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Category manager, marketing vs marketing program manager

The differences between category managers, marketing and marketing program managers 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 program manager. Additionally, a category manager, marketing has an average salary of $104,562, which is higher than the $86,807 average annual salary of a marketing program manager.

The top three skills for a category manager, marketing include digital marketing, project management and strategic sourcing. The most important skills for a marketing program manager are digital marketing, project management, and marketing campaigns.

Category manager, marketing vs marketing program manager overview

Category Manager, MarketingMarketing Program Manager
Yearly salary$104,562$86,807
Hourly rate$50.27$41.73
Growth rate10%10%
Number of jobs112,118173,228
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 73%Bachelor's Degree, 78%
Average age3939
Years of experience1010

What does a category manager, marketing do?

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.

What does a marketing program manager do?

The job of marketing program managers is to create marketing campaigns for a company's programs and products. They often work closely with the sales and advertising managers and assist in developing pricing strategy and monitoring marketing trends. As a marketing program manager, you are responsible for implementing programs that aim to maximize business revenue. Other duties may include maintaining the segmentation of marketing database, participating in the evaluation of marketing technology, and analyzing the performance of webinars, emails, and campaigns.

Category manager, marketing vs marketing program manager salary

Category managers, marketing and marketing program managers have different pay scales, as shown below.

Category Manager, MarketingMarketing Program Manager
Average salary$104,562$86,807
Salary rangeBetween $79,000 And $138,000Between $64,000 And $116,000
Highest paying City-San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state-California
Best paying company-Meta
Best paying industry-Transportation

Differences between category manager, marketing and marketing program manager education

There are a few differences between a category manager, marketing and a marketing program manager in terms of educational background:

Category Manager, MarketingMarketing Program Manager
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 73%Bachelor's Degree, 78%
Most common majorBusinessBusiness
Most common collegeUniversity of GeorgiaUniversity of Georgia

Category manager, marketing vs marketing program manager demographics

Here are the differences between category managers, marketing' and marketing program managers' demographics:

Category Manager, MarketingMarketing Program Manager
Average age3939
Gender ratioMale, 61.0% Female, 39.0%Male, 38.7% Female, 61.3%
Race ratioBlack 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 Percentage10%10%

Differences between category manager, marketing and marketing program manager duties and responsibilities

Category manager, marketing example responsibilities.

  • Manage, allocate, and evaluate all marketing budgets, ROI, and individual account performance reporting.
  • Direct and manage clean label starch launch campaigns across NOAM, EMEA, and ASPAC, reporting on monthly ROI.
  • Develop and manage marketing programs and partner integration for industry marketing in government, healthcare and education markets.
  • Coordinate production including copywriting, list buying, and working with designers and printers.
  • Utilize Nielsen and internal sales indicators to analyze category trends to develop customer actionable strategies for impact against retail channels.
  • Procure raw material, MRO and packaging materials to meet production requirements for several production facilities international and domestic.

Marketing program manager example responsibilities.

  • Achieve designation as a center of excellence with manage care organizations, Medicare and Medicaid.
  • Manage RFP solicitation and response process.
  • Manage multiple initiatives using digital media, SEM, social media, inbound marketing and content distribution channels.
  • Manage MarCom programs with $250K annual budget for Philips HeartStart automate external defibrillator (a) business unit.
  • Manage major CRM implementation project for global aerospace company.
  • Lead marketing operations include integrating and administering Salesforce, HubSpot, InsideSales.com, and RainKing processes and mechanics.
  • Show more

Category manager, marketing vs marketing program manager skills

Common category manager, marketing skills
  • Digital Marketing, 13%
  • Project Management, 8%
  • Strategic Sourcing, 7%
  • Channel Marketing, 5%
  • Integrated Marketing, 5%
  • Market Research, 5%
Common marketing program manager skills
  • Digital Marketing, 14%
  • Project Management, 7%
  • Marketing Campaigns, 6%
  • B2B Marketing, 5%
  • Integrated Marketing, 5%
  • Salesforce, 3%

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