What Does a Growth Marketing Manager Do?

Growth marketing involves marketers working with a team to analyze data from previous marketing strategies and campaigns to optimize company-wide growth and tailor content and marketing efforts to the needs and motivations of the brand’s customers. Growth marketing relies on experimentation and analysis in a continual loop, allowing marketers to deliver a highly personalized, tailored approach. It can boost campaigns’ return on investment (ROI) and increase customer loyalty and revenue. 

Growth marketing managers work to ensure growth by leading a team of experts and collaborating on new marketing strategies using consumer feedback and research analytics. Discover more about this exciting field, including the salary and job outlook, the skills you need to excel, and the education requirements.

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What is a growth marketing manager?

Growth marketing managers are data analysts and leaders who take charge of the strategy to engage with customers and prospects, from individuals finding the brand to making a purchase, returning for another, and recommending the business to others. As a growth marketing manager, your goals and responsibilities may be similar to those of a standard marketing manager, emphasizing the production of revenue growth for your company or business by optimizing the customer experience. 

You can expect to work directly with feedback from customers and shape customer loyalty by responding to user wants and needs, thus encouraging customers to stick with your brand and spread awareness. Traditional marketing managers may specialize and focus more on specific points of the customer journey. As a growth marketing manager, you must remain flexible, versatile, and focused on the high-level “bigger picture,” using data-driven insights to continually adapt and create effective strategies. 

What does a growth marketing manager do?

Growth marketing managers focus on ensuring a positive customer experience and strategizing how to optimize reach to maximum amounts of users through marketing campaigns. You'll often collaborate with a mix of internal and external teams, driving strategies and making the necessary improvements to increase engagement and retention.

As a growth marketing manager, you drive revenue growth through successful marketing strategies such as email and SEO-driven marketing and social media campaigns. You also work to effectively manage marketing budget costs with the ultimate goal of reducing them. 

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Growth marketing manager tasks and responsibilities

In this job, you will perform varied duties, including working with technology to test and capture relevant data to analyze and use to optimize ongoing efforts. You’ll develop personalized campaigns and support the creation of an audience with high engagement rates. 

As a growth marketing manager, you may encounter the following everyday tasks and responsibilities:

• Analyze data: Part of your work as a growth marketing manager requires you to research trends and analyze data to inquire how your content is performing online and how much traffic it drives to your website. You may also connect directly with customers to receive their feedback on user experience, which helps influence new marketing strategies going forward. You will also need to work with various data analysis tools and be able to explain your findings to stakeholders without a technical background.

• Lead employees: In a management position, you must lead employees to a common goal. As a growth marketing manager, that common goal is to increase sales revenue, boost brand awareness, and ensure customer satisfaction and loyalty. You communicate with employees these goals and ways to implement new marketing strategies to increase growth.

• A/B testing: A popular marketing strategy for growth marketing managers is implementing A/B testing. This process involves creating two different versions of a similar medium, such as an email, text message, or social media advertisement, and testing them out on two audiences. You then collect and analyze the data from those audiences, such as whether they were more likely to click on one version or purchase items from the contents of another. You will use that information to guide ongoing strategies. 

• Create content: Growth marketing managers produce new, innovative content for customers to engage in. Whether that be a new email campaign or social media posts, you then track the results of these campaigns to determine if your strategy was successful or needs improvements.

• Optimize growth: Your ultimate goal as a growth marketing manager is to optimize growth within the company. You want to improve customer experiences by producing engaging content they will respond to and share to build awareness of your company. Developing new marketing strategies and learning from previous campaigns will help you succeed in growth optimization.

Growth marketing manager skills

To succeed in this job, you need to have a robust skill set and inherent versatility, which will help you adapt to changing conditions based on the continual cycle of testing, data analysis, and strategy execution. You’ll need a skill set that includes familiarity with marketing principles, product and project management, new product development, and Agile methodologies, which can help drive profitable, rapid growth. 

As a growth marketing manager, you should also demonstrate the following skills to excel at your job:

• Robust critical thinking: In this role, you will need to track and analyze data, including performance metrics, and you'll also need to be able to use insights to optimize campaigns. You must choose appropriate marketing channels and understand how varied marketing efforts work together to drive objectives forward. 

• Communication: To effectively lead a team of employees, you need to be an excellent communicator. You need the ability to convey potentially complex information to team members and leaders who don’t have a strong technological background. You must also be able to convey your expectations to your team to ensure growth within your business and customer satisfaction.

• Creativity: You must have strong creativity skills and adaptability to craft innovative marketing strategies that captivate audiences and cultivate marketing growth. Creating new content is part of your role as a growth marketing manager, so it’s essential that the content you produce is creative and makes an impact on audiences.

• Strong leadership: Growth marketing managers must have strong leadership skills and be comfortable managing a team of individuals. When you display strong leadership skills, you encourage employees to perform well.

• Problem-solving: When problems arise from a user or customer standpoint, you should prepare to solve them. Your strong communication skills with your team will prove helpful as you collaborate and work together to find solutions to any and all problems.

Salary and job outlook

According to Glassdoor, growth marketing managers in the US earn an average base salary of $101,971 [1]. In addition to solid earning potential, the outlook for these types of jobs is also positive. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) predicts a 6 percent growth rate for advertising, promotions, and marketing managers from 2022 through 2032  [2].

Marketing is a growing industry with room to advance within your career. The rise of technology and digital marketing has led to increased opportunities for marketers, who can continue learning new skills and expanding their depth of knowledge in the field.

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Growth marketing manager career path

To begin your career as a growth marketing manager, meet the recommended education requirements to pursue the role. Employers typically prefer that you have a background in marketing and business with some years of relevant leadership experience.

Education and training

To become a growth marketing manager, you'll typically need a bachelor’s in subjects like communications or business. While planning your coursework, gaining broad exposure to data analytics is helpful to ensure that you're prepared for this role. Some employers may also want you to have an advanced degree, like a master’s degree in marketing. Keep in mind that earning a master's may also increase your earning potential and set you apart from other job candidates.

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Professional experience

Before applying to a growth marketing manager position, you may want to gain more experience through entry-level positions. This will boost your resume and allow you to develop your skills and knowledge. You may pursue a marketing coordinator or communications specialist role before advancing into a growth marketing manager role.

Certification

Earning certifications is a great way to show employers your dedication to your career, may help boost your resume, and showcase your industry knowledge. Although it’s voluntary, certification may help you better meet potential employers’ expectations. For example, you could pursue credentials like the Certified Digital Marketing Expert, offered by the Digital Marketing Institute and the American Marketing Association or HubSpot’s Digital Marketing Certification.

Read more: 8 Industry-Recognized Digital Marketing Certificates + How to Get One

Getting started with Coursera

Growth marketing is a fast-paced, varied field that requires a sharp set of skills and the ability to adapt according to the insights derived from marketing data. Start preparing for a career as a growth marketing manager by taking courses to enhance your skills. 

Consider the Digital Marketing and E-commerce Professional Certificate offered by Google to learn more about marketing or the Google Data Analytics Professional Certificate to hone your analysis abilities. These programs are led by industry professionals who will cover the skills you need to start an entry-level marketing career.