Marketing manager vs creative director

The differences between marketing managers 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 manager, 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 $104,550 average annual salary of a marketing manager.

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

Marketing manager vs creative director overview

	Marketing Manager	Creative Director
Yearly salary	$104,550	$137,779
Hourly rate	$50.26	$66.24
Growth rate	10%	4%
Number of jobs	89,627	11,610
Job satisfaction	3	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 75%	Bachelor's Degree, 77%
Average age	39	40
Years of experience	10	6

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.

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 manager vs creative director salary

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

	Marketing Manager	Creative Director
Average salary	$104,550	$137,779
Salary range	Between $71,000 And $153,000	Between $82,000 And $228,000
Highest paying City	Menlo Park, CA	Menlo Park, CA
Highest paying state	California	California
Best paying company	Meta	Apple
Best paying industry	Technology	Technology

Differences between marketing manager and creative director education

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

	Marketing Manager	Creative Director
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 75%	Bachelor's Degree, 77%
Most common major	Business	Graphic Design
Most common college	University of Georgia	Harvard University

Marketing manager vs creative director demographics

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

	Marketing Manager	Creative Director
Average age	39	40
Gender ratio	Male, 44.4% Female, 55.6%	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 manager and creative director duties and responsibilities

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.

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 manager vs creative director skills

Common marketing manager skills

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

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 Manager vs Creative Director

Updated January 8, 2025

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