Unsurprisingly there’s not a clear answer to this question! Becoming a marketing manager depends on several factors. These can include your formal education, training, and experience.
What higher education is required?
It’s critical that marketing managers have a good grasp of the technical skills that go with the job. But these don’t have to be learned through a marketing degree. While a bachelor’s degree in marketing or business will certainly be helpful, it’s not necessary for the role.
Once you reach a managerial position, industry experience is likely to be more important in helping you secure a role. But, of course, industry experience is often gained through more junior positions. And a relevant undergraduate degree will make you more competitive for those roles.
To help you stand out even more, you might decide to enroll in a higher degree. A Master’s in Marketing or Marketing Management can be useful. For example, Southern New Hampshire University in the US has a 15-month online Master’s in Marketing program. Completing an advanced degree program can also impact your earning potential. Marketing managers in Australia earned 48% more than their peers when they completed a Master’s degree.3
A Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) will give you a broad understanding of business operations. This can be useful when working in a cross-functional team or with senior stakeholders. Some MBA programs have specific modules related to marketing specializations. These can diversify your professional skills. The Australian Institute of Business fast-track MBA offers a number of marketing specializations. These include modules on consumer behavior, digital marketing, and new product design.
What licenses, certifications and registrations are needed?
Professional training can act as an alternative route to degree programs. Industry certifications and accredited courses can provide the technical knowledge required.
The most well-known industry certification is from Hubspot. Through its Academy, Hubspot provides hundreds of certification courses and bite-size short courses. You can pick up some niche training in under 30 minutes. Or you can complete an accredited course of up to eight hours in length.
If your focus is on content marketing, Copyblogger provides a Content Marketers certification. The Content Marketing Institute also offers a self-paced curriculum through the CMI University. The Google Digital Garage also provides free learning content. It does this both directly and through partners such as Coursera.
The Australian Marketing Institute is an industry professional body. It endorses training providers based on the quality of their courses. You can apply for membership of the AMI. Membership opens the door to becoming a Certified Practising Marketer (CPM). The CPM designation is the only professional benchmark for marketers in Asia-Pacific. The Chartered Institute of Marketing provides the same service in the UK.
None of these accreditations or certifications are necessary for success as a marketing manager. However, they may make you more competitive against other candidates. Continuous professional development helps you grow your skill set. It also helps you perform better and feel more confident.
What on-job internships are typically undertaken for experience in the field?
Building experience in the field is critical for successful marketing managers. To get started in marketing, on-job internships are available. These help you build your skills and industry knowledge. They also enable you to start growing a network of contacts that might be helpful throughout your career.
Using professional career websites, such as LinkedIn, can help you identify suitable opportunities. In Australia, both IBM and Tata Consultancy Services are currently looking for marketing interns. Procter & Gamble is looking for summer marketing interns in the UK. In the US, Google offers BOLD internships. BOLD interns join Sales, Marketing, and People Operations teams. During their internship, they help identify and solve business challenges.
Once you secure a junior marketing role, there may be opportunities for work shadowing. Observing experienced marketing managers can deepen your skill set. Or perhaps you could cover their responsibilities while they are on vacation. This will give you experience leading a team and making management-level decisions.
You should discuss your career goals with your line manager. They might be able to help you find opportunities to develop. For example, leading on an important or complex project. Or presenting a campaign performance update to senior stakeholders.
What advancement or specialization opportunities are there?
As more customer engagement channels open up, the opportunities for marketing specialization increase. Marketers may become specialized in a variety of areas. These include content marketing, video marketing, social media marketing, and influencer marketing. They may also choose to increase their competency in certain technical areas, such as data analytics.
Building a broad skill set can be helpful as you advance in your marketing career. Marketing managers are often responsible for multiple dedicated marketing teams. Gaining specialized knowledge can make presenting yourself credibly to your team members easier.
Once you hold a marketing manager role, there are opportunities for advancement. As they gain more experience, marketing managers may be promoted to more senior roles, such as Marketing Director or VP of Marketing. Depending on their skills and job experience, they may also move into sales or customer success roles. Marketing managers working in small businesses may look for roles in larger, more complex enterprises.