Marketing Managers
What Marketing Managers Do
Plan, direct, or coordinate marketing policies and programs, such as determining the demand for products and services offered by a firm and its competitors, and identify potential customers. Develop pricing strategies with the goal of maximizing the firm's profits or share of the market while ensuring the firm's customers are satisfied. Oversee product development or monitor trends that indicate the need for new products and services.
See full salary breakdown & percentiles →
Career Outlook
National employment outlook, 2024–2034.
- Related work experience
- 5 years or more
- On-the-job training
- None
- Self-employed
- 3.6%
Source: BLS Employment Projections — 2024-2034.
How Much Preparation Does This Take?
Job Zone 4 of 5Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed
- Experience
- A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations.
- Education
- Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.
- Job training
- Employees in these occupations usually need several years of work-related experience, on-the-job training, and/or vocational training.
Source: O*NET Job Zones.
Key Knowledge Areas
Subject-matter areas this occupation draws on most, per O*NET.
- Sales and Marketingimportance 4.8/5
- English Languageimportance 4.5/5
- Administration and Managementimportance 4.0/5
- Customer and Personal Serviceimportance 3.9/5
- Communications and Mediaimportance 3.8/5
- Computers and Electronicsimportance 3.5/5
- Mathematicsimportance 3.5/5
- Designimportance 3.1/5
Work Environment
What the day-to-day work setting is like, per O*NET.
- E-Mail5.0/5
- Telephone Conversations4.9/5
- Face-to-Face Discussions with Individuals and Within Teams4.8/5
- Work With or Contribute to a Work Group or Team4.7/5
- Determine Tasks, Priorities and Goals4.6/5
- Contact With Others4.6/5
Careers With Similar Skills
Occupations whose Transferable Skills profile most closely matches this one — a mathematical comparison, not observed data about people actually moving between these careers.
- Financial Managers99% skill match
- Advertising and Promotions Managers99% skill match
- Medical and Health Services Managers98% skill match
- Art Directors98% skill match
- Compensation and Benefits Managers98% skill match
- Sales Managers98% skill match
- Urban and Regional Planners98% skill match
- Training and Development Managers97% skill match
Transferable Skills
Cross-functional skills this occupation draws on most, per O*NET — the kind that carry over to other careers.
- Social Perceptivenessimportance 3.9/5
- Persuasionimportance 3.8/5
- Judgment and Decision Makingimportance 3.8/5
- Negotiationimportance 3.6/5
- Complex Problem Solvingimportance 3.6/5
- Coordinationimportance 3.5/5
- Systems Evaluationimportance 3.5/5
- Time Managementimportance 3.5/5
Software & Technologies
Tools and software used in this occupation, per O*NET.
Hot Technologies
Other Software Used
- AEC Software FastTrack Schedule
- AdSense Tracker
- Adobe Acrobat Reader
- Adobe ActionScript
- Adobe Dreamweaver
- Airtable
- Apache Pig
- Apache Solr
Work Style
Personal work characteristics that matter most for this occupation, per O*NET.
- Innovation
- Leadership Orientation
- Achievement Orientation
- Adaptability
- Self-Confidence
- Social Orientation
- Dependability
Career Interests
This occupation’s RIASEC interest profile, per O*NET — how strongly it fits each of the six Holland interest types.
- EnterprisingHigh
- ConventionalMedium
- InvestigativeLow
- SocialLow
- ArtisticLow
- RealisticLow
This page includes information from the O*NET 30.3 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.
Where This Career Is Most Concentrated
Metro areas where marketing managers make up the largest share of local employment, relative to the national average (BLS location quotient).
- 1San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA2.53× national avg
- 2New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ2.27× national avg
- 3Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX2.18× national avg
- 4Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury, CT2.10× national avg
- 5Trenton-Princeton, NJ2.04× national avg
Possible Career Moves
A computed starting point, not observed job-change data — see the full list for why each one might fit.
- Sales ManagersLateral Move
- Advertising and Promotions ManagersLateral Move
- Purchasing ManagersLateral Move
- Financial ManagersLateral Move
Related Education Programs
Schools that offer related fields of study, based on the NCES CIP-SOC crosswalk — not a guarantee that graduates enter this specific career.
Marketing/Marketing Management, General
- Florida State University (Tallahassee, FL)grads earn ~$84,981
- The University of Alabama (Tuscaloosa, AL)grads earn ~$77,451
- Western Governors University (Salt Lake City, UT)grads earn ~$71,431
- University of Cincinnati-Main Campus (Cincinnati, OH)grads earn ~$72,881
- Ohio State University-Main Campus (Columbus, OH)grads earn ~$81,119
Pharmaceutical Marketing and Management
- Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (Boston, MA)grads earn ~$141,852
- Northeastern University Professional Programs (Boston, MA)grads earn ~$136,474
- University of Florida (Gainesville, FL)grads earn ~$86,586
- University of Maryland Baltimore (Baltimore, MD)grads earn ~$148,993
- Nova Southeastern University (Fort Lauderdale, FL)
Special Products Marketing Operations
- Fashion Institute of Technology (New York, NY)grads earn ~$60,504
- Florida State College at Jacksonville (Jacksonville, FL)grads earn ~$47,402
- Fashion Institute of Technology (New York, NY)grads earn ~$70,727
- Kent State University at Kent (Kent, OH)grads earn ~$61,055
- Saint Joseph's University - Philadelphia (Philadelphia, PA)grads earn ~$80,764