Notes

Hiring a marketing director
Adding marketing positions can be a difficult choice for startups and small businesses. In many cases, the founders like to personally manage sales and marketing, or they appoint an employee to manage marketing, even if that person has no previous experience in the field. When it comes to hiring marketing staff, experts recommend that entrepreneurs step outside their comfort zone and find a CMO with industry experience but a completely different pedigree.

“You might need a few people who have a different point of view and who can challenge you,” says hiring expert Roberta Chinsky Mathuson, president of consulting firm Human Resource Solutions. "If you have eight guys from Harvard in one office, they might be brilliant, but if you're selling a product to the rest of the country, it might not work."

The ideal new employee should bring to the table fresh ideas, new ways to use technology, and industry contacts. But before you start looking, it's important to define exactly what the position entails. The easiest way: Take the time to write your job description carefully and clearly define what you are looking for.

“Sometimes when you think you need a sales manager, what you really need is a marketing manager, and vice versa,” Matuson says.

Dig Deep: Hiring Checklist



Hiring a Marketing Director: Job Description

The first paragraph under the title of the position should be a brief overview of what the position entails. Depending on what your company needs in a CMO, this list might include identifying opportunities to launch new products or enter new markets; marketing budget management; revenue forecasting and growth potential; identification of technology and marketing partners; carrying out the necessary marketing research; and the creation and supervision of the company's marketing staff. Markers are best for organizing these responsibilities.

It's important to remember the key phrase, which includes additional "duties as assigned" in case the job changes over time or some significant duty is inadvertently omitted. “Basically, this is to ensure that the employee doesn’t come back and say, ‘That wasn’t in my job description,’” Mathuson says.

Once the job description is clearly laid out, it's time to set a budget for the position in terms of remuneration.

Dig Deeper: View a Sample Job Description Template



Hiring a Marketing Director: How to Determine Compensation

In order to get a competitive salary, an entrepreneur should check out the latest HR payroll research and look up information on sites like PayScale.com or Salary.com. Looking at current job listings posted online by companies you think are in your group can help you get an accurate picture of what candidates are expecting.

However, it is perfectly acceptable to ask job seekers about their salary expectations, including whether they expect any bonuses or incentive compensation. It's also worth asking what salary scale the candidate expects for the rest of their staff.

And don't ignore the power of benefits influencing a CMO's decision to join your company. In smaller companies, benefits serve as an important signal of culture and stability. “If you are like Google and have incredible benefits, you may not have to pay as much. But if you don't offer health insurance, you may have to pay more," Mathuson said.

Location matters too. Workers living in or near urban centers will demand higher wages to cover their much higher living expenses, while workers in rural areas will demand less. An experienced CMO is likely to expect a base salary of $140,000 to $208,000 in New York; In central Wisconsin, the $113,000 to $170,000 salary range is more common, according to Salary.com.

Dig Deeper: The Right Payment Method



Hiring a Marketing Director: Attracting the Right Candidates

Once the job description is clearly stated and agreed upon with management, and the salary range is set, it's time to write and publish the job listing. In addition to the overview and list of responsibilities contained in the job description, a great job listing highlights the behavioral characteristics you hope to find in a candidate.

For a CMO, self-management, motivation, high energy, financial ambition, and persuasive communication can be remarkable behavioral traits. Marketing Recruiters in the resulting list might look like this: "The ideal candidate combines
Here's my website: www.marketingrecruiters.co.uk