Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
Taylor Benedict,
12/1/15
Marketing Director
The career I chose to study is in the field of marketing, and in particular a marketing
director. There are many other careers Im interested in, but for the sake of this class and the
unique position I find myself in at work I felt that doing a little bit of extra research about
marketing directors would be useful and flows well with what we have studied in class. In this
paper I will discuss in detail what it takes to become a marketing director and more importantly
what a marketing director really does on a day to day basis.
First I would like to just outline what a marketing director does by sharing what a couple
relative sources say to be the job description of a Marketing Director. Dawn Rosenberg Mckay a
career planning expert with about.com describes the job this way. A marketing manager
formulates a firm's marketing strategy. With the assistance of a marketing or sales team, a
marketing manager estimates demand for and identifies markets for the company's or
organization's products and services. A marketing manager and his or her team also set prices
with an eye toward maximizing profits, increasing market share and keeping customers happy.
(Mackay, 2014) This fits perfectly with our class text book Better Business Fourth Edition
which states on pg 338, in reference to marketing responsibilities, that Marketing departments
help develop pricing strategies and persuade customers that their firms products are the best.
(Solomon & Poatsy, 2015). I really like how Marriott Park City describes the job on linkedin, a
business oriented social media website, They state that a Director of Sales & Marketing is
responsible for: short and long term planning and day-to-day operations of the sales & catering
team; prepares the marketing, advertising, sales plans, programs and annual budget; managed
within approved plans and budgets; daily operations, training, and directing of the sales staff.
Now that we know what a marketing director does in the broadest sense let's look at what a
marketing director does on a day to day basis.
Again to paraphrase what we learn from Dawn Mackay, marketing directors do just what
their name implies, they direct the marketing activities for their companies through product and
service promotion and advertising. They identify and evaluate a business marketing strategy
based on the business objectives, status or characteristics of the market, and of course cost. They
also are responsible for managing, hiring, and training their marketing team. They are also
influential in making final decisions on the finance side of developing products, using budgets,
expenditures, research and other financial tools. One of their other tasks is customer satisfaction
by attempting to make the best product for the right price that is both beneficial to customers and
makes a profit for the company (Mackay, 2015) . In my job I have the opportunity to discuss
marketing strategies with marketing directors daily and what I have learned is that they have a
very demanding career. They are corporate leaders, as middle managers, and work with many
people on a day to day basis. For my job I simply discuss digital advertising with marketing
directors and in attempting to get a hold of them I can call 5-15 times over a 2 week span without
real contact. They are so busy and receive so many marketing calls, and are in so many meetings
I struggle to imagine how one does not get overwhelmed, so I looked into what it takes to
become a marketing director to find out.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics one must usually receive a bachelor's
degree with a focus in business law, management, economics, finance, computer science,
mathematics, and statistics. It is also helpful to have job experience as sales representatives,
purchasing agents, buyers, and any field where public relations are involved. There are a number
of qualities that are also advantageous for marketing directors to develop, qualities such as
analytical skills, communication skills, creativity, decision-making skills, interpersonal skills,
and organizational skills; all of which help create an effective leader (Bureau of Labor Statistics,
2015)
One thing that I wanted to know right off the bat was the salary of a marketing director.
According to Payscale.com Marketing directors with a lot of experience tend to enjoy higher
earnings. Salaries of relatively inexperienced workers fall in the neighborhood of $49K, but folks
who have racked up five to 10 years see a notably higher median of $75K. Experienced
professionals those with 10 to 20 years in the field see salaries in the six-figure territory,
securing around $102K on average. Respondents who claim more than 20 years of experience
may encounter pay that doesn't quite reflect their extensive experience; these veterans report a
median income of around $109K. (Payscale, 2015) That seems to me a little low so I did a bit
more research and I found on usnews.com that the median income for a marketing director was
$123,220 (U.S.News, 2015) per year more than a 40k difference. Im going to assume that the
numbers are somewhere in the middle of those two sources.
