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What does a marketing director do?

What skills and knowledge are required to be a Director of Marketing for a 500-store retail chain based in America?

  • I interviewed for a Director of Marketing / ecommerce  for a fashion company that has 500 stores in America. I have over 10 years experience in digital marketing and creative direction. I also ran the marketing for 2 decently sized fashion brands. I met with a extremely experienced individual, the VP of ecommerce marketing. He brought up some insights that totally change my perspective on my own skill set. He said my main skill was my talent in creative direction which I agree with (I mainly held creative direction positions). He also added that the position would not be a fit because it mainly focused on areas of SEO, SEM, CRM -- but I have extensive experience all three of those areas. This is where my mind was blown and I need guidance. He said if he hires he wants to see me create a plan that will guarantee and generate a 10 million dollar profit within 1-2 years. I've created marketing campaigns, I've produced video commercials, and I've created and managed every kind of online marketing account you can imagine BUT I've never been asked to do a task like that. I understanding branding, social media, paid search, SEO, and just about everything to do with interactive marketing. I always thought of myself as a capable marketer but after this interview it made me really think. Do I not posses the correct experience to be a Director of Marketing and what can I do to improve this? What am I missing here? TLDR; I interviewed for a job that I thought I was extremely capable at but then realized I'm not and want to improve. PS. I really appreciate the guy who interviewed me - extremely eye opening,

  • Answer:

    I think that, for this position, it's not really your marketing knowledge and skills any more that are a must-have, because that should already be given if you're gunning for this level. What you should have, I believe, are leadership skills that should be able to guide the marketing team towards achieving the company's business goals and objectives.

Sunny Cervantes at Quora Visit the source

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I don't think I can help much with a productive answer to your question.  My background is growing start-up and small consumer product companies.  I sell to retailers.  I also have never worked in fashion/clothing - I stick with food, pet, outdoor, and technology.  I can only offer you my perspective on what a head of marketing does for a small consumer product company: Brand, creative & positioning development; Multi-channel knowledge and how the different areas work synergisticlly together; Work with sales and product development to do consumer, competitor and market research to come up with the right products and product release strategy; Execution - test, modify, deploy, then do it again, quickly. Management - I think that management positions are less about leading in the traditional sense that we might think of, but about coordinating people and resources to accomplish goals.  Your aim is to let people you manage do their best job possible by removing obstacles to their success.

Ed Soehnel

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