Director, strategic marketing vs account director

The differences between directors, strategic marketing and account directors can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 8-10 years to become a director, strategic marketing, becoming an account director takes usually requires 6-8 years. Additionally, a director, strategic marketing has an average salary of $131,790, which is higher than the $114,728 average annual salary of an account director.

The top three skills for a director, strategic marketing include digital marketing, market research and strategy development. The most important skills for an account director are account management, project management, and work ethic.

Director, strategic marketing vs account director overview

	Director, Strategic Marketing	Account Director
Yearly salary	$131,790	$114,728
Hourly rate	$63.36	$55.16
Growth rate	10%	5%
Number of jobs	112,582	132,260
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 72%	Bachelor's Degree, 80%
Average age	39	46
Years of experience	10	8

What does a director, strategic marketing do?

A director of strategic marketing is responsible for identifying effective marketing solutions to sell goods and services to the market, enhancing the organization's brand image to attract the target audience and meet public demands. Directors of strategic marketing conduct data and statistical analysis to develop brands that would generate more revenue resources for the business. They also coordinate with the public relations team to facilitate publishing content for various media platforms and widen audience reach.

What does an account director do?

An account director is responsible for managing client accounts, monitoring budgets, and sales forecasting. Their goal is to maintain stable account management strategies, meet clients' demands, develop healthy professional partnerships that would generate revenues, increase profitability, and achieve the organization's long-term goals objectives. Account directors supervise the account management staff, ensuring the project's successful completion with the highest efficiency and accuracy. An account director also plans training programs to maximize their performance and productivity, especially when dealing with deadlines and clients' requests.

Director, strategic marketing vs account director salary

Directors, strategic marketing and account directors have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Director, Strategic Marketing	Account Director
Average salary	$131,790	$114,728
Salary range	Between $85,000 And $203,000	Between $82,000 And $158,000
Highest paying City	Foster City, CA	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	California	New Jersey
Best paying company	Calypso Technology	BuzzFeed
Best paying industry	Technology	Professional

Differences between director, strategic marketing and account director education

There are a few differences between a director, strategic marketing and an account director in terms of educational background:

	Director, Strategic Marketing	Account Director
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 72%	Bachelor's Degree, 80%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	University of Georgia	University of Southern California

Director, strategic marketing vs account director demographics

Here are the differences between directors, strategic marketing' and account directors' demographics:

	Director, Strategic Marketing	Account Director
Average age	39	46
Gender ratio	Male, 63.3% Female, 36.7%	Male, 50.9% Female, 49.1%
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, 3.2% Unknown, 4.4% Hispanic or Latino, 9.8% Asian, 4.1% White, 78.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%
LGBT Percentage	10%	7%

Differences between director, strategic marketing and account director duties and responsibilities

Director, strategic marketing example responsibilities.

Manage Facebook account and promote upcoming events on campus using different marketing tactics
Direct CRM efforts including name acquisition, weekly newsletters and database e-blasts.
Coordinate all customer relationship management (CRM) strategies, implementation, and analysis.
Develop better dma-base ROI analysis methodologies adopt by the company.
Work with independent agency to develop marketing strategy and communication plan with ROI measurements.
Conceive company offerings and strategic packages for analytics, optimization, marketing operations, campaign management and architecture service lines.

Account director example responsibilities.

Manage coordination with HCP agencies for launch.
Manage the development and creation of print and broadcast advertising and in-store merchandising.
Manage relationships with all GPO pharmacy, medical device, and physician preference teams.
Manage client accounts as well as introducing cross selling into other verticals to increase the portfolio.
Manage RFP / RFI process and drive all opportunities that provide a consultative, long-term solution and support.
Increase clients SEO rankings and achieve first page placement both locally and nationally for highly search phrases for a client.

Director, strategic marketing vs account director skills

Common director, strategic marketing skills

Digital Marketing, 7%
Market Research, 6%
Strategy Development, 5%
Project Management, 5%
Marketing Campaigns, 4%
Integrated Marketing, 4%

Common account director skills

Account Management, 9%
Project Management, 7%
Work Ethic, 7%
Healthcare, 7%
Digital Marketing, 5%
Email Marketing, 4%

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Director, Strategic Marketing
Director, Strategic Marketing vs Account Director

Updated January 8, 2025

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