How To Become A Head Of Marketing: What It Is and Career Path

What is a head of marketing and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted experts

Ella Andreasen,

Richard Tate

The Head Of Marketing is a crucial element of a company's marketing department, overseeing many teams and processes, such as digital marketing, advertising, and communications. They observe the work done by these parts of the company and direct the flow of the world itself, creating marketing strategies, annual and project budgets alike, and goals that benefit all included.

They establish and run the company's entire brand, image, and message and all of the ad and marketing projects that come with it. They do this while thinking of both the short-term and the long-term benefits and while keeping up to date with new marketing research, methods, content, and workshops, too.

While there is typically a need for a Bachelor's in Marketing or Advertisement for this position, the candidate's experience and previous work are taken heavily into account. Previous successful marketing campaigns in a career make an applicant seem much more desirable. They should also have knowledge of digital ads and analytic tools, like GoogleAdwords and Google Analytics, and customer relationship management, also known as CRM.

What general advice would you give to a head of marketing?

Ella Andreasen

Marketing Coordinator, Hiniker

Marketing is a dream job for me, and I'm thrilled with my decision. I recommend tailoring your classes to what you view you may need, not just taking standard, required courses. For example, I was not required to take Graphic Design, but I thought it would help me be more well-rounded, and it has helped me quite a bit. I'd also recommend trying out different internships, with companies of various sizes, to gauge if you enjoy being a big part of a little company or a small part of a big company.

ScoreHead Of MarketingUS Average

Salary

8.6

Avg. Salary $137,829

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 43.99%

male 56.01%

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

Key steps to become a head of marketing

Explore head of marketing education requirements

Most common head of marketing degrees

Bachelor's

69.1 %

Master's

20.0 %

Associate

4.5 %

Start to develop specific head of marketing skills

Skills	Percentages
Digital Marketing	12.46%
Integrated Marketing	6.39%
Marketing Campaigns	4.35%
KPIs	3.49%
Channel Marketing	3.37%

Complete relevant head of marketing training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New heads of 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 a head of marketing based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real head of marketing resumes.

Research head of marketing duties and responsibilities

Provide strategic oversight and a strong business approach to managing existing systems and developing enhance models for future events.
Establish and maintain a dashboard of key sales and operational metrics (KPIs).
Present monthly and quarterly program ROI report to in country marketing team and regional executive team.
Create all advertising units - physical ads for film festivals; website advertising; Google, Facebook, and LinkedIn ads.

Prepare your head of marketing resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your head of 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 a head of 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 head of marketing resume templates

Build a professional head of 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 head of marketing resume.