The 10 qualities of a good marketing director

Often, a company’s success or failure is directly linked to the effectiveness of its marketing efforts. Whether in companies that have a marketing director or in those where the business owner also takes on that role, it is one of the most critical functions within a company. During my nearly two decades of experience, I have had the opportunity to work alongside marketing directors as well as various SME managers, and I have drawn a number of conclusions. I must also say that I have worked alongside excellent, mediocre and (I’m sorry to say) truly terrible professionals in this crucial role. That is why I want to highlight the ten qualities I consider essential for a good marketing director.

1. Visionary

A good marketing director is a visionary and a dream-maker. When introducing a product or service to the market, the most important thing is to visualise, focus on and create the concept of what it should be. As well as seeing it, they must have a great ability to communicate that vision clearly – to the creative team, the sales team, senior management, production and the rest of the team involved in both carrying out the work and selling it.

2. With self-esteem

A good marketing director is constantly listening to people within their company and, above all, to people outside it; they listen to their customers, their partners and the sales team – this is how they come to understand the market. A market in which customers talk amongst themselves and make comparisons. Once they have gathered and analysed the information, the director has the confidence to assess the various options and tell their team: ‘That’s where we’re heading – follow me.’ Unfortunately, I have also come across managers who are so full of themselves that it turns into arrogance; they assume they always have the best answer, even though they certainly don’t always do.

3. With an artistic touch

Much of the communication between the market, prospects and the company tends to be visual, and although the role of a good marketing director is not to create these elements but to guide and make decisions about them, it is important that they possess a certain sense of taste and visual style. They are usually interested in advertising, graphic design, photography and trends in brand design.

4. Knowledgeable about the sector and their customers’ needs

Good marketing directors have a deep understanding of what is happening in their sector and what influences people’s purchasing decisions. They usually study their industry and their customers, and talk to the sales teams; if they did not know why their customers buy a product, any marketing strategy they devised would be largely ineffective. Nowadays, thanks to new technologies, there are some sectors where customers are one step ahead of companies. To stay one step ahead, good marketing directors develop bespoke predictive models and recognise that, in certain cases, it is no longer us who are selling – it is the customers who are buying from us, and they know our product almost better than our own sales team.

5. – Documented

Many say that marketing is the art of persuasion, but it is more of a science than an art. The role played by print adverts in a marketing campaign, the function of public relations, ‘customer engagement’, or reasonable objectives for an online campaign – the answers to these questions can be found in historical results. A good marketing director knows these answers and organises their strategies and tactics around all these variables, making informed decisions that take into account the potential consequences.

6. With perspective

A good marketing director paints the full picture with perspective, clearly defining the role of each colleague and team member. It is often easy for them to get lost in the details because they enjoy every aspect of the planning process, but they work primarily to keep the big picture in focus, redefining it if necessary, and do not allow themselves to be distracted by the details – that is what their staff are there for.

7. A spontaneous planner

A good marketing director cannot function effectively without sound planning, but they do not waste time tying up every detail of the strategy only to have to redefine it later in the face of any market changes. When you create an overly detailed plan, you run the risk of losing spontaneity and innovation, and of ignoring the reality of an increasingly digital market, where the bottleneck is often something analogue. Marketing materials, scripts for the sales team, leaflets, product sheets, newsletters, websites, etc., created without a clear vision, are often useless. They create a lot of noise in the market, but lack focus. A good strategist needs to plan their public relations, manage their advertising, define sales tools, measure and evaluate their presence at trade fairs and on social media, and monitor product packaging and point-of-sale presence.

8. – Thorough knowledge of the company

I have often encountered situations where there are conflicts between marketing departments and other departments within companies. Sometimes administration or production are given greater priority than marketing and sales. For this reason, the first ‘customers’ to whom the project must be sold are often our own colleagues – our internal clients. It is very common, in times of cutbacks, for the marketing budget to be the first to be slashed, which undoubtedly contributes to financial strain and damage to the brand’s image. A good marketing director knows how to navigate the company’s internal politics and remove any obstacles that might hinder shared success. And since I’ve mentioned it, let’s talk a little about something as important to any marketing director as their budget. I have come across three types of client when it comes to defining and managing the marketing budget. The first type – and the least common – is usually one where the marketing director sets their own annual budget based on their planning, in line with management’s strategies; I recall several such cases from the last century. Another, more common type is where senior management sets a quantitative budget and the director then draws up the qualitative plan using the allocated funds. But the approach I consider the most sensible is the flexible, hybrid approach, where the budget and its management are handled jointly and efficiently.

9. Digital

How things have been changing in recent years for marketing directors. Everything has become much more complex; we are moving from deductive to inductive purchasing models thanks to technologies such as ‘Big Data’ or the analysis of large amounts of data. Thanks to these technologies, we have more information, and we know that information is power; although, as that advert used to say… power without control is useless. A good marketing director knows how to make the most of this data and realises that everything is mobile and that modern marketing without technology is obsolete; they have learnt to incorporate their digital strategy into their marketing plans and make the most of new tools to gain a 360-degree view of their customers. Today’s marketing director is increasingly in dialogue with their company’s CIO or IT director and, most importantly… they actually understand what they’re saying!

10. Passionate

A good marketing director loves to follow the entire marketing process and gradually discover the answers to their own questions: Is this the right approach? What do my customers really want? Are we giving them what they’re asking for? A good marketing director enjoys leading their team and fighting these battles, navigating the market, working alongside great colleagues, taking risks and analysing the results achieved. They love their work; their profession is their passion. [br]Well, here they are. These are the ten qualities I consider essential for excelling in a role that, for many companies, is often misunderstood and undervalued, yet necessary and indispensable for those who recognise its true value. Remember that marketing is a matter of perception, not necessarily of reality. Just because we have a great product doesn’t mean everyone is going to buy it. Being a good marketing director isn’t easy; it requires a great deal of experience, perseverance, a willingness to take risks, skills, the ability to unlearn and relearn, and a certain amount of courage. The best thing is to talk to other colleagues you meet along the way and, above all, to learn from the best.

Mariano Llorente