What does the life of a marketing manager look like ?
#marketing #business #internship
6 answers
Jennifer’s Answer
Marketing can have many different facets to it - I work in the Creative Group in our Marketing Dept and in Print Production and Mail Logistics specifically.
In Print Production I work with our Retouching and Creative team to link retouched images to Creative's InDesign files and print them out so that the Creative and Retouching team can mark up for changes and check for errors. For this a knowledge of InDesign is needed and some understanding of Photoshop.
I am responsible to deliver files to the different Printers that we use. I work with the different teams on the project to ensure that we are on track to make our file delivery dates. I also QC that the files are to the Printers Specs before sending them out. A knowledge of how printing works is needed for this and being able to manage timelines with different teams. It can be hectic if you have large or multiple projects due at the same time.
After Projects are sent to Printer I have to create PDF's and process Assets for Internal Company use.
For Mail Logistics I work with the companies that mail our mail pieces, the Post Office and our Mail Tracking companies. I estimate how much postage and processing costs are needed for some of our mailings so I am responsible for creating the Budget and Purchase Orders for these projects . I also track how our mailings are delivering to our customers and if there are any issues I work with our mailers and Post Office to resolve. A knowledge Mail Logistics is needed for this - understanding of costs and how mail processes through the Postal system and how to plan these costs.
My day can be working on emails and analytics when dealing with Mail logistics but then work in a more Creative environment when I am working in the Design files. I like that I can have both experiences - I started out with Logistics Management roles but was able to add on the Creative Print Production aspect of the job by being open to learning new things when my Company had this new opportunity for me. Depending on size of company you may find you have many hats in a smaller one or focused on one aspect of process at a bigger company.
Jennifer recommends the following next steps:
Pro’s Answer
Most marketing managers have a bachelor's degree in marketing, public relations, communications, or business. You should also have strong communication skills, be able to understand & analyze trends, and thoroughly understand the wide variety of marketing channels.
Lisa’s Answer
Marketing Managers work to promote or market a company's products or services. Almost all companies will have someone or a team to manage their marketing needs. How they do this depends upon the industry, whether the business is B to B (business to business) or D to C (direct to consumer). Think a chemical company marketing to a pharmaceutical manufacturer (BtoB ) vs. Johnson & Johnson marketing drugs to physicians (BtoC). Marketing Managers think about strategies (ideas) about how they want to get their message across to different target markets (toys to kids, clothing for teenagers for example. Advertise on Facebook or mail printed brochures to homes. It could be an e-commerce company. This type of business would NOT have a Print Production Dept since they only sell their products on the internet. See below for ways to learn more.
Lisa recommends the following next steps:
Michele’s Answer
I'm a product marketing manager for a tech company and I work from home as our offices are in different cities/countries.
Here are some of my daily activities:
- Writing/reviewing content for the website
- Creating and writing educational materials for the sales folks.
- Competitor research and analysis.
- Meeting online conferences with the rest of the marketing team to coordinate on projects.
- Brainstorming themes and talking points for tech tradeshows.
Some things I do that are not traditional for product marketing managers, but in startups we wear many hats:
- Write content for online advertisements (think Linkedin ads and google ads)
- Managing Google Adwords campaigns
- Looking at website performance in Google Analytics
- Working in marketing automation platform (Marketo for my company) and looking at performance of email marketing programs.
- Going to trade shows and talking to attendees about the product.
Thank you so much! Also, if I want to be a. Marketing manager get for like a big company, do I have to go to grad school? Does it matter which grad school I go to? Should I get a mba or ms in marketing? Again, thank you
Abdullah
Abdullah I don’t think it’s necessary to get an mba. I’ve worked at big corporations, thermo fisher scientific and amazon, and I didn’t need an MBA. The key to working at big corps is to get an internship or get experience in a big Corp early in your career. Once it’s on your resume you can get jobs at other big corps and easily get jobs at tech startups.
In marketing it can be hard to move up the ladder because marketing teams tend to be small and people like to stay around for a long time . If you want to move up the ladder in marketing, like I have, I suggest staying in a role for around a year but always keeping an eye out for opportunities at other companies for roles that are higher up the ladder and better paying. This is just based on my experience.
Michele Harman
Something else I should point out is that your first job will probably have title like assistant, associate, etc. moving up to titles like specialist and then manager titles. Kind of how the ladder works.
Michele Harman
Christabelle’s Answer
Trisha’s Answer
Lead gen, lead gen, lead gen!
ROI reporting
Trying new lead gen channels
Metrics
Sync with sales folks
Trade shows, ordering swag, managing the website.
Oh, did I mention lead gen?