Very short guide to common roles and responsibilities in B2B Marketing.

1. THE SHORT GUIDE TO B2B
MARKETING CAREERS
Josh Hill
MarketingRockstarGuides.com
May 2017
Original Post: https://www.marketingrockstarguides.com/careers-b2b-marketing-primer-2833/

2. The short guide to B2B marketing careers
This short guide is a summary of major B2B marketing functions in 2017. Each
company may have different definitions and responsibilities. This list reflects my
experiences and analysis of job descriptions. Do your research on companies and
roles. This guide should not replace research!
Small Organizations (Under 100 people): many roles tend to be condensed into 1 or
2 people.
Medium Organizations (100-999 people): roles will become more well defined if the
firm has made an investment in marketing.
Large Organizations (1000-5000): marketing functions more well defined with
specializations.
Enterprise: (5000+): multiple functions and specializations. Marketing groups may be
separated by Product, Solution, and Corporate levels.

3. Campaign Manager or Demand Gen Manager
Specialist/Associate Manager Director Vice President
Entry level, all round
marketer. Size of company
will determine whether this
is a general role or
specialized on email or
cross-channel programs.
Typical day may mean
setup for events, email
coding, simple reports,
deduping, checking things
with sales. May work on
basic SEO, SEM, and
direct response.
Individual contributor at most firms.
(Associate, Manager, and Sr levels).
Often a jack of all trades, but may
specialize in non-event work.
Needs to know how to write copy across
channels, email invitations, whitepaper
writing, proposals.
May work on martech projects when
marketing ops function is not present.
Will run reports for managers and sales.
Expected to know how to use CRM,
Email tools, reports. Some vendor
negotiation and selection.
At small firms this will be
“player/coach”. Will lead a small
team dedicated to finding leads
for Sales. Often responsible for
funnel management, reporting,
and lead sourcing.
Will design systems. Will work
with other departments to align
strategy and tactics.
May be responsible for content
and events. Expected to coach
junior staff in techniques and
brand.
Measured on funnel, lead gen,
and pipeline.
Only large firms have a VP of Demand Gen.
Oversees field events, tradeshows, lead
generation systems and tools. May oversee
marketing operations.
Will be measured on funnel targets and revenue.

4. Email database marketer
Specialist/Associate Manager Director Vice President
Analyzes email data; may need to
code HTML/CSS or does. Loads
emails and prepares sends.
Manages the list; analyzes data for
segmented messaging and sends;
often prepares email sends in the
ESP.
Rare: ecommerce or B2C typically. NA

5. Event marketer
Specialist/Associate Manager Director Vice President
Often a jack of all trades to handle
tasks from email invitations to list
management and more.
Manage invoices.
Contact venues for pricing lists.
Do whatever is needed to make the
event a success. May or may not go
to the event for onsite support
Individual contributor.
May manage tradeshows or just field
roadshows, often both.
Must be skilled in logistical
management and project
management.
Must know how to create the
environment to facilitate conversation
Skilled at creating an experience.
Will train team, conduct ROI
analyses; work with leadership to
ensure the right brand presence and
that the onsite experience is
congruent with firm and audience
goals.
Likely to delegate logistical tasks to
team.
May work closely with outside event
management agencies to create
experiences.
Very large firms will dedicate teams
to large scale tradeshows and
possibly field events to aid local
salespeople make personal
connections. May be a part of
Communications team

6. Field marketing
Specialist/Associate Manager Director Vice President
Setup local events to aid sales in
cities.
Assist with custom proposals or
brochures.
Assist sales with local lead gen and
reporting efforts.
Smaller orgs may have this role with
Campaigns and it will include email
work by territory or large scale. Work
will often include registration data,
shipping, ordering, venue work.
Manage territory and multi-territory
support for sales.
Small organizations will have this role
do all of the field setup; may include
travel to sites. Manage schedule of
events, venue selection, vendor
negotiation, data collection, and
reporting on success of efforts.
Usually Director of Demand Gen, but
larger orgs may have an entire team
to support local “field” sales efforts.
Measured on budget use, pipeline,
sales happiness, and lead gen efforts.
Expected to train team on becoming
more effective lead generators,
aligning with sales, and efficiency.
Rare, but does exist. Usually
combined with Demand Generation in
the current market.

7. Content and Inbound Marketing
Specialist/Associate Manager Director Vice President
Research, learn about buyer
personas, use that English degree to
write blog posts, etc.
May also fall under PR or Brand.
Manage editorial calendar, train junior
staff, churn out larger papers in
conjunction with Product, Product
Marketing, Channels, and Sales
needs.
What’s missing and what’s attracting
attention?
Manage agencies and contractors.
Measures inbound numbers.
Editorial calendar, align teams,
ensure content messaging is aligned
with company values, goals, and
product; ensure audience finds
content and uses it.
Measured on asset views and
possibly pipeline influence if
measured accurately.
Manage agencies and contractors.
May fall under PR, Branding, or
Corporate Marketing.
• Ancillary roles may include
• Brand journalists
• Copywriters
• Editors
• Copyeditors
• Content creators/Writers

8. Corporate Marketer
Specialist/Associate Manager Director Vice President
Help analyze data and brand. May
work on branding decks, designs, and
PR.
Analyze marketing strategy, branding,
and overall efforts.
May work a lot with higher level data.
Often a VP at smaller firms, but
depends. May work on brand strategy
with product marketing and product.
Establish brand personas. May
develop buyer personas.
Startups often hire contractors to do
this or have the CMO take on the role
directly.

9. Public Relations/Press/Brand
Specialist/Associate Manager Director Vice President
Tasked with writing press releases,
some content. May handle basic
press relations and contact work.
Learn about brand and how to use it.
Work directly with trade press and
mass media. May work on inbound
content. May help write or manage
content production
Works with industry press; analysts;
prepares communication strategies
around new releases. May manage
content production.
Develops relationships with key
Press, publications; industry analysts;
strategy for new product releases and
competitive info. Sets content strategy
and messaging

10. Search Engine Optimizer
Specialist/Associate Manager Director Vice President
Analyze keyword traffic to site against
goals, content, branding, audience
needs.
Skills include heavy Excel, Access,
and BI tools. May include basic
understanding of specialized
SEO/SEM platforms and analysis
platforms.
Analyze keyword traffic to site against
goals, content, branding, audience
needs
Manage technical SEO issues; build
connections to collect data.
Skills include heavy Excel, Access,
and BI tools. May include basic
understanding of specialized
SEO/SEM platforms and analysis
platforms.
Set priorities. Manage projects with
web team and content to maintain
rankings.
Skills include heavy Excel, Access,
and BI tools. May include basic
understanding of specialized
SEO/SEM platforms and analysis
platforms.
Rare.
Very large firms or ecommerce firms.

11. SEM/Digital Advertising
Specialist/Associate Manager Director Vice President
Analyzes data from ad platforms;
prepares ads for distribution; assists
with various aspects of Channel.
Analyzes data from ad platforms;
manages ad systems and spend.
Level of responsibility will vary by
company size. Take content and
deploy it.
Oversees budgeting; analyzes data
and response information. Manages
spend in relation to lead and revenue
targets.

12. Creative / Graphic Design
Specialist/Associate Manager Director Vice President
Wide variety of roles from graphic
designer to copywriter and more. Take
messaging and brand guidelines into
appropriate visuals for each
distribution channel.
May manage junior designers; more
latitude for creativity. May work with
vendors or agencies.
Provide brand direction to team.
Provide brand guidance to CMO and
other teams.
Possibly set brand guidelines or re-
create brand.
Work with outside agencies if needed
on all audience facing materials
Rare.