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What is an executive director, marketing and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025
3 min read
Quoted experts
Tobias Sellier,
Richard Tate

Successful businesses have a variety of marketing strategies in order to generate sales, usually across a variety of platforms. But who makes sure that the marketing operations are all coordinated across all platforms, including organic digital marketing, paid marketing, partnerships, and more? That's the job of the executive director, marketing.

The executive director of marketing supervises all of a company's marketing operations, from developing new goals to pinpointing strategies to meet those goals and tracking progress; the executive director marketing tracks every step of the marketing progress. They also manage other professionals in the department.

Becoming an executive director of marketing takes a lot of hard work. Often, executive directors of marketing have bachelor's or master's degrees in business or communications. They also have years of experience as marketing professionals, including roles as marketing managers or directors. But that does not mean an executive director, marketing can rest on their laurels; they need to put in hard work in order to stay on top of the latest trends in the industry.

What general advice would you give to an executive director, marketing?

Tobias SellierTobias Sellier LinkedIn profile

Senior Director, American Public Power Association

There are exciting opportunities to work for community-owned, not-for-profit, hometown public power. From engineers and customer service representatives to lineworkers and administrative professionals, there are many opportunities. And utility employees, being essential workers, even during these challenging times, there are still many jobs that will need to be filled.
ScoreExecutive Director, MarketingUS Average
Salary
8.9

Avg. Salary $148,198

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level
7.5

Growth rate 10%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity
3.1
Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.23%

Asian 8.15%

Black or African American 3.04%

Hispanic or Latino 8.67%

Unknown 5.32%

White 74.58%

Gender

female 53.77%

male 46.23%

Age - 38
Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 38
Stress level
7.5

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level
9.0

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance
3.5

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Executive director, marketing career paths

Key steps to become an executive director, marketing

  1. Explore executive director, marketing education requirements

    Most common executive director, marketing degrees

    Bachelor's

    72.4 %

    Master's

    15.9 %

    Associate

    5.7 %
  2. Start to develop specific executive director, marketing skills

    SkillsPercentages
    Digital Marketing12.05%
    Market Research9.07%
    Marketing Campaigns6.62%
    Communications Strategies5.62%
    Oversight5.14%
  3. Complete relevant executive director, marketing training and internships

    Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New executive directors, marketing learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as an executive director, marketing based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real executive director, marketing resumes.
  4. Research executive director, marketing duties and responsibilities

    • Lead organization that seek new customers sign ups through strategic partnerships, SEO, PPC, affiliate marketing and brand management.
    • Manage medical billing and serve as liaison between patient and insurance including Medicaid and Medicare as required.
    • Measure campaign effectiveness and ROI.
    • Establish and implement tracking to monitor all online campaigns and optimize ROI.
  5. Get executive director, marketing experience

    Generally, it takes 8-10 years to become an executive director, marketing. The most common roles before becoming an executive director, marketing include marketing director, marketing manager team lead and executive director.
  6. Prepare your executive director, marketing resume

    When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your executive director, marketing resume.

    You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on an executive director, marketing resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

    Choose from 10+ customizable executive director, marketing resume templates

    Build a professional executive director, marketing resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your executive director, marketing resume.
    Executive Director, Marketing Resume
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    Executive Director, Marketing Resume
    Executive Director, Marketing Resume
    Executive Director, Marketing Resume
    Executive Director, Marketing Resume
  7. Apply for executive director, marketing jobs

    Now it's time to start searching for an executive director, marketing job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

    1. Browse job boards for relevant postings
    2. Consult your professional network
    3. Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
    4. Watch out for job scams

How did you land your first executive director, marketing job

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Average executive director, marketing salary

The average executive director, marketing salary in the United States is $148,198 per year or $71 per hour. Executive director, marketing salaries range between $97,000 and $225,000 per year.

Average executive director, marketing salary
$148,198 Yearly
$71.25 hourly

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How do executive directors, marketing rate their job?

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Executive director, marketing reviews

profile
A zippia user wrote a review on Jun 2022
Pros

It provides me an opportunity to actively employ my passion for a leadership, while taking ideas from other people, above my position and developing leaders that work in my group. I have taught many classes in Customer Service, Communications Skills, Leadership and many others, for the State of NH, Federal Government and colleges and universities, including Entrepreneurship, for SNHU.

Cons

Being restricted to working with a smaller group, than might need Leadership training and coaching.


profile
A zippia user wrote a review on Sep 2020
Pros

Working with teams, creating and sustaining service delivery systems, variety of tasks and projects, making it happen.


profile
A zippia user wrote a review on May 2019
Cons

Unreasonable deadlines.

Pros

Overseeing printing For direct mail. Packaging design Developing hot mail list.


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Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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