B2B Marketing Managers have a multifaceted role, balancing strategic planning with day-to-day operations. They are the ones who map out marketing strategies, collaborate with sales teams, and drive lead generation. Essentially, they’re the backbone of a B2B company’s marketing efforts, shaping the brand’s image and market positioning.

In this chapter, we’ll dive into the core job description of a B2B Marketing Manager. And explore the nuances that differentiate various types of Marketing Managers.

B2B Marketing Managers are vital marketing team members as they connect top management and marketing operations.

They are responsible for planning, creating, implementing, analyzing, and adjusting marketing campaigns with their teams. They use data to create new campaigns, evaluate existing ones, and conduct customer journey mapping, customer satisfaction surveys, and segmentation to develop targeted marketing strategies.

As a marketing manager, you assist with trade show organization, paid advertisement creation, and building CRM journeys in marketing and sales tools. Further, marketing managers create and oversee marketing campaigns across various channels. Maintaining a strong brand image, managing the marketing budget, and doing thought leadership events are responsibilities you must cover as a manager. They also work on the company’s online presence and monitor key performance indicators.

Their tasks include establishing strong relationships with clients and partners and supporting them throughout the customer’s lifetime. Collaboration is a significant part of a B2B marketing manager’s role. This means working with cross-functional teams, external agencies, and sales teams to ensure aligned approaches.

B2B Marketing Managers closely work with the product management team for effective positioning. This is an essential teamwork approach to creating go-to-market strategies.

In many aspects, marketing managers are the most important connection between C-level marketing management and the operational teams.

We have already discussed the different approaches to structuring a B2B marketing team. Consequently, there are various marketing manager roles and types.

B2B Brand Manager

They are responsible for developing and maintaining their company’s brand and corporate identity. This also includes the corporate design and, therefore, all elements of the brand. The aim is to align with the company’s values and resonate with the target audience. Brand managers hold a key role in shaping and protecting the heart of marketing: the brand.

B2B Marketing Campaign Manager

These managers oversee the creation and execution of marketing initiatives and campaigns. They use their knowledge about the company’s offering to tailor campaigns to the specific needs of business customers. Their goal is to drive sales and boost brand awareness.

B2B Content Marketing Manager

As the architects of a company’s content, these managers create, curate, and distribute marketing content. They use blogs, whitepapers, webinars, or case studies to meet the target audience and position their brand in the market. Content marketing in B2B is incredibly complex, as these managers need to understand the portfolio in detail. This requires not only marketing skills but also a technical background. This makes the position of a B2B marketing manager probably the most difficult one.

B2B Online Marketing Manager

Focused on digital strategies, these managers are experts in SEO, PPC, email marketing, and website optimization. Their primary goal is to increase web traffic and convert visitors into leads. The fast pace of today’s online marketing makes this role a prime example of how demanding a marketing manager role in B2B is.

B2B Social Media Marketing Manager

With the rise of social media, these managers plan and implement a social media strategy. This includes close collaboration with the B2B online marketing and content marketing managers. Their goal is to drive traffic, increase awareness, and create leads on social media.

B2B Event Marketing Manager

These managers oversee the physical presence of a B2B brand. Events such as trade shows, conferences, summits, product launches, and opening ceremonies are part of the game. They ensure each detail is planned and executed, ensuring the event promotes their company’s products or services. Events are still a big thing in B2B. Therefore, event managers are an essential part of each B2B marketing team.

Public Relations Manager

These people manage their company’s reputation. They build and maintain relationships with the media, handle crises, and craft press releases and other public statements, ensuring a positive public image for the company.

In essence, whether a company follows a centralized or decentralized structure, each type of marketing manager contributes uniquely to the overall B2B marketing strategy. The aim is to ensure the brand resonates with customers at all levels – global, regional, or local.

Corporate Marketing Manager: A centralized marketing manager role is the Corporate Marketing Manager, sitting in the company’s headquarters.  They shape and oversee the execution of the company’s marketing strategy on a global scale. This includes ensuring a consistent brand image and message across all markets. These B2B marketing managers orchestrate marketing activities, coordinating with different teams and departments. They aim to ensure alignment with the bigger marketing vision, strategy, and corporate goals.

Regional Marketing Manager: In a decentralized model, Regional Marketing Managers take over responsibility for a number of markets.  Clusters are typically the same as in sales, using, e.g., geographic regions such as Europe, The Americas, Asia Pacific, or Africa. They adapt the global marketing strategy to align with regional market dynamics, customer preferences, and regional competition. These managers possess a deep understanding of their specific region. Their job is to leverage their local market knowledge and drive marketing initiatives that resonate with the regional audience. Regional marketing managers are common in B2B as most industrial companies act globally.

Local Marketing Manager:  Local Marketing Managers focus on implementing marketing strategies within a specific country. They are the frontline warriors, tailoring marketing efforts to address local customer needs and preferences. Language plays an important role. Part of the local B2B marketing managers’ job is to translate and adapt content from the headquarters. Their work is crucial for establishing local customer relationships and driving locally relevant marketing campaigns. This also includes HR marketing to get the best people for a local subsidiary.