What does a marketing manager do?

As a first-time marketing manager, what should I concentrate my efforts on?

• It seems likely in the next few weeks that I may get the opportunity to move up in the world and run our small company's marketing department. The company has 100 or so employees total, mainly working in non-marketing functions (in fact we've just two part-time marcoms managers plus myself full-time). We manufacture miniaturized communication products that are used in across various fields (security/broadcast etc.), plus intelligent hearing protection. The company employs, with some local direct-sales exceptions, a distributor / dealer channel to market, and our partners operate in specific industries (meaning some are broadcast tech suppliers, others security/police product distributors etc.). Where the heck would you start? Audits (of what)? Analysis of current marketing spend? Other? All of the above? Background: to date my role has been writing and managing some of our marketing tools and all of our digital content.

• Answer:

  Congrats. So much to do I'm sure. When you take a new position you have a wonderful opportunity (and often the only time before you get submerged) to stand back and look at the big picture. You have little investment in what has been done so you have much more capability to be objective. Job #1 - Talk (ie Listen) to customers and partners about how they perceive your company, what they like/dislike and how they see the existing messaging and what they say would be impactful to them.