How to Write a Marketing Manager Resume

Stephen M. King

Certified Resume Writer and Career Coach

One can learn a lot about creating the optimal marketing manager resume by closely studying different marketing manager resume examples. There are more specific positions in marketing and sales that fall under the umbrella of a resume for marketing manager. To explain further, some of these include:

Building a Marketing Manager Resume Template

By studying a marketing manager resume example, you can get a good idea of the basic components of marketing manager resumes. To begin with, your resume will always start with the header, where contact information is listed. This will include details like your name, email address, and telephone number. It may also include a LinkedIn web address or a separate website. After the header, you should then begin to focus on the general layout of the rest of your resume.

General Template and Layout

Before you begin writing and outlining all of the content of your resume, you must first take a moment to focus on layout and formatting. As a matter of fact, it is highly recommend that you employ clear, legible resume fonts, and big section headings. Also, use lots of white space. Ensure you put these things first by either using a template or creating a unique outline.

Another way to help with formatting is to look at a marketing manager resume sample pdf. Because it is recommended that you save your marketing manager resume in PDF format, try to replicate this in your own pdf template. MS Word files can become problematic while in transit, so be sure to always proofread in the pdf format as well.

Marketing Manager Resume Summary

If you examine a marketing manager resume sample, you will see that what follows the header is either a marketing manager resume summary or a marketing manager resume objective. Because both tend to be interchangeable, that brings up the question of which you should use. According to a Career Expert,

If you have relevant managerial experience, select the marketing manager summary resume. Provide an outline of your career and highlight your most impressive achievements. However, if you are crafting a resume for your first marketing manager position or changing careers, choose a resume objective where you will describe the skills you have mastered and how you will fit into the organization you are targeting.

Michael Tomaszewski

With either choice, the hiring manager desires to know how you can assist them and solve any of their problems. Consequently, you do not want to have it be all about “you.” So, looking at different marketing manager resume samples will give you ideas about writing a highly effective marketing manager resume summary while also including specific accomplishments.

Examples of Poor Resume Summaries

Let’s start with a poor example of a resume summary CV marketing manager.

Marketing manager with good organizational skills and demonstrable leadership. Looking to join an organization where I can direct challenging marketing projects including BTL. 

In this example, there are no specifics at all. In addition, it is all written from the perspective of what the employee wants and how he/she plans to benefit. There is no mention of how the applicant can assist the company.

Another bad example from a CV tor marketing manager:

Ambitious marketing pro with 3+ years of freelance sales experience looking to possibly lead a tech startup to deal with the challenges of my first managerial position. 

Although this one includes numbers, the example does not include specific, effective marketing manager skills for resume.

Examples of Great Resume Summaries

Now consider this example from a Senior Executive in Software and Technology who specializes in B2B Marketing and Sales, Strategic Business Development, Enterprise SaaS Market, and Fortune 500: 

Growth catalyst for technology sales across multinational and multidivisional organizations. 20-year reputation for opening doors to new business opportunities in areas never before penetrated. Meticulously devised processes, structures, and checkpoints to drive market strategies and sales of complex products. Champion of revenue growth, backed by proven sales methodology that identifies, qualifies, and delivers.

The following is another marketing manager example of a summary for a senior executive in Product Marketing and Management:

High-powered senior product manager with 10 years of increasingly responsible experience driving product strategy and execution. Technology-product expertise includes networking and telecom hardware/software, enterprise-class software, brand-awareness products, and web-delivered products/services. Team builder / leader / motivator who emphasizes goal achievement. Candidate differentials include: a sophisticated understanding of marketing and finance that enables successful product-strategy development with a focus on profitability; ability to anticipate market trends and initiate timely product development.

Consider this summary:

A skilled marketing manager with 7 years-experience leading largely content-focused teams. Led a 9-person team that boosted revenue by 68% for an e-commerce company via a 12-month content marketing campaign. Subsequently took over a 10 person B2B-focused team, reformed their CMS to boost content production by 51% while reducing employee turnover from 26% to 0% in the first year.

What Makes These Summaries Great?

