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8 Marketing Director Resume Examples...

8 Marketing Director Resume Examples & Guide for 2024

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You’ve handled multi-million dollar accounts, scaled marketing teams, developed successful strategies, you’ve got it all.

But your marketing director resume isn’t getting you past the headhunters and CMOs.

What are you doing wrong?

The answer might be in the word that keeps showing up “you”.

In marketing, you’re always trying to get a certain message to a certain audience, but a lot of people think too much about themselves. […] It’s really important to have empathy.

Diana Smith, Director of Marketing, Segment

Marketing yourself is great, it’s a huge part of what you need to do to grow in your career. But in our experience, too many senior marketers lose touch with the importance of their audience when it comes time to apply for a marketing director role.

You’ll need to create a bespoke document for each company, and our marketing director resume samples will provide everything you need to stand out, nab interviews, and seal deals.

Here’s what you’ll learn here:

  • Which key mistakes hurt most marketing director resumes (and how they differ between agency and in-house marketing directors)
  • How to write an effective resume objective or summary
  • How to frame your work experience to have more impact
  • Which skills will really make you stand out from the competition
  • How to effectively use certifications

Marketing director resume examples

Digital marketing director resume example

Creative marketing director resume example

Hotel marketing director resume example

How to write a marketing director resume?

We’ve seen high level marketers like you make the same mistake time and time again.

You’ve got years of experience and want to show it off, so you fill a few pages with all of your experiences, skills, education, etc.

While it’s true that a longer resume is normal for someone applying for a marketing director position, this often leads to too much unnecessary fluff and vague language.

As an experienced director, headhunters should already know what you’re capable. At its most basic, we recommend the following:

  • A reverse-chronological layout because a marketing director resume should center around work experience and not skills.
  • Large section headings and generous white space allow headhunters to spot information easily.
  • Providing actual data (e.g. statistics, numbers) showcases your level of expertise and shows hiring professionals what you can bring to their company.
  • Detailing the projects you’ve overseen (including team sizes, budgets, and results).
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Pro tip

The average marketing director has been in the industry for a decade and your resume has to revolve around that. If you lack experience, you simply won’t be the strongest candidate.

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Marketing director resume sections to consider

  • Header with certification(s)
  • Professional summary
  • Experience
  • Education/
  • Soft/Technical Skills (including
  • Most proud of

Start with an eye-grabbing header

You might have a great reputation and head hunters are after you, but it’s still crucial that hiring professionals read your resume. Not only does a perfectly-phrased resume header grab the right attention, but it also immediately shows them that you’ve got the relevant skills.

A resume header should include:

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Pro tip:

Any personal photos on your LinkedIn or blog should be taken by a professional photographer – it’s definitely worth the investment.

Marketing Director Resume Sample - Header

Tyler Banks, M.A.
Marketing Director
Phone
Email
Anchorage, AK
RIGHT

How to write a marketing director professional summary or objective

Putting thought into your marketing director resume summary shows headhunters that you’ve paid attention and know how to sell yourself. This is crucial, seeing as how sales are a major part of your career!

Your summary or objective should also make it clear whether your experience has been largely in-house or with agencies. This is the most crucial dividing line amongst marketing director resumes as the skills required to succeed in each of those will differ (more on that later).

How to write a marketing director objective

In just 1-2 sentences, outline your career and highlight your most impressive wins. Be sure that it objectively showcases what you’ll bring to the company.

Summary
Mission-oriented marketing manager with more than 7 years’ experience in the organic and fair trade sectors. Grew cross-functional teams by 4-fold, saving more than $800k in the process. Seeking marketing director position at Kashi to improve efficiency and revenue.
RIGHT

In the above example, the applicant balances between their experience and what the job advertisement requires.

Summary
Experienced marketing manager at Rübar who has grown teams in the organic and fair trade sectors. I’m looking for a marketing director position at Kashi so I can continue to improve efficiency and revenue.
WRONG

As you can see, the writer doesn’t use any concrete data to showcase their experience, accomplishments, or what benefits they’ll bring to the company.

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Pro tip

When writing a resume summary or objective, avoid first-person narrative.

Writing a resume summary

If you’re an experienced marketing director, limiting your resume summary to 5 or 6 sentences can feel like a Herculean task. Look at the job advertisement and model your paragraph around it. Remember: HR will be looking for ways that you’ll build their brand while fitting into their professional atmosphere.

Summary
Self-motivated, mission-oriented marketing director with 10+ years in-house experience in the organic and fair trade sector. Track record of leading and growing cross-functional teams by 4-fold within 5 years, as well as executing comprehensive marketing plans from start to finish. Diplomatic, meticulous, and consistently able to find the right opportunities for team members. Proudest achievement was saving more than $800k per year in food waste. Seeking marketing director position at Kashi to improve efficiency and revenue.
RIGHT

As you can see, the above applicant built out the summary section. They included more information regarding interpersonal, or “soft” skills, and how their personality helped them achieve their goals.

