A retail marketing manager brings shoppers into 10 to 15 stores and onto the website with email, texts, social posts, local ads and store events. They plan the promotion calendar with the buyers, run the loyalty program, and show which campaigns turned into sales at the register and online.
By the HireBus team · Updated · Pay data: BLS, May 2025
We're looking for a Marketing Manager to bring shoppers into our stores and to our website. You'll plan the promotion calendar, run email, text, social and paid ads, manage the loyalty program, and support store events and openings. You'll show which campaigns paid off in store and online sales.
2. Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Build the yearly marketing and promotion calendar with the buyers, the E-commerce Manager and store operations.
Run email and text campaigns, and grow the customer list and loyalty program.
Manage paid social, search and local ads by store market, within budget.
Plan grand openings, in-store events and local partnerships for each store.
Brief the Visual Merchandiser and stores on in-store signs, windows and promotion details.
Collect vendor co-op advertising funds by meeting each vendor's requirements.
Report campaign results tied to store and online sales.
3. Key Tasks / Daily Activities
Check yesterday's campaign results, email performance and website traffic.
Write or approve emails, texts, social posts and ad copy.
Send stores promotion details and signs ahead of each event.
Answer reviews and social comments, or route them to customer service.
Meet with the E-commerce Manager on the week's promotions.
4. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Sales from marketing campaigns: [your target].
Email and text list growth: [your target].
Loyalty member share of sales: [your target].
Return on ad spend: [your target].
Store traffic during promotions: [your target].
5. Required Qualifications and Skills
[3+] years of marketing experience for a retailer or consumer brand.
Has run email, text and paid social campaigns and reported the results.
Comfortable with an email marketing platform and social ad tools.
Writes short, clear promotion copy.
Bachelor's degree in marketing or communications, or equal experience.
6. Preferred Experience
Experience with a retail loyalty program or customer database.
Has marketed store openings or local events.
Basic design skills with [your design tool].
7. Physical Requirements
Sit at a computer for most of the day, and carry event supplies up to [25] pounds.
With or without reasonable accommodation.
8. Work Environment and Schedule
Based at the central office, with travel to stores for events and openings.
Some evening and weekend work for events and holiday campaigns.
Busiest from [October through December].
9. Compensation and Benefits
Pay: [range and hourly or salary basis].
Additional pay: [overtime, bonus or incentive terms, or none].
Benefits: [health, dental, vision, retirement, paid time off, and when they start].
10. Company Culture and Overview
[Two or three sentences on what your company does, the area you serve, and the support a new marketing manager gets in the first 90 days.]
11. How to Apply
[Apply link or email]. Our process: [phone interview, in-person interview, and next steps]. Contact [hiring contact] if you need an accommodation during the application process.
Need help filling this role? HireBus posts the ad, Iris interviews every applicant by phone before you do, and you decide who to hire. Start hiring now
An online-only brand has one storefront to fill. Here each campaign has to work in 10 to 15 local markets and on the website, with product the buyers ordered months ago.
The promotion has to match the stock
The promotion calendar is how the buy sells through. The marketing manager plans each event with the buyers and the Inventory Planner, so an ad never pushes an item the warehouse can't refill by the weekend. Some brands also set a minimum advertised price. The FTC notes a brand may stop dealing with a store that ignores its price policy, so check vendor terms before an ad shows a lower price. Source: FTC: Manufacturer-imposed requirements (guide to antitrust laws).
Each store has its own market
A mall store, a main street shop and a strip center draw different shoppers and face different competitors. Paid search and social ads get set up by store radius with their own budgets. A new store needs local work for months before and after its opening, and store managers know which schools, teams and street fairs are worth showing up for.
Vendors pay for part of the ads
Many brands pay co-op money toward the ads of stores that carry them. The FTC's guides on advertising allowances say a brand should offer it to competing stores on proportionally equal terms. The simple way is to base it on how much each store buys. They also say the brand should check that the ads it pays for really ran. So follow the brand's rules on logos, wording and dates, and save the email or post and the media bill to send with each claim. Source: 16 CFR Part 240: Guides for advertising allowances and other merchandising payments (Cornell LII).
Marketing texts need written consent
Under FCC rules, marketing texts sent with an autodialer need prior express written consent. That means a signed agreement that names the phone number and says the shopper doesn't have to agree in order to buy anything. An electronic signature counts. A reply of stop, quit, unsubscribe or a similar word ends that consent. The sender then has at most ten business days to act on it. Source: 47 CFR 64.1200: Delivery restrictions (eCFR).
Store staff can't quietly review their own stores
Each store manager wants a better star rating, and the shortcuts are banned. Under a 2024 FTC rule, a manager may not post a review of the business without saying they work there. They also can't ask staff, or staff's relatives, to post reviews without telling them to disclose the tie. Rewards tied to a positive or negative review are banned too. A general request to every shopper is allowed. Source: 16 CFR Part 465: Use of consumer reviews and testimonials (Cornell LII).
