Category: careergrowth

You need these 7 things to become a 1st time VP of Marketing:

1. People management experience (ideally at least 4-6+ people, some may require 10+)

2. Product/brand marketing experience and demand generation experience

3. Expert at budgeting, forecasting, financial management, headcount planning, and agency management

4. Able to speak to past quantitative pipeline and revenue results

5. Experience in a similar industry

6. Able to speak to how you build culture and employee engagement for the whole Marketing team

7. Able to solve cross-functional issues, not just Marketing issues

What would you add/change to the list? Or what is something you admire about a VP of Marketing you know?

Reminder: Stages I’m showing in this series: Intern, Associate, Manager, Sr. Manager, Director, Sr. Director, VP, 2x VP, CMO.
To see each stage, follow me & click the 🔔 icon on my profile for the next stage posts.

Want to get a Director or Sr. Director Marketing role? Here’s what you need (part 4 of the series)

Director-level:
– People management experience (ideally 2+ people)
– Deep expertise in the specific discipline of Marketing, perks if you have experience in another discipline too
– Has shown quantitative impact on ROI, pipeline, ARR, or other relevant metrics to the discipline
– Has shown the ability to create strategic plans but still able to get your hands dirty
– Able to do budgeting, forecasting, and financial management, most likely with the help of someone more senior
– Proficient with analysis and reporting
– Proficient with your own discipline’s tech stack and some abilities in other disciplines’ tech stacks
– Strong collaborator with other teams inside and outside of Marketing

To become a Senior Director in Mktg:
– Do things that Directors do but be consistently achieving or outperforming people management, marketing planning, and quantitative goals

Reminder: Stages I’ll show: Intern, Associate, Manager, Sr. Manager, Director, Sr. Director, VP, 2x VP, CMO.
To see each stage, follow me & click the 🔔 icon on my profile for the next stage posts.

Was this similar to your path, or did you have something else to get into your 1st Dir/Sr. Dir job?

Or if you’re not there yet, what have you been told that you still need?