Summary
Marketing director with 10+ years’ experience in the organic and fair trade sector. Led multiple teams, executed comprehensive marketing plans and saved more than $800k per year in food waste. Seeking marketing director position at Kashi to improve efficiency and revenue.
WRONG

While this is a decent objective section, the writer doesn’t tell the hiring professional anything about their personality. Give HR representatives the opportunity to picture you working at their company.

How should you include work experience?

People don’t just expect you to provide results – they rely on you to boost revenue and direct an entire marketing team. Your work experience should therefore describe your previous positions and what makes you so successful leading others.

You definitely don’t need to mention every single duty or responsibility you’ve been tasked with.

Before you start writing, review the job advertisement. Are there key phrases that stand out?

We recommend the following:

  • List your most recent position, working backward.
  • Choose between 3 and 5 bullet points which describe your responsibilities and any achievements. Use numbers wherever possible.
  • Consider using a “Greatest Achievement” subsection to showcase what you’re proudest of.
Experience
Marketing Director of Sustainability
Rübar
Modesto, CA
  • Spearheaded new on-boarding program to increase employee satisfaction (42%) and promote personal development via certification programs.
  • Led and executed comprehensive communication and brand strategy. In two months, grew sales from 10k to 90k
  • Saved more than $800k in food waste each year (2016-2018)
RIGHT
Experience
Marketing Director
Rübar
Modesto, CA
  • Spearheaded on-boarding program to increase employee satisfaction.
  • Successfully led and executed comprehensive communication and brand strategy.
  • Saved more than $800k in food waste each year.
WRONG

In the above table, there simply isn’t enough data to prove that you were successful in your endeavors. Hiring professionals are looking for solid data to back up your claims – be sure to prove your success with facts and figures whenever possible.

Does a marketing director resume need an education section?

Because a marketing director needs to work their way up the ladder, it’s unlikely that you’ve just graduated from college. While it’s important to include some basic information about your highest degree, it’s not necessary to say much more than that.

Under your education section, include the following information:

  • Degree type,
  • Major (minors, if applicable)
  • University/college
  • Year of graduation
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Pro tip

The exception would be if you’ve recently acquired an MBA, in which case you should emphasize that degree more.

How should you decide which skills to include and emphasize?

According to CareerBuilder, a whopping 77% of employers believe that soft skills are just as important as technical skills. That’s particularly true considering, as a marketing director, much of your hiring revolves around your history of positive leadership. Make sure that both types are presant in your skills section.

Ultimately, while technical understanding is important, you’re going to be expected to lead first and foremost.

Focus on showing leadership and management skills. But don’t simply state that you have them, provide examples to back them up.

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15 soft skills for your marketing director resume

That’s not to say that technical skills aren’t important. Consider giving more thought to the following:

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12 Hard Skills for Your Marketing Director Resume

  • CRO, A/B testing, etc.
  • UX design
  • Data analysis (e.g. interpretation, analyzation)
  • Social media management
  • Online marketing apps (e.g. Google Analytics, Hootsuite)
  • Content creation
  • Design software (e.g. Photoshop, Canva)
  • Event promotion
  • Automation software
  • CMS (e.g Monday, Asana)
  • SEO
  • Language skills (e.g. bilinguality)

Of course, if you’re looking to work as a marketing director for a marketing agency, your skill set will be a bit different.

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3 Core Skills Agency Marketing Directors Should Emphasize

Of course, there are other skills you can consider including. Lisa Schneider suggests mentioning knowledge of consumer protection and privacy laws:

You do have to be aware of privacy laws and other consumer protections, CAN-SPAM, and the rules and regulations for any platform you want to use.

Lisa Schneider, Chief Digital Product Officer at Merriam-Webster

How to include your certifications on your resume

Certifications may sound low-priority but are, in fact, extremely important to headhunters. These can quickly reveal how seriously you’ve taken your role as marketing director.

You might have a plethora of certifications and qualifications, but only add those that provide actual value to your portfolio, like digital marketing certifications or team-leader training.

Say that you’re sending your resume to a sports betting giant. Take the time to research and tailor your resume around their needs. Have you completed specific certification courses that translate into this field?

Consider certifications beyond basic marketing (those skills should be clear in your experience). Business, project management, or even scrum certifications can help round out the skills you demonstrate elsewhere.

Focus on the attributes that set you apart from every other applicant – be concise but descriptive:

  • Detail the program name, date, and location (if applicable)
  • Include programs in reverse-chronological order
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The top 5 certifications for marketing directors

  • AMA Professional Certified Marketer
  • AMA® Certificate in Analytical Skills
  • Certified Marketing Management Professional (CNMP®)
  • Certified ScrumMaster®
  • Certified Project Management Professional (PMP)®

How to Write the Best Marketing Director Resume

It comes down to these simple tips:

  • Make sure you create a bespoke resume aimed at showing how you can solve the pain points of the people in charge of hiring you (treat it like a marketing problem).
  • Use your header to establish credibility early on.
  • Make sure your resume is well designed, balanced, and easy to read.
  • Use a resume summary of objective to make a brief but powerful case for why you’re the best candidate using specific numbers to demonstrate your impact.
  • Emphasize your skills based on whether you’re applying to work at an agency or in-house.
  • Focus on showing you have leadership and management skills by providing specific examples and metrics
marketing director resume example

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