How much retail marketing managers make
Marketing managers who work for retailers earned a median of $132,880 a year ($63.88 an hour) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s below the $166,790 median for marketing managers in all industries. About 10,230 of the 395,240 marketing managers in that survey work for retail stores.
Most are salaried, and some earn a yearly bonus. A bonus on total company sales pays for things marketing doesn't control, like the weather and the buy. Goals for list growth, loyalty sales and return on ad spend are easier to judge.
Retail stores
$132,880$132,880 median Middle half $96,990–$184,260 10th–90th $69,260–$241,840
All industries
$166,790$166,790 median Middle half $123,020–$216,410 10th–90th $90,260–$293,610
$0k$50k$100k$150k$200k$250k$300k$350k
10th–90th percentileMiddle halfMedianAnnual pay, May 2025. Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics.
Annual pay by percentile
Group
10th
25th
Median
75th
90th
Retail stores
$69,260
$96,990
$132,880
$184,260
$241,840
All industries
$90,260
$123,020
$166,790
$216,410
$293,610
These figures cover all retail. Pay differs by store type, so check what local stores like yours pay. Post a real range for your market in the ad.
Skills to hire for, and what you can teach
Hire for these
Has run email and text campaigns for a retailer and can show the sales that came from them
Writes a headline, a text and a sign line that state the offer in a few words
Reads sales by store and by channel, and says so when a campaign didn't work
Plans months ahead with buyers, stores and the website team without missing a date
Manages a paid ads budget across several local markets
Teach these on the job
Your vendors and the brands that lead each season
Your loyalty program rules and customer database
Your stores, their neighborhoods and their local competition
Your email and text platforms and your sign-up wording
Your brand voice and sign templates
Retail email and text usually run on Klaviyo, Attentive or Mailchimp, next to Meta and Google ad accounts split by store market, the loyalty program inside your POS, and a design tool such as Canva or Adobe. The link between the POS and the email list matters most, because it is how a sale at the register gets credited to a campaign.
Retail marketing manager interview questions
They have their own page: 6 questions that test this job, what strong and weak answers sound like, and a work exercise to run with your finalists.
Leave the template's blanks until you have last year's results by event. A promotion is best judged against its own run a year earlier, so keep a simple record of every event: dates, offer, spend and sales.
Sales from marketing campaigns
Sales from shoppers who got or clicked a campaign, matched by loyalty number, email or promo code. Agree on how many days after a send still count, and report store and online sales apart.
Email and text list growth
Net sign-ups per month, meaning new subscribers less opt-outs, from each platform. Track where sign-ups come from, such as the register, the website and events, to see which stores collect them.
Loyalty member share of sales
Sales rung to a loyalty number divided by total sales, by store. A store far below the rest usually has a sign-up habit at the register to fix, not a marketing problem.
Return on ad spend
Sales credited to paid ads divided by what the ads cost, by store market and by platform. Keep the same credit rules every month so the trend means something.
Store traffic during promotions
Door counter visits during a promotion compared with the same days last year. Without counters, use the number of transactions, and note weather or holiday shifts that skew it.
CAN-SPAM, the federal email law, covers every commercial message. It requires honest sender and subject lines, a label saying the message is an ad, a valid postal address and an unsubscribe link. Honor each opt-out within 10 business days. Joining the loyalty program doesn't take away a shopper's right to stop marketing email. Hiring an agency to send it doesn't move the legal duty off your company.
How much does a retail marketing manager make?
Marketing managers who work for retailers earned a median of $132,880 a year ($63.88 an hour) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The middle half earned between $96,990 and $184,260 a year. Pay also depends on your local market, experience and bonus terms.
Can we give local influencers free product for a store opening?
Yes, but under the FTC's endorsement guides, free or discounted product is a material connection, and the post should disclose it clearly. The guides' own example has a tool maker that sends a free lathe to an online woodworker. The company should tell the woodworker to disclose it and check the posts afterward. Do the same: say it when you hand over the product, and watch what gets posted.
Who writes the in-store signs, marketing or the visual merchandiser?
In this template, marketing sets the offer, the dates and the wording, then briefs the Visual Merchandiser and the stores. The Visual Merchandiser decides where signs go and how windows and tables look. Stores should get both in one packet before the event. If the offer changes late, send a corrected packet the same day, so the shelf price and the register agree.
How should a retail marketing manager handle bad reviews?
Answer soon, with a short, polite public reply and a way to reach a real person. Send order and return problems to customer service. Forward every review that names a store to its manager, since long lines, messy fitting rooms and missing sizes are store fixes, not marketing ones. And never trade a coupon or gift for a review: Google's review policy bans rewards for posting one, good or bad.
What does a marketing manager do for a new store opening?
Start months before the doors open. Set up the store's map and search listing, collect local sign-ups from a web page and a sign in the window, and invite neighbors and local groups to a preview. Plan the opening weekend with the buyers and the store manager so the featured product is in stock, then keep local ads running for weeks after opening day.
