Advertising jobs generally require a lot of creativity. When you’re a marketing director, it’s great if you have creative skills but it’s not necessary. You can either be the one with the initial idea to get your team started, or you can simply recognize creative talent in others and do your best to bring it out of them. You organize the team, hire and fire the people working in that team, make sure they do the right job, and come up with a pitch your clients will approve of.
Requirements for such a position include high level schooling. Most marketing directors have a Bachelor’s degree as well as some additional schooling. Many of them have their Masters, but not all of them. Some start with only a Bachelor’s degree, take that lower level position and work their way up the corporate ladder. Since this is a creative field, there are many different ways to become a marketing director. In many cases, it can go to the person with the best ideas. Ideas come to people regardless of their schooling. However, as director managing and delegating a team of people, it’s best if you have some business school background. If you’ve majored or minored in business, a company will be more likely to hire you into a leadership position.
Salaries for marketing directors vary depending on the size of the advertising firm you work for. You might be a huge firm’s top pick, in which case you can negotiate a higher salary. You could start with more than $100K a year, but most likely, you’ll begin with between $75K and $90K a year. If you’ve worked for the company for many years as a lower level employee, you’ll simply see a pay increase from your previous salary when they bump you up to director.
Marketing directors get to call the shots—they get to deal with high profile clients and manage a full team of talented and creative people. If you really enjoy organizing and delegating tasks to other people, and if you enjoy working in creative fields, you’ll probably enjoy working as a marketing director. These positions are highly coveted so it’s not easy to get them. You might have to work under someone else for a while before you can land such a position, but if you work at it and play your cards right, you just might land it, and your reward will be great! Marketing directors receive a great salary and are in a great and powerful position! They have it made!
