marketing specialists work 40 hours per week, but when there is a realization of a marketing project, they can work more. Often it is a very stressful job, especially when deadlines are approaching or something suddenly goes wrong (J. Wilson, personal communication, October 14, 2015).

Equipment and Tools

Employees usually use some specific technologies in this occupation. They should know how to use analytical software such as Minitab, Nedstat Sitestat, online advertising, customer relationship management and SAS software. The specialist must be proficient in lots of special programs for data processing (Microsoft Access or Structured query language SQL). Other technology that should be known to everyone is electronic mail software (Microsoft Outlook or others). Every marketing specialist has to work in different graphics software such as Adobe Systems Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Systems Adobe Photoshop software, Graphic presentation software.

There are no specific tools required. Employee should be confident PC user and be able to work with other office equipment (“Summary report,” 2015).

Education Required

Education required for the position of marketing director is a Master’s degree in marketing, public relations or business administration field. If there is an equivalent professional qualification experience in all aspects of developing and maintaining marketing strategies along with technical marketing skills, the field of degree will be less important.

Prior Experience Required

It is required to have more than 5 years of experience in marketing, communications, public relations or related field with demonstrated success and efficiency of work. Experience of creation an effective marketing campaign, organizing and conducting marketing and promotional activities, and assessment of their effectiveness is an advantage. References from previous places of work are also required (J. Wilson, personal communication, October 14, 2015).

Special Skills or Abilities

Marketing directors have to know almost everything about the product, from the stage of production to launching this product on the market. Consequently, they must possess variety of skills, namely, those of marketing specialist, brand manager, advertising manager, etc.

These professionals should be able to manage, inspire and motivate a team members and manage their performance, as they have a lot of people in subjection. In addition, an abilities to manage multiple projects at a time, solve conflicts and find a way out of difficult situations are necessary. Managing director has to be able to identify the strengths and weaknesses of different actions in order to make the right decision fast and have strong crisis management skills. Critical thinking is also an important skill. It is the ability to use certain methods of information processing, define the advantages and disadvantages of the solutions, make informed decision and achieve the desired result. Marketing director is a leader who should have strong visioning – ability to make a picture of success and understanding how to achieve. The person in this position should also be able to convey the idea to his inferiors. The leader has to be an active listener in order to understand what other people are saying, ask questions and not interrupt the interlocutor (J. Wilson, personal communication, October 14, 2015).

Personal Skills

Personal skills are also vital for this position. The person should have excellent verbal and written communication skills, high level of responsibility. He or she should be result-orientated and have developed leadership, project management, and organizational expertise. Such skills as commitment to personal development, flexibility to take on new challenges, and knowledge are highly valued in the personality of marketing director. People in such position should be ambitious, proactive, self-organized and able to work under pressure (J. Wilson, personal communication, October 14, 2015).