• Reviewing campaign performance data
• Creating and scheduling content
• Managing social media channels
• Coordinating with creative teams and agencies
• Planning upcoming campaigns
• Monitoring customer engagement metrics
• Managing email marketing activity
• Supporting product launches and promotions
• Conducting competitor research
• Presenting marketing results to stakeholders

Marketing professionals often balance creative projects with commercial and analytical responsibilities.

Most people start as a Marketing Assistant or Executive, supporting campaign delivery, content creation and reporting while building experience across the different channels a marketing team runs. A marketing, business or communications degree is a common route in, but isn't essential — plenty of people move in from retail, PR or content-related backgrounds where they've already built relevant, transferable skills. Building a portfolio of real work — campaigns you've contributed to, content you've created, even personal projects — gives you something concrete to show at interview, which matters more in marketing than in most other retail disciplines.

A marketing manager owns the strategy and delivery of campaigns that drive brand awareness and sales — planning seasonal campaigns, briefing content and creative teams, managing budgets, and coordinating across channels like social media, email, PR and paid advertising. They work closely with buying and merchandising to make sure marketing activity lines up with what's actually in stock and being pushed commercially, and with ecommerce on how campaigns translate into online performance. At more senior levels, the role shifts from campaign execution into owning the wider brand and marketing strategy, and managing a team delivering it.

Strong written and creative communication skills are essential, since marketing is fundamentally about telling a brand's story in a way that resonates with its customers. Increasingly, employers also want genuine comfort with data — understanding campaign performance, customer analytics and ROI, not just creative output — since marketing decisions are more measurement-led than they used to be. Project management ability matters too, given how many campaigns and stakeholders a marketer typically juggles at once. Familiarity with specific channels or tools relevant to the role you're applying for is a genuine advantage at interview.

A CRM Manager is responsible for how a business communicates with its existing customers — building and managing email and loyalty programmes, segmenting customers based on behaviour and purchase history, and developing campaigns designed to drive repeat purchases and customer lifetime value. The role is heavily data-led: CRM managers spend real time analysing customer behaviour and campaign performance to refine targeting and messaging over time. It sits closely alongside ecommerce and wider marketing, since customer data and campaign timing need to be coordinated across all three to avoid conflicting or repetitive messaging reaching the same customer.

A Content Manager oversees the creation and planning of a brand's content across its channels — website, social media, email and often campaign assets — making sure everything is on-brand, on-schedule and aligned with wider marketing and commercial priorities. That typically means briefing photographers, copywriters or designers, planning a content calendar around key trading moments and launches, and reviewing and approving content before it goes live. Strong editorial judgement and a genuine eye for what performs well on each specific channel are as important as the organisational skills needed to keep a content calendar running smoothly across a busy trading year.

Most people start as a Marketing Assistant or Executive, building experience across campaigns, content and basic reporting before moving into a more specialised or senior Marketing Manager role. From there, marketers often either broaden into a general Head of Marketing or Marketing Director position, or specialise more deeply into an area like CRM, content, digital marketing or brand — each with its own senior track. Because the skillset overlaps closely with ecommerce, PR and digital, experienced marketers also move sideways into those disciplines, particularly at senior level where strategic thinking matters more than which specific channel someone started in.