The senior vice president of marketing directs all aspects of an organization’s marketing policies, objectives, and initiatives and must understand the high level concepts for the advertising and marketing industry and the language involved with strategy, branding, online marketing, promotions, search engine marketing, web design and development, and other standard industry concepts.  They must identify changes in the marketing environment and evaluate competitive strategies.  The vice president of marketing drafts the organization’s marketing plan and must demonstrate expertise in a variety of the field’s concepts, practices, and procedures. Relies on extensive experience and judgment to plan and accomplish goals. Performs a variety of tasks. Leads and directs the work of others. A wide degree of creativity and latitude is expected. Typically reports to top management.

This person is responsible for managing and mentoring a team of interactive marketers and the job typically requires managing client relationships and presenting and reporting on campaign activities and results. Typically this person must also manage any outside agencies.

The person in this role must have strong analytic capabilities, strong presentation and written communication skills as well as strong analytics and reporting experience and capabilities. Strong business development experience is suggested. Marketing VPS often work with advertising and promotions to promote the firm’s or organization’s products and services. With the help of lower level managers, including product development managers and market research managers, marketing strategists estimate the demand for products and services offered by the firm and its competitors and identify potential markets for the firm’s products.

This job requires an expert understanding of best marketing practices; and a good understanding of  strategies and best practices as well as an intimate level of understanding with online marketing technologies. Exceptional people skills and an entrepreneurial spirit are also recommended.

Responsibilities include:

• Formulating, directing and coordinating all marketing activities and policies to promote products and services.
• Directing the hiring, training, and performance evaluations of marketing and sales staff and overseeing their daily activities.
• Developing pricing strategies, balancing firm objectives and customer satisfaction.
• Identify, develop, and evaluate marketing strategy, based on knowledge of establishment objectives, market characteristics, and cost and markup factors.
• Evaluating the financial aspects of product development, such as budgets, expenditures, research and development appropriations, and return-on-investment and profit-loss projections.
• Conducting economic and commercial surveys to identify potential markets for products and services.
• Calculating annual budgetary reviews with return on investment (ROI)

Average Salary: $158,909

Average Hours (per week): Long hours, including evenings and weekends are common. 40 plus hours per week with substantial travel at times. Plus, a senior VP must work well under pressure and thrive on meeting deadlines and goals. Advertising, marketing, promotions, public relations, and sales managers work in offices close to those of top managers. Substantial travel may be required in order to meet with customers and consult with others in the industry.

Union: No

Certifications: Requires a bachelor’s degree with at least 15 years of experience in the field. Employers often prefer a bachelor’s or master’s degree in business administration with an emphasis on marketing. Courses in business law, management, economics, accounting, finance, mathematics, and statistics are also helpful, as is the completion of an internship while the candidate is in school is highly recommended.

Training Period: Varies per industry category.

Strongest Market(s): The best service-providing industries include communications firms and financial institutions; professional, scientific, and technical services; public and private educational services; finance and insurance; government and healthcare.

There is also a trend today for marketing jobs to be dispersed throughout the United States, but primarily concentrated in large metro areas like New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, and Washington, D.C.

Entry Level Salary: $121,215

Top Salary: $307,138

Job Growth Forecast: Overall employment of interactive marketing is expected to increase by 13 percent through 2018. The marketing industry is expected to increase faster than average, spurred by intense domestic and global competition in products and services offered to consumers and online marketing. Marketing jobs are highly coveted and are growing faster than the national average.

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