Marketing campaign manager: What are the responsibilities?

There may be a lot of differences between the two jobs, but there are plenty of similarities as well. 

It’s the quarterback’s job to put his football team in the best position to win, calling plays. It’s the marketing campaign’s manager to map out a marketing strategy and handle project management. 

A quarterback knows the skills of all the offensive players, knowing who to go to and when. A marketing campaign manager understands the best tools to use and when – tools like social media, digital marketing tactics, and other initiatives. 

Finally, a quarterback must be a leader on the field. He must know how to get the most out of each player while understanding their own perspective. A marketing campaign manager must have the requisite communication skills needed to know project statuses and provide help where needed. 

Let’s take a closer look at the role of a marketing campaign manager and answer the question, “What does a marketing campaign manager do?” 

What is a Marketing Campaign Manager?

First, a definition: a marketing campaign is any plan or strategy designed to execute an organizational goal using marketing tactics. 

For example, if a company selling a product has a launch, they may craft a marketing campaign promoting that. They’ll figure out which components of their marketing tools and techniques will work best, craft a strategy to execute and develop content to support that. 

The marketing campaign manager oversees the entire project. They help devise it, see it to completion, and evaluate it after it’s done. 

A marketing campaign manager is in a position of leadership. They need to understand the finer points of project management while also being able to step in and contribute ideas, content, and guidance where necessary. 

Just because a marketing campaign manager is ultimately responsible for a campaign’s success doesn’t mean they’ll be carrying out every aspect of the campaign. In many cases, quite the opposite is true in fact. 

It’s on marketing campaign managers to delegate tasks to other members of the marketing team. They should also coordinate with other internal departments, and monitor the status of the campaign. 

What Skills are Needed?

A marketing campaign manager must be a people person. Whether they oversee a large team or are a team of one, they’ll have to either interact with a group of people or understand how a specific group of people (the target audience) think. 

A marketing campaign manager should be analytical and strategic in nature. They should value planning and forethought, validating the strategies and tactics they plan to implement.

Marketing campaign managers should understand how to monitor and measure campaign performance. What are the metrics and key performance indicators they need to examine to gauge the campaign’s success? 

Finally, a marketing campaign manager must have top-level organizational skills. Whether they’re doing all the work themselves or coordinating a marketing team to do it, they’ll need to track it all on a timeline to ensure work is completed efficiently and competently. 

Where Should a Marketing Campaign Manager Start?

Knowing how to get started can be one of the most difficult aspects of developing a marketing campaign. After all, if you start moving in the wrong direction, you may miss the mark and dedicate time and resources to the wrong goal or objective. 

Every marketing campaign manager should take a research-based approach to a marketing campaign. They should first look to their clients/teammates to understand the ultimate goal of the campaign. 

If the marketing campaign manager was an archer, the campaign goal would be the target. That’s the desired end state for the organization. 

Once the goal is established, a marketing campaign manager will conduct stakeholder interviews to get a better understanding of the target audience. They’ll tap into any existing demographic research and try to unveil new key insights as they talk with various partners. 

After doing this initial research, the marketing campaign manager can work with the marketing team to develop personas, affinity maps, and other research artifacts to better visualize what tools and tactics will work best. 

How Does One Develop a Marketing Campaign?

Campaign planning can be tricky, but there are steps any marketing campaign manager can take to be successful: 

• Work with company leadership to create buy-in for the campaign’s methodology. 
• Lead a brainstorming session with the team to identify potential strategies and tactics. 
• Iterate the plan with key internal stakeholders to adapt it as necessary. 

The specific components of a marketing plan may vary. But generally speaking, any marketing campaign manager’s campaign will include the following pieces: 

• Background. This is where you establish the environment surrounding the campaign, as well as why you’re building the campaign itself. 
• Goals and objectives. In this section, you’ll identify the target(s). 
• Audience. Here is where you’ll identify your intended audience. Include any research you have (i.e. user personas) to help you shape the direction of the campaign. 
• Strategy. In this section, you’ll identify high-level ideas for the direction you’ll want your campaign to take. 
• Tactics. Whereas strategy takes a macro-level view of how you plan to execute the campaign, your tactics are conducted on a micro-level. These are the specific actions you’ll take and the channels you’ll use. 
• Metrics. Tie these to your goals and make them quantifiable. Your metrics (or KPIs) will allow you to measure the success of the campaign. 
• Timeline. Think of this as your campaign schedule, letting you track major deadlines and deliverables. 

Again, the specific sections of your plan might be different based on what you’re trying to accomplish and the industry you’re in. But all marketing campaign plans should involve these elements on some level, even if they’re labeled differently. 

What are the Prerequisites to Landing These Jobs? 

A marketing manager is usually a full-time job. The job description often requires a person up for the role to possess a few skills and abilities to be successful in the role. 

In terms of past performance, experience managing marketing programs is a plus. Having at least several years of experience shows one has delivered before with a solid track record. 

Project management skills are important as well. A marketing campaign manager needs to monitor the status of a project, and then often means delegating to others while reviewing the quality of their work. 

You’re managing not just the beginning or the end of the project, but the entire lifecycle. 

Problem-solving skills are key. Whether it’s handling a challenging client or figuring out the right combination of marketing tactics, being able to examine problems and diagnose them with the right solutions will help. 

Education levels can vary. Skills and experience are more important as they speak to being able to do the job itself. However, many marketing campaign managers have a bachelor’s degree in a subject such as marketing or communications. 

Being in a position of leadership, marketing campaign managers often have to sign off on or give approvals on the work of others. You’ll often be seen as a senior manager, which comes with a tremendous amount of responsibility such as managing workflow. 

They also need to possess an intimate understanding of core marketing concepts such as content marketing, email marketing, demand generation, direct mail, and other standard marketing formats. 

Being skilled at social media is also a major benefit. Knowing how to get the most out of platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn is a necessity in this era. 

A Typical Day in the Life of a Marketing Campaign Manager

A campaign marketing manager may start their day off with a standup call. That’s where they gather every member of their internal teams for a quick check-in on project statuses, blockers prohibiting work from getting done, and any upcoming deadlines or deliverables. 

They may also have a check-in with their client if they have one, keeping them apprised of all relevant updates. To do this easily, they may use a tool like Excel or Google Sheets to track progress. Of course, it’s better to have a comprehensive platform housing all your marketing needs in one spot. 

In the case of a marketing campaign manager working on their own without a team, the kinds of tasks they could perform include: 

• Creating content (social media and web content)
• Doing keyword research to support search engine optimization 
• Mapping out strategies
• Evaluating reports and metrics to understand the success of their channel marketing

A marketing campaign manager can wear many hats. But regardless of the number of roles they fill for an organization, they need to understand the finer points of marketing. They also need tools that store all their information and processes in one place. 

Optimizely CMP is the platform that can help them do just that. With Optimizely CMP, all of your team’s marketing tools and capabilities can rest in one convenient location. 

You’ll be able to point your team to one centralized hub for all your marketing needs. 

If you’re interested in hearing more about how to level up your marketing efforts with the help of one platform.