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A freelance marketing manager can
By Carsten Bjerregaard, Marketingcapacity.dk (Link to the article. Copying/publishing without agreement is not allowed)
The marketing manager is responsible for a company's marketing plan and that it is supported by activities that are executed in a timely and effective manner. So that the company reaches its sales targets. The marketing manager usually pursues a number of defined goals. These can be KPIs for awareness, interest, image, purchase intent, conversion and sales. The marketing manager is also responsible for prioritizing efforts and allocating resources for the development, production and exposure of marketing.
View Marketing Manager profiles
What is Marketing Management?
Basically, it's about doing what maximizes your company's sales most profitably over time. With influence on - or full control over - all marketing parameters as defined by Philip Kotler:
Product
- The marketing manager influences the company's products. Through customer insights, he can influence innovation. Often the marketing manager is a stakeholder in the development of the product, including consumer testing. And when it's 'finished' from the production side, marketing takes over and finishes the job:
- Packaging design
- Your name
- Positioning
- Selling points and concept development
Price
- If the marketing manager is not responsible for setting the price of the product, he does have influence. Partly by advising on the optimal price point (partly through market insight), partly through promotional price incentives such as discounts, rebates or other incentives.
Promotion
- Promotion is all the marketing that a company spends money on. It is the domain and responsibility of the marketing manager. This means, among other things:
- Advertising in TV, print, social media, radio, out-of-home
- Social Media posting
- Participation at trade shows and exhibitions (in collaboration with sales)
- Sampling
- Sponsorship
- POS
- Promotions (e.g. discounts or other incentives)
Place (distribution)
- The marketing manager has a big stake in distribution. Not least when it comes to FMCG products. Which stores should we be in? How should we be present? How can we push our products through this channel?
In addition to the 4 traditional marketing parameters, the marketing manager has responsibility for - or influence over:
Marketing plan
- The marketing plan is an operationalization of the marketing strategy. Sometimes it also includes a so-called annual cycle. That is, an overview of which activities are to be carried out in which periods for which target groups to promote which products?
The customer journey
- An important part of the marketing manager's role is to optimize and monitor the customer journey. That is, the journey that the customer takes. From perhaps seeing an ad in a newspaper, a post on LinkedIn, a whitepaper or a lecture, through a visit to the company website or a store. To buying the product and repurchasing it. How do we get as many relevant topics into the funnel as possible and how can we nurture them so they move on and convert?
CRM and loyalty programs
- Depending on the size and role of the company, the marketing manager also has responsibility or influence over the direct dialog with customers. In many companies (read B2B), this is the most important marketing channel, while true loyalty programs are emerging in all industries and all types of companies.
Analytics and customer insights
- Marketing essentially means operating a market. And in order to do that, you need to understand the market and customers. That's why market monitoring is one of the marketing manager's tasks. This could be getting ongoing figures from GFK or Nielsen, if we're talking about retail, to conducting qualitative analysis - e.g. focus groups - around new products, concepts or anything else.
Media overview
- At the very least, the marketing manager should be familiar with the different media groups and know what their respective strengths are. After all, media is the most important external tool for creating impact in the market.
Lead generation
- In B2B companies, marketing is responsible for turning leads into sales.
Marketing departments
- Finally, the marketing manager usually has management responsibility for the marketing department. Not necessarily personnel responsibility, but responsibility for the distribution of tasks. And which resources and skills are needed. Be it:
- CRM
- SEO
- Social Media
- Digital presence
- Text
- Art direction
- Graphic design
- Production of advertising materials
- Collaboration with advertising and media agencies
What else is a marketing manager called?
A marketing manager is sometimes referred to as a marketing manager, a marketing officer, a sales and marketing manager or other titles. Conversely, in large companies, a marketing manager may have more limited responsibilities than described here. For example, if you are a marketing manager for a limited part of the market. Be it a segment, an industry or a product. It's not uncommon to also talk about digital managers - and in other companies, marketing managers are called brand managers - for example, in FMCG companies, where marketing takes up a lot of space.
How does a marketing manager create value?
The marketing manager creates overall value by maximizing revenue profitably. That is, making sales x price as large as possible.
On a daily basis, he creates value through:
- Efficiency (marketing doing the right things)
- Productivity (marketing doing things right)
- Choosing the right media
- Choosing the right advertising agencies and using them correctly
- Develop powerful concepts that potential customers want to engage with
- Developing great content that attracts customers through SEO
- Getting customers to buy (conversion)
- Helping to develop new products
- Driving your department to collaborate to create results
- Participate in the development of new products
What types of marketing managers are there?