There are many elements present in each of these summaries that will immediately make an applicant stand out. Coupled with showing how the prospective employee can be of benefit to the employer, the examples also specify measurable results and achievements. Other factors to consider are:

• In this case, one of the summaries explains that this marketing manager has largely worked in content marketing. This is important because a marketing manager can specialize in any number of areas. Emphasize your experience in the area the job offer is looking for.
• It presents strong and specific success metrics. This makes it clear that this candidate gets things done. It’s also specific about the type of company this worked for.
• It then shows that this candidate cares about process as well as strategy, fixing what was a broken team dynamic and CMS. This portion highlights the people management element of being a marketing manager.

Marketing Manager Resume Objective

As mentioned before, objectives are necessary in place of resume summaries if the applicant has little experience in the field. So, after studying marketing manager resume templates from a recent graduates and people changing career fields, here is an example of an excellent resume objectives.

Highly-motivated marketing and sales professional seeking to boost revenue at Campbell’s Design through a more comprehensive approach to social media marketing including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, and Pinterest. As a longtime marketing and sales consultant, developed 20 marketing videos for small and medium enterprises in the Northeast United States. 

Rather than being vague in your objective, it is recommended that you include the name of the company and note the position you are targeting.

Marketing Manager Resume Skills

If you look at a marketing manager resume template, you will find that what follows the professional summary or objective is either the skills section or the education section. Depending on the design of the template, I would suggest that the skill section come next.

There is some disagreement among resume experts regarding the inclusion of soft skills along with hard skills for a marketing manager resume. For example, CPRW (Certified Professional Resume Writer) at Resume Genius, Geoffrey Scott, recommends striking a balance between employing hard skills and soft skills. On the other hand, Stephen Greet, Co-founder of BeamJobs recommends only including on your marketing manager resume hard technical skills that you possess. He reasons that ATS filters are not screening for soft skills, and those soft skills will not assist you in impressing the hiring manager. Additionally, he believes soft skills lacking context do not convey meaningful information about your qualifications.

While this debate is an ongoing battle, it is still a good idea to employ soft skills on your resume. Currently the demand for employees with soft skills has increased, as soft skills are beginning to pop up on job descriptions. It has become common thought that a candidate’s aptitude for certain soft skills can be a determining factor for success. Therefore, you should find a healthy balance of soft and hard skills to display based on the job description.

Using the Job Description to Sort Your Skills

A good place to start forming your list of skills and core competencies is to regard the job advertisement and see what skills the organization is looking for. Marketing manager resumes should then include those very same skills and keywords from the job ad. For example, if a job ad contains requested expertise in Data Analysis, CRO, and SEO, your CV for marketing manager could list these resume skills:

• Excellence in Employing Google Analytics, HubSpot, and Kissmetrics.
• A/B Testing and CRO (improved sign-up rates by 32%).
• SEO (grew organic traffic by 66% in 12 months and non-organic traffic by 52% in 12 months.)

Some other examples of hard and soft skills that may look good on a marketing manager resume are:

Another valuable tip is to keep up with emerging trends, and always continue developing your skills. For example, one of the latest but important new skills is video marketing. A study showed that many organizations plan on incorporating a mix of content distribution channels such as Facebook Video, YouTube, and Instagram.

Marketing Manager Resume Professional Experience

For the ‘Professional Experience’ section, the recommended format to use is the reverse chronology style. To do this, just put your most recent or present position at the top. Then work your way backwards to your earliest positions. You do not have to list every single task you performed. In fact, it is smart to only list positions that are relevant to the role you are applying. Relevancy can be based on skills, tasks, and titles. For example, if you are applying for a manager role, be sure to also emphasize examples of leadership and management.

In terms of formatting, each role should include:

• the position
• the company
• the months and years you were employed
• routine tasks
• quantifiable achievements

Professional Section Examples: The Good and the Ugly

Often, applicants list routine duties in text form but list notable achievements as bullet points to give them more emphasis.

A Good Example to Follow

Smith & Company Marketing (SCM), New York, NY                  2018 – Present
Manager, Consumer Clients

Oversaw all advertising and marketing work for an assigned portfolio of brands which included supervising four Senior Associates and 17 Associates. Assigned to the Social Media / Digital Strategies Steering Committee which was responsible for growing the digital practice and sharing ideas company-wide.

