How to hire a marketing director to boost your business

• The current head of marketing in your business requires further support to manage the wider team and the campaign outputs
• Your CEO or managing director lacks the knowledge of marketing and requires expertise within this area to take the business forward
• Your headcount has reached a figure, for example, 80+ people, and hiring a marketing director makes sense and is within budget 
• You need someone to better align your brand strategy with the goals and objectives of a company
• Your business is in the process of launching new products and services
• If your competition begins to outperform you
• You want to engage with a new customer base and focus on lead generation
• You don’t have a marketing director leading your marketing team but are looking to grow the department 

We will explore how to hire a marketing director later in this article - in our where to find a marketing director section. But, before then, let’s look at some of the key considerations to make when hiring a marketing director.  

What to consider when hiring a marketing director

Now we've established when to hire a marketing director; it's also critical to take into account some considerations before pursuing your future employee. From the skills to look out for and the responsibilities you'd want your director of marketing to carry out to writing job descriptions that engage with the candidates you want to target - let's explore what to consider when hiring a marketing director.

Marketing director skills to look out for in candidates

Of course, when your business is looking to hire a marketing director, you want to ensure you onboard the best talent within the market. To make sure you bring the best people into your company, you should look out for specific skills that any top director of marketing will have. We've created a list of these top marketing director skills to help you better understand what to consider.

• A great sales mentality and analytical mind
• Deep knowledge of marketing 
• An outstanding ability to plan, develop and implement marketing campaigns and strategies
• A fantastic ability to sell a brand's products and services to new and existing buyers
• Superb leadership and management skills
• Excellent interpersonal communication skills
• Strong ability to utilize CRMs and computer software
• Great attention to detail
• Hard-working with an ability to motivate and get the best out of others
• An ability to problem solve and use initiative 

What are the responsibilities of a marketing director? 

Another important consideration when hiring a director of marketing is to outline the responsibilities of the candidate you want to onboard. Determining what your future marketing director will be accountable for is crucial, so you and your next hire are on the same page regarding the job role. Like the above skills section, we've listed some of the typical responsibilities of a marketing director.

• Create strategic marketing campaigns to support the growth of a brand
• Liaise with the broader marketing and sales team on marketing strategies 
• Oversee the outputs of a campaign
• Lead marketing strategies from start to finish
• Communicate and manage relationships with internal and external stakeholders
• Understand the vision and objectives of a brand and align strategy with this
• Manage the budgets for campaigns 
• Research and stay updated with the latest marketing trends
• Analyze data regarding the outputs of a strategy and ensure campaigns are on track
• Support with the hiring of future members of the marketing team 

Write an engaging marketing director job description

When hiring a marketing director, one final consideration is to write an engaging marketing director job description. Marketing directors are sought-after, and the top candidates will have no shortage of opportunities to select. Therefore, you must ensure your job description stands out and attracts the professionals you need to boost your business. 

Here you can incorporate the skills and responsibilities you're looking for in your desired candidate and the required experience level. Additionally, you should ensure to go into detail to sell your company as a great place to work, including the benefits, bonuses, and culture, while promoting your offering as an opportunity the candidate must take advantage of and will be quick to apply. 

Once your engaging job description is live for the world to see and you start attracting candidates, it’s important to examine each candidate's application and resume. Ultimately, these candidates have the potential to lead your brand or the brands you partner with in the future, so you must take the time to determine who you want to shortlist and interview for the marketing director job.

You should look at the candidate's relevant experience, businesses and industries they’ve worked in and decide whether they would be suitable for the position. Also, consider how they’ve presented their resume, whether it is concise and to the point, and does it read well. These may seem obvious considerations, but they are important nonetheless and will ensure you have the best shortlist of interviewees possible.

Now you’ve clarified who you want to shortlist for an interview, it’s important to consider the questions you want to ask your future marketing director. Certain open-ended questions can be tailored to the specific questions, asking them about the experiences they’ve noted in their resume. Additionally, you should ask the candidate what attracted them to the role, consider whether they have the skills suited to the job, and understand the responsibilities of the position. Importantly, you should determine whether the candidate would be the right cultural fit for your business. 

Here are some questions you could ask your marketing director candidates: 

• What is your biggest achievement in your marketing career and why?
• Do you specialize in a specific area of marketing? 
• How would you measure the effectiveness of a marketing campaign? 
• What’s the biggest challenge you’ve faced in your marketing career, and how did you overcome this?
• What would you improve about our current brand or the brands we work with?
• How would you ensure a campaign aligns with the goals of a brand?
• What will you do to get the best out of the marketing team?
• How will you use marketing to establish, develop and grow client and customer relationships?

When interviewing candidates, ensure you have a diverse interview panel. Additionally, you could ask the candidate to complete a marketing-specific task or presentation beforehand or at a second-stage interview to further establish whether they are the right person for the role. Once you’ve determined who you want to hire, you can onboard your new marketing director into your business and watch the results come your way. 

Where to find a marketing director

When looking at how to hire a marketing director to boost your business, there are plenty of things you can do to find the best person to take your brand to the next level. From utilizing job boards and networking to contracting and partnering with marketing recruitment agencies, here are three ways you can find a director of marketing. 

Networking is another great way to find a director of marketing to help your business reach new heights. For example, you could engage with your existing list of contacts your internal talent acquisition or HR teams has access to and see if they would be interested in the position. This could be people who have worked as a marketing director in the past, currently work in the role for another company, or an existing employee with the transferable skills to shift into the director-level position. 

You could also utilize social media platforms like LinkedIn to engage with potential candidates or join relevant social groups to get talent recommendations and attend networking events to see what talent is on the market. Similarly, you could set up a referral scheme and ask your existing employees to utilize their networks to find talent to amplify your business.

Our third way to find a marketing director is by partnering with a specialist staffing agency. If your internal recruitment team needs additional support or your business doesn’t have the resources to find talent, then a recruitment firm is the perfect solution. 

Executive recruitment agencies will have the expertise to help you find the best talent on the market. They will work closely with you to determine the type of marketing director you want to hire, from contractors to permanent hires, and the skills and responsibilities you need to fill to the cultural fit you’re looking to attract. Executive recruiters will utilize their connections and talent pool to match you with the best fit to help you overcome your hiring challenges. They will support you through the whole recruitment process, from the screening and interview stages all the way to the onboarding stage.