The role of the marketing manager is very different in different types of businesses. B2B or B2C for example. And in the small business versus the large enterprise. Therefore, if you're looking for a marketing manager who can go straight in and create value, it's a good idea to see if they've worked in a company with similar products or distribution methods. For example, there's a big difference between being a marketing manager in a subscription-based company and a company that sells FMCG in the grocery industry. Finally, there are also digital marketing managers in companies where online and offline are split across multiple functions.
In addition, it is of course individual how much insight different marketing managers have:
- Advertising
- Products and services
- Subscriptions
- Technologies
- Different industries
What should a marketing manager know?
A marketing manager must first and foremost understand the nature of marketing. Which is mainly about understanding the individual human behind the customer. What makes Mr. Jensen interested in this product? How does he react to stimuli? How do we get those stimuli into a sensory position for Mr. Jensen etc. The customer is most important and should be the starting point for all actions.
Professionally, the marketing manager is a generalist who needs to know something about each of the disciplines within the field:
- Text authoring
- Art direction
- Graphic design
- SEO
- Dialog marketing
- Innovation
- CRM
- CMS systems
- Digital marketing
Personal qualities to look out for:
- At a glance
- Analytical approach
- Creativity
- Preoccupied with cause-and-effect analysis
- Empathy and interest in people
- Flair for technology
- Great general knowledge
- Want to try something new
- Collaboration skills
- Negotiation skills
- Results-oriented
- Execution power
- Ability to delegate
- Leadership skills
- Recruitment understanding
- The ability to motivate your team
A good marketing manager is confident enough to trust their own intuition and judgment, yet humble enough to listen to others and understand that you can never be complete in this profession. Marketing is constantly evolving, and when you think you have it 'figured out', it usually takes something else to create success.
Examples of good marketing manager work
Behind all the products you want to buy and the advertisements you see, there's a good effort by a marketing manager. Because they've managed to reach you, engage you and create a buying impulse. You may not know where you got that desire - but you can be sure of one thing: someone planned it.
Advertising and media agencies often get the credit for good marketing. And they often have a big stake in well-executed campaigns. But think about what the marketing manager has done:
- Created a marketing plan (or maybe even a strategy)
- Selected the product to promote
- Designed the product - or at least the packaging
- Defined the positioning
- Decided the timing
- Chosen the agency
- Established a foundation of facts, desires and goals
- Briefet bureau
- Assessed the work and implemented any corrections
- Created understanding of the product internally
- Motivated sales or distribution to support the campaign
- Coordinated the various internal and external resources
- Project managed and executed communication on time and on budget
Why a freelance marketing manager?
In the past, most people might have thought of freelancers for one-off projects. However, many companies have now realized the benefits of working with freelancers on a long-term basis:
- You can cover needs that don't justify a permanent position
- In periods when you don't need it, you don't pay for the skill
- In a long-term relationship, the freelancer gets to know the company almost as well as a permanent employee
- Compared to buying the desired skill set from an agency - such as an advertising agency - working with freelancers is usually much cheaper
- You have the flexibility to rethink the overall competency profile of the person responsible for an area
- More and more really talented people prefer to work freelance
- A freelancer can still look at your business 'from the outside' - which is a valuable thing when thinking about creative
- Freelancers can bring fresh, outside inspiration to your business
How do you find a good freelance marketing manager?
Finding the right freelancer can be difficult. And above all, it can take a long time. Because there are many freelancers within the same field, and even if they boast the same skills, there can be a big difference when it comes to the way they work and the work they deliver. When you ask Marketingcapacity.dk to help you find a freelancer to work with, the process is simple:
- You describe your needs to us (either in writing or verbally - we'll confirm in an email)
- We screen the thousands of profiles on Marketingcapacity.dk and, if necessary, the market through our channels
- We nominate a list of candidates and talk to them according to your needs
- You will be presented with 3 candidates that seem to meet your needs
- During the 3 meetings (at your location or digitally) you can ask questions and see examples of their work
- You choose the freelancer you would like to start working with
- We set it up in our systems with time tracking etc. so you have an overview and full control
In other words: After describing your needs, simply set aside 2 hours to meet with 3 hand-picked and screened candidates. That's your guarantee of a good result with reasonable effort.