For research for this paper I was able speak with is a family friend of mine, Todd Handy
who isnt technically a marketing director, but worked as the vice president of advertising
Strategy & products and vice president of digital sales for deseret digital media. Todd has 22
years of experience in sales and marketing and was able to tell me a lot about being involved in
corporate marketing especially on the digital side which is where the world is shifting too. Todd
was responsible for managing sales teams, driving revenue, working closely with customers and
maintaining customer relationships in business to business situations as well as business to
consumer situations. He has been influential in helping the companies hes worked for make
profits and drive customers to their business. Todd received his undergraduate Bachelor's degree
in Business and went on to get an Masters In Business Administration. He said that some of the
things he loves about his job are the opportunities he has to work with so many people and the
opportunity to work with so many creative minds. Many who specifically help him build
marketing strategies and models to increase business grow and influence buyers by means of
well developed advertising and marketing. Along with the pros there are always cons and one of
those is also working with people who are less motivated, or maybe hold their values a little
lower than the companies and on occasion that can really cause some problems for him as a
leader in the company. Todd told me the most important thing to know about possibly going into
the field of marketing and business management is to make sure you are a people person,
because if you dont like dealing with people you will not like your job.
Along with what Todd said there are many other pros and cons to working as a marketing
director and here are a few I found from LearningPath.org. Pros are high earning potential,
degree programs are readily available, you work in a comfortable environment, and can work in
virtually any industry (pharmaceuticals, technology, entertainment, etc). Some of the less
attractive parts of the job include high competition for jobs, and this job typically involves long
hours (about 20% worked more than 40 hours per week in 2012), often with stressful work
environment, and pressures to meet deadlines.(LearningPath.org, 2015).
I realize that this project is to help us understand if this career choice would be good for
me personally. I have to come to the conclusion that I would do well in this career, but I still have
some hesitations. One reason I think I would do well at this job is I have had past experience as
an LDS missionary working with people and in teams and I have some leadership experience as
well with organizing and managing meetings, projects, and events. Another reason I feel I could
do well is I have some good connections to companies that could help me learn and gain
experience in the marketing and sales fields. On the other hand though one of the main reasons I
dont feel like this is the right fit for me is I dont feel like I am a people person, and I say that
not because I am not good at working with others, but more that I dont enjoy it as much as
working alone or with fewer people. I also dont feel comfortable selling things or people trying
to sell things to me which is one of the main functions of anyone in marketing.
Marketing is essential to business and after this research I agree with that more and more.
Though I dont think I will ever be a marketing director Im grateful for their talent and skill to
keep businesses and customers relations strong in all the many fields they work in.
Mckay, D. (n.d.). What Does a Marketing Manager Do? Retrieved December 1, 2015,
from http://careerplanning.about.com/od/occupations/p/marketing_mgr.htm
Becoming a Marketing Manager: Job Description & Salary Information. (n.d.). Retrieved
December 2, 2015, from
http://learningpath.org/articles/Marketing_Manager_Career_Profile.html
Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook,
2014-15 Edition, Advertising, Promotions, and Marketing Managers,
http://www.bls.gov/ooh/management/advertising-promotions-and-marketingmanagers.htm (visited Dec, 1, 2015).
Directory of Sales & Marketing - Marriott Park City. (2015, November 1). Retrieved
December 1, 2015, from https://www.linkedin.com/jobs2/view/85379953?
trk=vsrp_jobs_res_name&trkInfo=VSRPsearchId:4598858001448941052645,VSRPtarg
etId:85379953,VSRPcmpt:primary
LinkedIn. (n.d.). Retrieved December 2, 2015, from
https://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?
id=ADEAAAAdPl4BQct5o9I72mx3OYqbYj9ZGYHHVd4&authType=NAME_SEARCH&a
uthToken=WRnR&locale=en_US&srchid=4598858001449016158596&srchindex=1&src
htotal=7&trk=vsrp_people_res_name&trkInfo=VSRPsearchId:459885800144901615859
6%
Marketing Director Salary (United States) United States Home Change Country (n.d.).
Retrieved December 1, 2015, from
http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Marketing_Director/Salary
Solomon, M., & Poatsy, M. (2010). Better business. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice
Hall.