Direct marketing specialist vs marketing manager

The differences between direct marketing specialists and marketing managers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 4-6 years to become a direct marketing specialist, becoming a marketing manager takes usually requires 8-10 years. Additionally, a marketing manager has an average salary of $104,550, which is higher than the $59,907 average annual salary of a direct marketing specialist.

The top three skills for a direct marketing specialist include marketing campaigns, customer service and data entry. The most important skills for a marketing manager are digital marketing, marketing campaigns, and project management.

Direct marketing specialist vs marketing manager overview

	Direct Marketing Specialist	Marketing Manager
Yearly salary	$59,907	$104,550
Hourly rate	$28.80	$50.26
Growth rate	19%	10%
Number of jobs	125,958	89,627
Job satisfaction	-	3
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 66%	Bachelor's Degree, 75%
Average age	37	39
Years of experience	6	10

What does a direct marketing specialist do?

A direct marketing specialist develops marketing strategies and promotes products or services directly to customers, aiming to secure sales and raise brand awareness. Their responsibilities usually include conducting market research and analyses, studying the consumer trends and competitors, identifying business and client opportunities, establishing objectives, and creating marketing materials for different programs and platforms. Moreover, there are times when a direct marketing specialist collaborates with external parties such as vendors and distributors, analyze client feedback, and assist clients by answering inquiries, processing sales, and solving issues and concerns.

What does a marketing manager do?

Marketing managers are experienced employees who oversee the marketing department of the organization. They manage activities such as marketing campaigns, social media postings, company branding, and other strategic marketing activities. They provide strategic direction and come up with departmental goals. They also provide proper training for employees in the department to ensure that they have a deep understanding of its marketing tools. Marketing managers should be creative, should have good interpersonal skills, and should be flexible.

Direct marketing specialist vs marketing manager salary

Direct marketing specialists and marketing managers have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Direct Marketing Specialist	Marketing Manager
Average salary	$59,907	$104,550
Salary range	Between $44,000 And $80,000	Between $71,000 And $153,000
Highest paying City	-	Menlo Park, CA
Highest paying state	-	California
Best paying company	-	Meta
Best paying industry	-	Technology

Differences between direct marketing specialist and marketing manager education

There are a few differences between a direct marketing specialist and a marketing manager in terms of educational background:

	Direct Marketing Specialist	Marketing Manager
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 66%	Bachelor's Degree, 75%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	University of Georgia	University of Georgia

Direct marketing specialist vs marketing manager demographics

Here are the differences between direct marketing specialists' and marketing managers' demographics:

	Direct Marketing Specialist	Marketing Manager
Average age	37	39
Gender ratio	Male, 52.9% Female, 47.1%	Male, 44.4% Female, 55.6%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 5.2% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 12.4% Asian, 9.6% White, 67.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1%	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%

Differences between direct marketing specialist and marketing manager duties and responsibilities

Direct marketing specialist example responsibilities.

Execute worldwide eMarketing strategies to drive leads and revenue for assign products.
Manage relationships with print, mail, e-mail, creative and copywriting vendors.
Manage B2C direct marketing tactics including e-mail and direct mail to drive revenue for the remarketing efforts.
Manage the creation and deployment of mobile-optimize e-blast HTML templates to use for company's online marketing efforts.
Develop, manage and implement special events for MWR programs and facilities with to focus on the customer.
Manage all benefits and payroll administration, including analyzing plans and making recommendations for plan design changes.

Marketing manager example responsibilities.

Utilize SalesForce database to update contacts and prospect new leads.
Manage account process from RFP to full execution of campaign in its entirety.
Manage agency partners to develop target print media, sampling programs, POS, merchandising.
Manage redesign of four bank websites and implementation of new content management system (CMS . )
Utilize SalesForce daily to update and follow up on the sales team's leads and clients.
Manage various day-to-day projects for small e-commerce startup including constructing wine storage shelves and fulfilling club shipments.

Direct marketing specialist vs marketing manager skills

Common direct marketing specialist skills

Marketing Campaigns, 13%
Customer Service, 11%
Data Entry, 10%
Email Marketing, 7%
Print Production, 7%
Email Campaigns, 6%

Common marketing manager skills

Digital Marketing, 14%
Marketing Campaigns, 7%
Project Management, 4%
Integrated Marketing, 4%
Email Marketing, 4%
CRM, 3%

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Direct Marketing Specialist
Direct Marketing Specialist vs Marketing Manager

Updated January 8, 2025

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