Free Marketing Job Description Templates
Free marketing job description templates for small business: manager, coordinator, specialist, digital, director, and first hire. Download as DOCX.
Marketing Job Description Templates
6 free templates by role. Download as DOCX or copy-paste.
Marketing is often the first growth hire a business makes, and the job description is where you decide what kind of marketer you actually need. Marketing is a broad umbrella, though: a director who sets strategy, a manager who owns it, a specialist who executes, a coordinator who supports, and a first hire who does all of it are very different jobs. A specific posting filters for the person who fits both the level and the reality of your business, and getting the level right is the single most important decision you make.
At FirstHR, we build for small businesses that hire without an HR department, where the founder often makes the first marketing hire personally. The six templates below cover the most common marketing roles: marketing manager, coordinator, specialist, digital marketing manager, director, and a first marketing hire version. Each is ready to use. Fill in the bracketed fields, adjust to match your business, and post.
What Is a Marketing Job Description?
A marketing job description is a document that explains a marketing role's purpose, responsibilities, qualifications, and pay so you can post a job and attract the right candidates. It typically covers a job summary, key responsibilities, required and preferred qualifications, the FLSA status, the salary range, and how to apply. The SHRM job description tools describe a job description as a plain-language tool that explains the tasks, duties, and responsibilities of a position, and that standard applies whether you are a national brand or a single small business.
Marketing is a generic umbrella term that covers many roles, so the most important job of the description is to make the specific role and level unmistakable. A marketing director and a marketing coordinator share a field but little else.
Which Template Should You Use?
Pick the template that matches the marketing role and level you are filling. The core structure is the same across all six, but each one emphasizes the responsibilities, experience, and language that fit a specific kind of role. Use this guide to choose.
6 Free Marketing Job Description Templates
Download all six as separate Word files in one ZIP, or copy individual templates. Each one follows the same structure: company overview, job summary, key responsibilities, qualifications, compensation, and how to apply. Fill in the brackets before you post.
Template 1: Marketing Manager
The flagship role. Sets strategy, runs campaigns, manages budget, and leads any staff or vendors. The most common dedicated marketing hire for a small business.
Template 2: Marketing Coordinator
Coordinates projects, calendars, and day-to-day execution under a manager. For an organized, early-career marketer who keeps campaigns running.
Template 3: Marketing Specialist
Executes campaigns and owns specific channels or programs. For a capable marketer who does the work and brings channel expertise.
Template 4: Digital Marketing Manager
Owns digital channels: SEO, paid, email, social, and web. For a data-driven marketer focused on measurable online results.
Template 5: Marketing Director
Sets strategy, owns the budget, and leads the marketing team. For a senior leader building a marketing function at a growing company.
Template 6: Entry-Level / First Marketing Hire
A versatile generalist who builds marketing from scratch and reports to the founder. The differentiating version for a small business hiring its first marketer.
What Does a Marketer Do?
A marketer attracts and converts customers through strategy, content, and campaigns. The duties fall into four broad categories. A good job description picks the specific duties from each category that apply to your business and the role's level rather than listing every possible task.
The mix shifts by role: a director weighs heavily toward strategy and leadership, while a coordinator spends more time on execution and coordination. At a small business, the first marketing hire usually covers all four categories at once.
Marketing Roles Compared
Marketing titles map to clear differences in seniority, scope, and pay. This table helps you match the role to your need and set the right FLSA status, which determines overtime eligibility.
| Role | Seniority | Focus | FLSA (typical) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Director | Senior leader | Strategy and team | Exempt |
| Manager | Mid to senior | Owns marketing | Exempt |
| Digital Manager | Mid to senior | Digital channels | Exempt |
| Specialist | Mid-level | Executes a channel | Often non-exempt |
| Coordinator | Entry to mid | Supports and coordinates | Non-exempt |
| First hire | Varies | Does everything | Often non-exempt |
FLSA status matters: misclassifying a non-exempt coordinator as exempt can create overtime liability. As a rule, manager and director roles that exercise independent judgment are usually exempt, while coordinators and many specialists are non-exempt. Confirm the classification for your specific role rather than assuming it from the title.
Writing a Marketing Consultant Job Description
A marketing consultant job description is closer to a scope of work than a job posting, because a consultant is normally an independent contractor engaged for advice rather than an employee on your payroll. Name the problem you want solved, the deliverables, the length of the engagement, and the fee, then leave the method to them.
The duties skew senior and diagnostic: research the market, audit what you are running now, build the plan, and hand it back with a recommendation. Execution usually stays with your team or your agencies. Template 5 above, the marketing director version, is the closest starting point once you cut the lines about leading staff and owning a permanent budget.
Classification is where this goes wrong. If you set their hours, direct how the work gets done, and keep the arrangement open-ended, you have an employee with a consultant title, whatever the contract says. Settle the 1099 and W-2 question before you write the engagement, not after the first invoice.
What to Include in a Marketing Job Description
Every strong marketing job description includes the same core sections. The templates above are built around them, but it helps to know how to make the duties concrete. Specific, measurable duties attract candidates who can actually do the work.
| Weak bullet | Strong bullet |
|---|---|
| Do marketing | Develop and execute the marketing strategy and plan |
| Run campaigns | Run campaigns across web, email, social, and paid channels |
| Handle social | Manage and grow social media across our channels |
| Track results | Track key metrics and report on marketing ROI |
| Manage budget | Manage the marketing budget and optimize spend |
Keep the language neutral and inclusive too, since the EEOC prohibits job advertisements that show a preference based on protected characteristics. For recognized tasks and skills you can borrow, the O*NET profile for marketing managers lists standard responsibilities and work activities.
Skills and Requirements
Most marketing roles value strategic thinking, strong writing and communication, and comfort with data and analytics, alongside hands-on channel skills. Beyond that, the specific requirements shift by role, and the strongest postings keep them realistic.
