Marketing Managers
Plan, direct, or coordinate marketing policies and programs, such as determining the demand for products and services offered by a firm and its competitors, and identify potential customers. Develop pricing strategies with the goal of maximizing the firm's profits or share of the market while ensuring the firm's customers are satisfied. Oversee product development or monitor trends that indicate the need for new products and services.
Most important skills
- Active Listening
- Speaking
- Reading Comprehension
- Critical Thinking
- Active Learning
- Monitoring
- Persuasion
- Complex Problem Solving
Key knowledge
- Sales and Marketing
- English Language
- Customer and Personal Service
- Communications and Media
- Administration and Management
- Education and Training
- Personnel and Human Resources
- Administrative
What the work involves
- Develop pricing strategies, balancing firm objectives and customer satisfaction.
- Identify, develop, or evaluate marketing strategy, based on knowledge of establishment objectives, market characteristics, and cost and markup factors.
- Evaluate the financial aspects of product development, such as budgets, expenditures, research and development appropriations, or return-on-investment and profit-loss projections.
- Direct the hiring, training, or performance evaluations of marketing or sales staff and oversee their daily activities.
- Consult with product development personnel on product specifications, such as design, color, or packaging.
- Compile lists describing product or service offerings.
- Use sales forecasting or strategic planning to ensure the sale and profitability of products, lines, or services, analyzing business developments and monitoring market trends.
- Coordinate or participate in promotional activities or trade shows, working with developers, advertisers, or production managers, to market products or services.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Enterprising, Conventional, Investigative.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- Bachelor's Degree (80.1% of expert ratings)
- Related experience
- Over 1 year, up to and including 2 years (27.3%)
- On-the-job training
- None or short demonstration (26.9%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 4: Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Marketing Managers is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | Moderate | Lower on contact with others than 53% of occupations compared | — |
| Dealing with the public | High | Higher on dealing with the public than 62% of occupations compared | — |
| Teamwork | Very high | Higher on teamwork than 92% of occupations compared | 83% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Very high | Higher on freedom to make decisions than 87% of occupations compared | — |
| Time pressure | Very high | Higher on time pressure than 81% of occupations compared | 59% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Conflict situations | High | Higher on conflict situations than 72% of occupations compared | — |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Low | Lower on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 63% of occupations compared | — |
| Consequence of error | High | Higher on consequence of error than 68% of occupations compared | — |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: very high
- Conflict situations: high
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: low
- Consequence of error: high
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 0%
- Occasional contact with others: 0%
- Contact with others about half the time: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Contact with others most of the time: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Constant contact with others: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
n = 22, Incumbent 08/2026
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Fairly important: 2.64%
- Important: 4.6%
- Very important: 4.1%
- Extremely important: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
n = 22, Incumbent 08/2026
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 0%
- Important: 4.79%
- Very important: 12.57%
- Extremely important: 82.64%
n = 19, Incumbent 08/2026
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 0%
- Very little freedom: 1.18%
- Limited freedom: 0%
- Some freedom: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- A lot of freedom: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
n = 22, Incumbent 08/2026
Time pressure
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 4.01%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 0.41%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 59.31%
- Every day: 36.27%
n = 22, Incumbent 08/2026
Conflict situations
- Never: 1.53%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 18.06%
- Once a month or more but not every week: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Once a week or more but not every day: 29.41%
- Every day: 4.51%
n = 22, Incumbent 08/2026
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Once a year or more but not every month: 25.74%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 16.9%
- Once a week or more but not every day: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Every day: 8.3%
n = 19, Incumbent 08/2026
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 25.65%
- Fairly serious: 11.08%
- Serious: 11.22%
- Very serious: 0.91%
- Extremely serious: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
n = 20, Incumbent 08/2026
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O*NET-SOC 11-2021.00 · SOC 11-2021 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8