Many business owners make one major mistake: They don’t view marketing as one of the most powerful assets for increasing revenue and setting their business up with a rock-solid foundation for growth.
It’s well known that 20% of new businesses fail during their first two years — and over 65% fail within 10 years.
One way to not become part of that statistic is to invest in marketing, and that means hiring a skilled marketing manager to oversee its operations.
The right marketing manager can drive substantial growth for your business. They can help you build lasting customer relationships and steer your company toward its long-term objectives.
On the flip side, a wrong hire can lead to an avalanche of problems. Think wasted resources, missed opportunities, a stagnant market presence, and more.
There’s an art to hiring the right marketing manager, and it includes knowing what key qualities and skills fit the role.
In this blog, you’ll learn how to hire a marketing manager who’s the ideal candidate for your business goals. Let’s get into what it takes to make a successful hire for your marketing manager position.
Why Hire a Marketing Manager
Hiring a marketing manager gives you a go-to person who strategically conceptualizes and implements new ideas and campaigns. They oversee all of your marketing efforts. They ensure that everyone in the marketing department is completing their tasks efficiently and all team members collaborate with each other and with other departments.
Hiring a marketing manager means you take a lot of weight off of your own shoulders. They take responsibility for fresh new content, optimizing your website, increasing engagement and conversions, and enhancing your brand’s online presence.
As a business owner, you need to delegate tasks, and a marketing manager can ease a lot of your burdens. Not to mention, a strong marketing team significantly increases your revenue and growth opportunities.
Essential Qualities of a Marketing Manager
A great marketing manager needs to possess a certain skill set, many of which are soft skills. Let’s get into the most important qualities you want to look for when hiring a marketing manager for your business.
Leadership Skills
A great marketing manager needs to have strong leadership skills to inspire and motivate their team. With this skill set under their belt, they’ll be able to provide guidance, give direction, and create an environment where everyone works together toward a common goal.
Effective leadership skills ensure that any marketing initiatives are executed efficiently, with every team member bringing their best.
Strategic Thinking
Strategic thinking is a must-have for a marketing manager to be able to develop a comprehensive marketing plan that aligns with your business goals. They need to be able to analyze market trends, identify opportunities and threats, and formulate strategies that capitalize on strengths while addressing any weaknesses.
Strategic thinking allows a marketing manager to think outside the box and enables them to anticipate challenges and adapt when needed — especially when analyzing competitor performance.
Creativity
At the heart of every successful marketing campaign is creativity. A great marketing manager leverages their creativity to conceptualize new ideas and design engaging content that speaks to your audience and persuades them to interact with you. Without creativity, your business cannot stand out among the thousands of others in your industry.
Communication Skills
To effectively convey ideas, articulate strategies, and collaborate, strong communication skills are indispensable. Clear and concise communication — both verbal and written — ensures that everyone on the team is on the same page and enables the marketing manager to build strong internal and client relationships.
Adaptability
With constantly changing market conditions and trends, a strong marketing manager must be able to adapt — and quickly. Being adaptable means they’ll be able to adjust their tactics as needed. You don’t want someone who is so stuck in their ways that they fail to see an opportunity when it’s right in front of them.
Emotional Intelligence
No matter how skilled and experienced a person is, it virtually means nothing if they don’t possess a high level of emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence allows them to be effective leaders. Without it, even their most brilliant ideas will fall by the wayside if they’re unable to collaborate with others, de-escalate any issues, and get people on the same page.
Other Key Considerations When Hiring a Marketing Manager
Although the above set of skills is invaluable for any position, your marketing manager also needs to have a specific set of hard skills to help them perform their job well.
Technical Skills and Experience
Here are the key technical considerations you need to look for when hiring a marketing manager:
Proficiency in Marketing Tools and Technologies
A strong understanding of marketing automation platforms such as HubSpot, Marketo Engage, or MailChimp is one of the most important elements for streamlining marketing workflows and managing campaigns efficiently.
Familiarity with these tools allows a marketing manager to automate repetitive tasks, personalize marketing communications, and track customer interactions across multiple channels.
Knowledge of Analytics Tools
Analytics tools like Google Analytics, Adobe Analytics, or Semrush are essential for a marketing manager to measure the performance of marketing campaigns, analyze user behavior, and gain actionable insights.
Having a certain level of proficiency in analytics tools like these allows a marketing expert to track key metrics, identify trends, and make data-driven decisions that ultimately drive ROI. If a marketing manager doesn’t have experience with these tools, it’s unlikely that you’ll be able to achieve your business goals efficiently.
Experience in Digital Marketing
In today's digital age, a marketing manager must have hands-on experience in digital marketing channels. Things like email marketing, paid advertising, and search engine optimization (SEO) are part of the general umbrella of knowledge and experience that they need to have.
Familiarity with digital marketing platforms and tactics allows the marketing manager to reach target audiences effectively, drive website traffic, and generate leads for your business.
