Marketing Manager

5 stops · self-paced · a common path, not the only one

1. 📍

   You are here

   Today — wherever you're starting from

2. 📚
   LearnNext stop →

   Learn the basics of marketing — content, SEO, email, social, and paid ads

   Marketing is a bundle of skills — content, SEO, email, social, ads. Learn what each does first; you'll specialize later, but managers need to understand all of them.

   ⏱ self-paced · 💵 free–low cost

3. 🎓
   Education

   Earn a bachelor's in Marketing, Business, or Communications (or build a portfolio without one)

   A degree helps but isn't required. A 'portfolio' here means campaigns you actually ran with real results — even for a club, a friend's shop, or your own project.

   ⏱ ~4 years · 💵 varies — community college first is cheapest

4. 🔨
   Build skills

   Get hands-on experience managing social media or running ad campaigns, even for a small business

   Running real campaigns beats theory. Offer to handle a local business's social or ads; results you can point to are what get you hired.

   ⏱ ongoing · 💵 often unpaid or entry pay

5. 📚
   Learn

   Learn Google Analytics and Meta Ads Manager — these are standard tools

   Google Analytics and Meta Ads Manager are table stakes. Being able to say 'I cut cost-per-click 30%' is worth more than any certificate.

   ⏱ self-paced · 💵 free–low cost

6. 💼
   Break in

   Work your way from coordinator → specialist → manager over 3–5 years

   Most people start as a coordinator/specialist and grow into management over 3–5 years. Manager is as much leading people and budgets as doing the marketing.

7. 🏁

   Marketing Manager

   Your destination