Keep your must-have list short and match it to the level. A long wish list of every channel and tool narrows your applicant pool unnecessarily, especially for a small business where a versatile generalist often beats a narrow specialist.
Marketing Pay
Set your pay using market data, adjusted for the role, level, region, and industry. Pay ranges widely across marketing, from entry-level coordinators to senior directors and managers.
Those manager figures reflect experienced, senior roles. Coordinators, specialists, and entry-level marketers earn well below the manager median, often in the $40,000 to $70,000 range depending on the role and market, while directors earn more. Always publish a range. It is now legally required in many states and it attracts more qualified applicants. Federal wage and hour rules also apply, so review the basics in the Department of Labor FLSA standards before you set pay and classify the role as exempt or non-exempt.
Hiring a Marketer Without an HR Department
Large companies have HR teams, recruiters, and marketing departments. A small business often has none of that, and the founder makes the first marketing hire personally. Here is how to write the marketing posting for that reality.
From Hiring to Onboarding
The job description is step one. Once a candidate accepts, the same document becomes the foundation for the offer and the onboarding plan. A marketer needs a clear start because they quickly take on your brand, tools, accounts, and goals, and a smooth start gets them producing sooner.
Send a clear offer, collect signed paperwork, give them access to your marketing tools and accounts, and walk through your brand, goals, and reporting in the first weeks. FirstHR connects the offer, paperwork, training, and onboarding workflow in one place, so a small business can manage the full process without a dedicated HR department.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does a marketer do?
A marketer plans and runs the activities that attract and convert customers. Core duties include setting strategy, creating content, running campaigns across channels like web, email, social, and paid, tracking results, and managing budget. The exact scope depends on the role and level. A marketing director sets strategy and leads the team, a manager owns marketing and execution, a specialist runs specific channels, a coordinator handles day-to-day execution, and a first marketing hire at a small business does a bit of everything. A clear job description tells candidates which version of the role you are hiring for, which is the most important choice you make.
What should a marketing job description include?
A strong marketing job description includes a job summary, key responsibilities, required and preferred qualifications, the FLSA status, a salary range, and how to apply. Responsibilities should be concrete: run campaigns across channels, manage the marketing budget, and track key metrics. Name the specific role and level, since a director, manager, specialist, coordinator, and first hire differ significantly in scope and pay. Note whether the role is exempt or non-exempt, since that affects overtime. For a small business, describe the broad, many-hats scope honestly, especially for a first marketing hire who reports straight to the founder.
What is the difference between a marketing manager and a marketing coordinator?
A marketing manager owns marketing: they set strategy, run campaigns, manage budget, and often lead staff or vendors. A marketing coordinator supports the manager and handles day-to-day execution: coordinating projects, managing content and social calendars, scheduling posts, and tracking results. The manager is a more senior, strategic role, while the coordinator is typically earlier-career and execution-focused. Pay and FLSA status differ too, as managers are usually exempt and coordinators non-exempt. Decide which you need based on whether you want someone to own and direct marketing or to execute and coordinate it. We also have a dedicated coordinator template page for that role specifically.
What is the difference between a marketing manager and a marketing director?
A marketing director is more senior than a marketing manager. A director sets the overall marketing strategy and vision, owns the budget across the whole function, leads and develops the marketing team, and partners with leadership on growth. A marketing manager owns marketing execution and strategy at a narrower scope, often hands-on with campaigns, and may manage a few people or report to a director. At a small business, you usually hire a manager first and add a director only when the team and budget grow large enough to need a dedicated leader. Match the title to the actual seniority and scope so you set the right pay.
What skills does a marketer need?
A good marketer combines strategic thinking, strong communication and writing, and comfort with data and analytics. Core skills include campaign management, content creation, knowledge of digital channels (SEO, paid, email, social), and the ability to measure and optimize results. The specific mix shifts by role: a director needs leadership and strategic skills, a digital marketing manager needs deep channel and analytics expertise, a coordinator needs organization and project management, and a first hire needs versatility across everything. Most roles expect a bachelor's degree in marketing or a related field, though a strong portfolio and experience can substitute, especially for hands-on roles.
What is the salary range for a marketing role?
Marketing pay varies widely by role, level, region, and industry. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a median annual wage of about $161,030 for marketing managers in May 2024, with advertising and promotions managers at about $126,960. These figures reflect experienced manager-level roles; coordinators, specialists, and entry-level hires earn substantially less, often in the $40,000 to $70,000 range depending on the role and market. Directors earn more than managers. Always state a salary range in your posting, since pay transparency is required in many states and a clear range attracts more qualified applicants while filtering out mismatches early.
How do I write a marketing job description for a small business?
Decide the level you actually need first, then describe the real, often broad scope. At a small business hiring its first or second marketer, one person usually handles content, social, email, and campaigns at once, so be honest about that breadth rather than copying a large company's narrow role. Set the right FLSA status (managers exempt, coordinators non-exempt), include a real pay range, and keep requirements realistic. Decide whether you need a strategist or a doer, since that changes everything. The first marketing hire template here is written specifically for a growing business making its first dedicated marketing hire without an HR team.
What happens after I hire a marketer?
Once a candidate accepts, the job description becomes the basis for the offer and onboarding. A marketer needs a clear start because they quickly take on your brand, tools, and channels. Send a clear offer, collect signed paperwork, give them access to your marketing tools and accounts, and walk through your brand, goals, and reporting in the first weeks. A structured onboarding plan gets a new marketer producing sooner. FirstHR handles the offer, document storage, e-signature, and onboarding workflow in one place, and our marketing onboarding template gives you a ready structure, so a small business can move a new marketer from hire to productive without a dedicated HR department.