Does this situation sound familiar?
Your business is growing. You realize you need to hire (another) “marketing person” to handle social media, write some content, update your website, and run an email campaign.
The Problem: Most Small and Mid-sized Business (SMB) owners, founders, and managing partners hire for tactics (someone to “do” LinkedIn or “fix” the website) but expect strategy (revenue growth and brand positioning). In reality, your business needs a strategic marketing partner.
Your Job Description (JD) is your first filter.
“If you write a list of tasks, you get a ‘doer.’ If you write a list of outcomes, you get a ‘thinker.”
Now, I realize that many small and mid-sized businesses may not have an HR department to help them write a thoughtful, targeted job description. Therefore, it’s critical to do your homework before posting on Indeed, LinkedIn, or other credible job sites.
How to Write a Strategic Marketing Manager Job Description
First, you need to shift your focus from task-oriented marketing activities to strategic outcomes.
- Stop listing software: Knowing HubSpot or Canva is a baseline, not a strategy.
- Start listing business objectives: Instead of “Manage social media,” use “Build an engaged community that shortens the sales cycle.”
- The “Thinking” Requirement: Explicitly state that the role requires analyzing the why behind the what.
8 Essential Elements of a Strategic Marketing Manager Job Description
- The “Mission” (Not just a Summary): Define the big-picture goal of your organization. For example: “To bridge the gap between our high-level growth targets and our daily brand presence.”
- Key Performance Indicators (KPIs): Define what success looks like in six months. (e.g., Lead quality improvements, not just lead quantity).
- Market Research and Strategy: Highlight the need for analyzing the market, competition, technology, and developments, to find new business opportunities with new service/ product-market combinations within the business strategy.
- Reporting Structure: This is important! I’ve worked with many clients who force their marketing professional into a silo, with limited interaction with the business owner, CFO, and other C-suite individuals. Marketing should ALWAYS be a part of C-suite conversations. They can’t develop a strategy without knowing about the business goals. Therefore, always note the reporting structure in the job description.
- Strategic Competencies: Look for “Full-Funnel Thinking,” a professional who understands how Marketing, IT, Legal, and Sales work together.
- Complex projects and Communication: Emphasize the need for experience managing complex projects, working across teams, meeting deadlines, and handling multiple projects with attention to detail.
- Ownership of the Brand Voice: Emphasize the need for “Narrative Consistency” across all marketing properties.
- Education: Employers hiring for the strategic marketing manager job most commonly look for relevant degrees such as Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Marketing, Business, MBA, Education, Communications, Engineering, Technical, Business/Administration, Finance, Science
Common Mistakes When Hiring a Marketing Manager
- The “Unicorn” JD: Avoid asking for a graphic designer, a coder, a writer, and a data scientist all in one. A strategic thinker knows how to manage those functions, even if they don’t do them all personally.
- Vague Goals: Phrases like “increase brand awareness” without a definition of how that awareness will be measured.
Interview Questions That Reveal Strategic Marketing Thinkers
- Provide 2–3 specific interview questions that separate doers from thinkers.
- Tell me about a time you stopped a marketing initiative because the data showed it wasn’t aligning with the firm’s long-term goals.
- Describe the process you would follow to develop a strategic marketing plan. Include market research, defining value propositions, setting measurable goals, developing a marketing mix, and allocating resources effectively.
- What is your experience with digital marketing channels?
*These are only a few questions you should consider when interviewing your top candidates. If you don’t have an HR professional on staff to vet the applicant pool and join the interviews, consider bringing in a marketing consultant to help you through the project from start to finish.
Conclusion: Marketing as an Investment, Not an Expense
Many businesses still view marketing as an expense, not a strategic investment.
Ask yourself, what’s it worth having a strategic marketing partner as part of your team to oversee, innovate, and ultimately contribute to the growth of your company?
A strategic hire pays for itself by optimizing the “engine,” while a doer just adds more “fuel” to a potentially broken one.
YGL Enterprises, Inc. is here to help you with your marketing and branding needs. Contact me today for a “Marketing Infrastructure Audit” or a consultation on streamlining your internal marketing roles.
Yvonne Levine is the president of YGL Enterprises, Inc. As a strategic marketing consultant, she partners with B2B companies to develop data-driven marketing strategies, refine brand messaging, and deliver measurable results. Connect with Yvonne on LinkedIn.
Yvonne Levine is the president of YGL Enterprises, Inc. As a strategic marketing consultant, she partners with B2B companies to develop data-driven marketing strategies, refine brand messaging, and deliver measurable results. Connect with Yvonne on LinkedIn.