How Do I Become a Corporate Marketing Director?

Corporate marketing director positions offer good pay and optimistic job prospects. Marketing directors need a combination of education, skills, and experience, all with a focus on business and marketing. This is an upper-management or executive position, so it comes with a high level of responsibility and tends to be stressful.

The first step required to become a corporate marketing director is getting a college education. Most marketing careers require a bachelor’s degree, at minimum, and some employers prefer advanced degrees, such as an MBA, for upper-level marketing jobs. A degree in marketing is the most common; however, other accepted majors include business, communications, accounting, and economics.

High-level marketing jobs typically require several years of experience. Positions that could prepare you to become a corporate marketing director include marketing or sales manager, corporate marketing manager, and product marketing manager. Internships offer an effective way to begin a marketing career, and employers look for this type of experience when hiring marketing staff. Working as an intern gives you the chance to explore different work settings and types of corporations.

You need a variety of personality traits to become a corporate marketing director, including creativity, organization, and a head for numbers. A marketing director typically oversees an entire department, possibly in a large corporation, and this means leading, supervising, and managing others. Staff management requires strong leadership along with effective problem solving and the ability to delegate and be highly motivational. Training, planning, and budgeting are also common parts of a marketing director’s job.

Social skills are important to become a corporate marketing director, because client relations are a big part of the job. The director of marketing is responsible for keeping clients happy. Good communication skills play a major role in maintaining good customer relationships. A successful corporate marketing director should be an effective negotiator and be able to thoroughly understand the client’s needs and expectations. Public presentations may be the norm at this level in a marketing career, so the ability to explain and persuade is valuable.

The head of marketing is responsible for developing, implementing, and maintaining a marketing plan. Creative thinking enables the director of marketing to come up with a unique concept and then work through the process to fruition. Budgeting is a vital part of any marketing plan, so experience with finance and economics is required to become a corporate marketing director. When working up to this top level of a marketing career, develop a thorough understanding of the marketplace and hone your ability to analyze market statistics in order to stay on top of changes and growth in the business arena.