Marketing Specialist: What is the cost of hiring?

What is a marketing specialist?

A marketing strategist researches consumer trends, using the resulting information to develop marketing strategies and campaigns. They oversee an organization’s social media efforts, prepare to launch new products or services and measure the results of their efforts. These individuals strive to increase sales, boost company visibility and foster a positive brand image.

Why hire a marketing specialist?

If your company’s current marketing strategies are lacklustre and failing to yield positive results, it may be time to hire a marketing specialist. These skilled professionals can provide your business with a comprehensive marketing strategy that includes market analysis, the development of marketing campaigns, consistent messaging across social media platforms and search engine optimization (SEO).

Contributions of a great marketing specialist:

• Analyzing market trends, competition and marketing campaign results
• Creating and implementing marketing strategies with consistent messaging that reaches the targeted demographic
• Executing a marketing plan quickly and efficiently, while keeping department heads updated
• Prioritizing spending to maximize the effectiveness of each dollar spent while adhering to the allotted budget
• Devising original marketing strategies that demonstrate an ability to think outside the box

Defining your hiring needs for a marketing specialist

If you have determined that your company could benefit from hiring a marketing specialist, the next step is to consider your options. Small businesses or those with a limited marketing budget may opt for a part-time marketing specialist or an independent freelancer. Larger organizations with substantial marketing needs may require a full-time position. 

What are the types of marketing specialists?

While many marketing professionals work as general marketing specialists, some choose to focus on specific aspects of marketing, such as social media, analysis, SEO, or brand management. They may also have titles based on their hierarchy within the organization. For instance, a director of marketing has greater authority than a marketing manager. Here are some closely related roles that you may wish to consider:

• Chief marketing officer
• Director of marketing
• Marketing manager
• Advertising manager
• Social media manager

When writing your marketing specialist job description, consider including some or all of the following keywords to improve the visibility of your job posting. These are the most popular search terms leading to clicks on marketing specialist jobs, according to Indeed data: 

• marketing
• digital marketing
• social media
• data analyst
• digital marketing specialist
• marketing specialist
• graphic design
• marketing intern
• SEO
• digital marketer

Want more hiring insights for your marketing specialist role? Sign in or create your free Indeed account. 

Where to find a marketing specialist?

Once you’ve determined that your company requires a marketing specialist, it’s time to look for potential candidates. There are several ways to find marketing specialists, including checking out niche job boards, researching recruiting agencies or hiring from within your organization.

To find the right marketing specialist for your business, consider trying out a few different recruiting strategies:

• Social media: Posting the position on your social media accounts lets you reach a broad audience that shows an interest in your company, enabling you to attract potential candidates.
• Educational institutions: Partnering with colleges and universities in your area can enable you to secure talented new graduates. 
• Company website: Incorporating a user-friendly careers page into your corporate website can make it easy for skilled candidates to apply.
• Networking: By attending job fairs and marketing professional conferences and reaching out to online marketing communities, you may find a larger pool of talent.

Post your job online. Try posting your marketing specialist job on Indeed to find and attract quality marketing specialist candidates. 

Skills to look for in a marketing specialist

A successful marketing specialist candidate will typically have the following skills and competencies, which may be gained through a variety of experiences, training or education:

• Communication: The ability to clearly and persuasively share their ideas and marketing strategies with team members and other departments, convey the desired marketing message to the marketplace effectively and present campaign results to management.
• Analysis: Can conduct quality research, make sense of marketing data and trends and make sound marketing decisions based on their findings. 
• Creativity: Generates innovative and fresh marketing materials, campaigns, social media marketing content and advertisements.
• Digital marketing: Knowledge of popular social media platforms and SEO best practices, the ability to create share-worthy content and analyze and measure online marketing performance. 
• Project management: Adept at coordinating multiple marketing projects at the same time, while sticking to a budget and deadlines.
• Customer focus: Able to identify and understand your target customers’ needs and wants and how they perceive your brand, enabling them to create effective marketing messages that appeal to your customers’ preferences. 

Writing a marketing specialist job description

Now that you know the key skills, salary expectations, popular job-seeker search terms and hiring insights for a marketing specialist, you’re ready to write a job description.

A marketing specialist job description typically includes a compelling summary of the role, a detailed list of duties and responsibilities, and the required and preferred skills for the position. You may also want to include information about your company culture, benefits and perks to attract candidates to your open role. 

Ready to get started? See our full guide for writing marketing specialist job descriptions.

Interviewing marketing specialist candidates

Strong candidates for marketing specialist positions will be confident answering questions regarding:

• Persuasiveness, such as describing how they sell their marketing ideas to management and create content that motivates clients to act
• Marketing analytics, including the ability to explain how they conduct research, interpret data and identify market trends
• Willingness to learn from failed marketing endeavours, identify what went wrong and adjust future campaigns accordingly
• Project co-ordination skills, like the ability to delegate tasks to the most appropriate team members, set workable due dates and produce an organized workflow
• Social media proficiency, such as a familiarity with the most popular platforms, an ability to create shareable content and knowledge of how to measure performance

Need help coming up with interview questions? See our list of marketing specialist interview questions for examples (with sample answers).