Marketing director vs creative director

The differences between marketing directors and creative 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 marketing director, becoming a creative director takes usually requires 4-6 years. Additionally, a creative director has an average salary of $137,779, which is higher than the $114,906 average annual salary of a marketing director.

The top three skills for a marketing director include digital marketing, marketing campaigns and market research. The most important skills for a creative director are graphic design, creative concepts, and creative direction.

Marketing director vs creative director overview

	Marketing Director	Creative Director
Yearly salary	$114,906	$137,779
Hourly rate	$55.24	$66.24
Growth rate	10%	4%
Number of jobs	93,503	11,610
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 76%	Bachelor's Degree, 77%
Average age	39	40
Years of experience	10	6

What does a marketing director do?

Marketing directors are responsible for the overall branding and marketing direction of the company. They are in charge of identifying goals and strategies related to marketing. They create strategies that cater to the target market of the organization's products and services to help with sales. They lead the company's marketing department and create the company's brand promise. They ensure that all marketing collateral is in line with the rest of the marketing campaigns of the organization. They should be updated on all the current trends in the marketing world.

What does a creative director do?

A creative director is an individual who creates and maintains a vision for a company's products and branding through digital, print, and film installations. Creative directors supervise and innovative staff team such as graphic designers and artists to discuss and plan the vision's layout and visuals. They also meet with clients or marketing and advertising departments to create designs and make the necessary changes to the systems. Most creative directors must have a bachelor's degree in fine arts and should build work portfolios while starting their careers as graphic designers or photographers.

Marketing director vs creative director salary

Marketing directors and creative directors have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Marketing Director	Creative Director
Average salary	$114,906	$137,779
Salary range	Between $68,000 And $193,000	Between $82,000 And $228,000
Highest paying City	San Francisco, CA	Menlo Park, CA
Highest paying state	California	California
Best paying company	Brookfield Properties	Apple
Best paying industry	Manufacturing	Technology

Differences between marketing director and creative director education

There are a few differences between a marketing director and a creative director in terms of educational background:

	Marketing Director	Creative Director
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 76%	Bachelor's Degree, 77%
Most common major	Business	Graphic Design
Most common college	University of Georgia	Harvard University

Marketing director vs creative director demographics

Here are the differences between marketing directors' and creative directors' demographics:

	Marketing Director	Creative Director
Average age	39	40
Gender ratio	Male, 46.7% Female, 53.3%	Male, 64.7% Female, 35.3%
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, 4.4% Unknown, 5.7% Hispanic or Latino, 14.5% Asian, 7.8% White, 66.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%
LGBT Percentage	10%	11%

Differences between marketing director and creative director duties and responsibilities

Marketing director example responsibilities.

Manage staging of NCAA athletics events.
Manage RFP, RFI & SOQ process; track, analyze and report on sales pipeline.
Train, manage, and develop customer service / sales team strategies and oversight of day-to-day operations.
Manage the portal website build, including PPC and search engine optimization, email broadcasts and affiliate marketing efforts.
Manage all marketing operations - recruiting, hiring, training, retaining, payroll, and continual staff education.
Utilize marketing/sales automation tools (salesforce.com, pardot.com) to help track, manage and properly distribute each individual lead.

Creative director example responsibilities.

Manage designers and lead entire in-house healthcare creative department.
Manage all social media outlets and create Youtube channel.
Create, direct, and produce engaging videos and manage Instagram page.
Manage staff including designers, producers, HTML designers, creative writers, and developers; interview and select candidates.
Manage multiple social media profiles (corporate twitter accounts and blogs) to strategically increase readership and draw website traffic.
Develop and manage business-to-business PowerPoint presentation service that create new business opportunities and increase revenue for the company.

Marketing director vs creative director skills

Common marketing director skills

Digital Marketing, 12%
Marketing Campaigns, 6%
Market Research, 5%
Sales Strategies, 4%
Integrated Marketing, 4%
CRM, 4%

Common creative director skills

Graphic Design, 6%
Creative Concepts, 6%
Creative Direction, 6%
Video Production, 5%
Photography, 5%
Digital Marketing, 4%

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Marketing Director
Marketing Director vs Creative Director

Updated January 8, 2025

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