•  To assist a struggling client (third place player in its space), created and implemented a program across all platforms which increased consumer awareness by 14%, market share by 2%, and sales by 3% in the first six months.

•  The brand added 1.2 million Facebook followers, 3.3 million Twitter followers, and became the exclusive soft drink at a national burrito chain. SCM was awarded a Bronze 2018 Clio award for the digital/social media portion of this work.

•  In another project working with a child health advocacy non-profit, Child Health Alliance, re-launched a state-of-the-art website that generated a fast-growing following on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram resulting in the client having a 35% increase in corporate financial support since beginning in April 2018.

An Example of a Weak Position Entry and How to Fix it

2011-
Campbell Marketing
Digital Marketing Manager
Responsibilities:

Analyzed sales trends
Participated in budget forecasts
Supported brand managers in each of their marketing tasks
Oversaw all marketing KPIs

As you can see, these entries are generic and uninformative. In contrast that, the ones below have much more valuable, quantifiable bullet points:

Won $95M in North American order intake in first year, hitting 103% of goal.
Produced $47M in non-North American orders in only 1.5 quarters, while still in ramp-up mode.
Increased service contract capture rate from 28% to 55% in 1 year.
Simultaneously ran a separate, proprietary business unit and delivered $55M on a $40M budget, achieving 138% of revenue target while yielding 66% gross margin.
Developed new promotional campaign by bundling products together, increasing sales revenue by 13% with projected year-on-sales growth of $500K.
Recruited and trained 35+ marketing and sales specialists, improving overall sales targets by 28% while maintaining 88% in employee retention despite COVID-19 pandemic.

Examples of What to Do If You Don’t Have Quantifiable Achievements

You can also list real achievements that may not include numbers. Examples are:

Collaborated closely with Global Marketing Leadership on campaign management, promotions, EMM/MRM planning, pipeline cadence management, and web presence.
Introduced ROMI and pipeline measurement to the field marketing organization and enforced the sales/field marketing interlock.
Played key role in the largest wireless commercial launch in the history of the industry, covering numerous national markets, including the state of Florida.

Still, it would have been stronger had they mentioned the number of national markets. Achievements, hard numbers, and demonstrable proof of leadership skills are vital to the resume Professional Experience section. However, if you don’t have those achievements just yet, be sure to still write in a way that makes your resume stand out.

Marketing Manager Resume Education Section

Regarding the education section, if you already have previous work experience, then it is recommended that you limit yourself to the highest level of education. What should be included is:

• Degree type
• Your major (and minors, if you have them)
• Institution name
• Graduation date

Examples

2011 MA in English and Social Communications, specializing in Media Marketing
University of California at Berkley

University of Delaware
Master of Business Administration; Concentration in Marketing and Management
Bachelor of Science; Physics
Completed numerous high-level courses in leadership, management, customer service, and sales. 

Not everyone agrees with the formatting of the first approach. However, it includes all the elements necessary for someone who has relevant work experience already. The next example goes a little more in-depth by including two levels of degrees plus a description of relevant coursework. This would be a good beginner’s section for a college student.

You may also want to include certain certifications for marketing managers such as: Google Analytics, Google Ads, Facebook Certified Marketing Associate, Facebook Certified Marketing Professional, and Bing Ads Accredited Professional Certification.

RELATED ARTICLE: College Student Resume Writing Tips, Tricks, and FAQs

Extra Sections

In addition to certifications, there are extra sections that can bolster your resume. These include:

• Industry awards
• Professional associations
• Publications and Research
• Industry blogs
• Influencing on social media
• Additional training and participation in conferences

If you do not have any of the above, then consider taking a course, becoming more active on social media, applying for conferences, or writing blogs. If you are too busy to take a traditional course, then you can always take a course online. These can be completed in a couple of weeks and quickly boost your resume.

Conclusion

To summarize all of tips and examples, you should:

• Begin your marketing manager resume with a resume summary or career objective.
• Focus not on job responsibilities but on specific, quantifiable achievements.
• Always be sure to match your resume skills with the keywords from the job ad.
• Include additional sections that increase your value as a candidate.
• Remember to personalize every resume you send.
• Employ the name of the company you are applying to, and tailor the contents of your resume to the requirements in the job description.