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The differences between category managers, marketing and marketing leads can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 8-10 years to become both a category manager, marketing and a marketing lead. Additionally, a marketing lead has an average salary of $104,664, which is higher than the $104,562 average annual salary of a category manager, marketing.
The top three skills for a category manager, marketing include digital marketing, project management and strategic sourcing. The most important skills for a marketing lead are digital marketing, marketing campaigns, and project management.
| Category Manager, Marketing | Marketing Lead | |
| Yearly salary | $104,562 | $104,664 |
| Hourly rate | $50.27 | $50.32 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 112,118 | 92,987 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 73% | Bachelor's Degree, 72% |
| Average age | 39 | 39 |
| Years of experience | 10 | 10 |
A category manager of marketing typically works at retail establishments where they are in charge of managing a particular category of products such as clothing, household supplies, electronics, etc. Among their responsibilities include setting sales and marketing objectives, managing marketing teams, gathering and analyzing data to determine product line ups, coordinating staff, overseeing the inventory of supplies, and participate in creating marketing materials. Moreover, as a manager, it is essential to lead and encourage the workforce to reach goals, all while enforcing the company's policies and regulations.
A marketing lead is an individual who is responsible for overseeing a team of marketing specialists to help a company achieve its marketing goals. Marketing leads are required to create and manage marketing plans so that they can deliver marketing campaigns on time and escalate issues that may prevent prompt delivery. They can incorporate a mix of different strategies in campaigns such as digital publishing, templates, and training. Marketing leads must work closely with account managers and sales engineers so that they can empower them to effectively position the company's products differently from their competitors.
Category managers, marketing and marketing leads have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Category Manager, Marketing | Marketing Lead | |
| Average salary | $104,562 | $104,664 |
| Salary range | Between $79,000 And $138,000 | Between $74,000 And $146,000 |
| Highest paying City | - | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | - | California |
| Best paying company | - | Meta |
| Best paying industry | - | Technology |
There are a few differences between a category manager, marketing and a marketing lead in terms of educational background:
| Category Manager, Marketing | Marketing Lead | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 73% | Bachelor's Degree, 72% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | University of Georgia | University of Georgia |
Here are the differences between category managers, marketing' and marketing leads' demographics:
| Category Manager, Marketing | Marketing Lead | |
| Average age | 39 | 39 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 61.0% Female, 39.0% | Male, 50.8% Female, 49.2% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 3.0% Unknown, 5.3% Hispanic or Latino, 8.7% Asian, 8.2% White, 74.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% | Black or African American, 3.0% Unknown, 5.3% Hispanic or Latino, 8.7% Asian, 8.2% White, 74.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 10% | 10% |