Understanding of SEO, SEM, and Content Marketing Strategies
A deep understanding of SEO principles, search engine marketing (SEM) techniques, and content marketing strategies is one of the most important skills you need to look for.
If a marketing manager candidate has a solid understanding of these elements, they’re better able to optimize your website’s performance, increase brand awareness, and attract qualified leads through relevant, high-quality content.
Knowledge of Social Media Marketing
Social media has become one of the most powerful ways of marketing today, and a marketing manager needs to have at least some familiarity with social media strategies, platforms, and best practices.
This skill allows a marketing manager to build your brand presence, engage directly with your audience, and nurture meaningful relationships with your customers, which ultimately drives conversions.
Inbound Marketing Know-How
Inbound marketing focuses on attracting, engaging, and delighting customers by providing valuable content and experiences that align with their deepest needs and desires.
A marketing manager with knowledge of inbound marketing methodologies will understand the importance of creating personalized, relevant content for you that educates and empowers your ideal customer at every stage of the buyer's journey. This helps to attract qualified leads to your business and provide value for them well after they’ve purchased your product or service.
Cultural Fit and Team Collaboration
Skill sets aside, you want a marketing manager who fits the energy and personality of your team. A workplace full of people who get along and genuinely care about each other goes a long, long way. Here’s why:
Alignment With Company Values and Culture
During the interview process, make sure you get an accurate assessment of the candidate's values and whether they align with your company culture. A toxic company culture is not only evident to its employees — it’s evident to everyone who comes in contact with it.
Hiring a marketing manager who understands your company culture and its importance will feed into the positive and collaborative atmosphere you aim to nurture.
Ability to Work Across Departments
You also want to determine whether the candidate can collaborate well with your sales, product, and customer support teams. This will help with a seamless flow of information between departments and with cross-functional teamwork.
Again, here’s where good communication skills come in handy. Without them, collaborating with other departments will prove to be a challenge.
Past Performance and References
As the saying goes, the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. The same goes for performance.
Reviewing someone’s past work and accomplishments gives you a good idea of what they’re capable of doing for your business. A few considerations to keep in mind:
Review of Candidate's Previous Work
Along with their resumes, ask your candidates to send you samples of previous work or a portfolio if they have one. Take a thorough look at their past marketing campaigns and projects. Make sure to look at the results and the impact of those campaigns to get an overall picture of how their strategy played into their successes.
Reference Checks
Don’t leave things to chance. An impressive resume can always be doctored — which means you need to get in touch with a candidate’s past employers to validate their qualifications.
Make sure to have a list of questions lined up, too. References aren’t just to validate past work experience. You want to gauge whether the candidate performed their job well. Some example questions could be:
- Can you describe their approach to strategic planning and execution in any marketing initiatives?
- How did they collaborate with cross-functional teams to drive marketing projects forward?
- How proficient were they in leveraging marketing tools, technologies, and analytics to optimize the performance of your campaigns?
Asking these questions will give you a better understanding of your potential marketing manager’s skills.
Interview Project or Assessment
For even more insight into your candidates’ experience and expertise, consider conducting an interview project or assessment. A project typically involves presenting findings, recommendations, or campaign ideas, allowing candidates to demonstrate their ability to articulate concepts clearly and persuasively.
By engaging in an interview project, candidates can showcase their creativity, innovation, and ability to align marketing efforts with business objectives, while also demonstrating their time management and project coordination skills. Additionally, the project offers insights into candidates' cultural fit and their capacity to collaborate effectively within the team.
Overall, integrating a project assignment ensures a more thorough assessment of candidates' capabilities beyond traditional interviews and resumes, facilitating informed hiring decisions.
Alternatives to Hiring a Marketing Manager
Many alternatives exist that may actually work better for your business, including hiring contractors or consultants. These people have the experience and skill set to get the job done, but you aren’t obligated to a long-term commitment. You can hire them on an as-needed basis.
Got a big project or campaign in mind? A contractor may be a great fit. Need some blog posts and social media content? A freelancer might work just fine. These options allow you the freedom and flexibility to get quality work without having to hire full-time employees, which will save you quite a sum on benefits and insurance.
Hiring an agency is another route to the marketing manager role. With an agency, you get an entire team of experts who are dedicated to delivering the best quality to you. You also don’t have to worry about an agency leaving or giving their two-week notice. They’re committed to you, and they’re there for the long haul.
Whatever option you choose, make sure you do your due diligence and research whether hiring a marketing manager or going another route works best for your business.
Hire Right the First Time
At the end of the day, when you need to hire a marketing manager, look for someone who possesses strong leadership skills. Give priority to someone who values emotional intelligence, communication, and creativity — and then look at their technical skills.
A comprehensive assessment of a candidate's qualifications, experiences, and references will help you select a marketing manager who meets the technical requirements of the position and also aligns with your company culture, values, and long-term goals.
In the meantime, if you want to see results with your marketing strategies, grab a copy of the free guide 24 Pro Tips for Marketers and start crushing your marketing processes today.
