Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Sales and Marketing Specialist
💰 $ - $
🎯 Role Definition
A Sales and Marketing Specialist is a hybrid revenue-focused professional who designs and executes go-to-market initiatives, manages lead generation and nurturing programs, and partners with sales teams to convert prospects into customers. This role owns end-to-end campaign execution—digital advertising (PPC/SEM), SEO, email automation, content and social media—while maintaining CRM hygiene, sales enablement materials, and performance reporting. Ideal candidates combine analytical rigor with creative execution, strong cross-functional collaboration, and a measurable track record of driving pipeline and revenue growth.
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📈 Career Progression
Typical Career Path
Entry Point From:
- Marketing Coordinator with 1–2 years of campaign and CRM experience.
- Inside Sales Representative focused on lead qualification and pipeline management.
- Digital Marketing Associate with hands-on SEM/SEO and email marketing experience.
Advancement To:
- Senior Sales & Marketing Specialist or Growth Marketing Manager.
- Account Executive / Sales Manager (if moving more heavily into sales).
- Product Marketing Manager or Demand Generation Lead.
Lateral Moves:
- Content Marketing Manager (for content-focused specialists).
- Performance Marketing Specialist (for those specializing in paid channels).
- Partner or Channel Marketing Coordinator (if focusing on alliances).
Core Responsibilities
Primary Functions
- Develop, implement, and optimize multi-channel lead generation programs (paid search, display, social, content syndication, and email) that drive qualified pipeline and measurable revenue growth while meeting CPA/ROI targets.
- Own campaign planning and execution end-to-end: audience segmentation, creative direction, copywriting, landing page optimization, ad buys, and A/B testing to maximize conversion rate and lifetime value.
- Manage and maintain CRM (Salesforce, HubSpot, or equivalent) records, lead scoring models, and sales qualification workflows to ensure timely lead handoffs, accurate pipeline attribution, and measurable funnel velocity improvements.
- Collaborate with sales leadership to define target accounts and ideal customer profiles (ICP), execute account-based marketing (ABM) strategies, and coordinate bespoke campaigns that support account penetration and deal acceleration.
- Produce and maintain sales enablement assets—one-pagers, pitch decks, case studies, competitive battle cards, and email templates—so field sales teams have consistent, high-quality materials that shorten sales cycles.
- Execute SEO and content marketing strategies, including keyword research, on-page optimization, editorial calendar development, and performance tracking to increase organic traffic and inbound lead quality.
- Create, test, and iterate high-performing email nurture programs using marketing automation platforms (e.g., Marketo, HubSpot, Pardot), including segmentation, personalization, deliverability best practices, and lifecycle mapping.
- Plan, launch, and optimize paid advertising campaigns across Google Ads, LinkedIn, Facebook/Meta, and programmatic channels; manage budgets, bids, and creative to achieve CPL and CAC goals.
- Conduct regular market, competitor, and customer research—surveys, win/loss analyses, and voice-of-customer interviews—to refine positioning, pricing, messaging, and product-market fit.
- Track, analyze, and report on campaign performance and pipeline attribution with dashboards and weekly/monthly executive summaries; recommend data-driven optimization and reallocation of spend.
- Build and manage partnership and channel marketing programs with influencers, affiliates, and co-marketing partners to extend reach and create incremental sales opportunities.
- Coordinate trade shows, webinars, and field events from ideation through follow-up, including logistics, promotion, attendee lists, demos, and post-event lead qualification.
- Collaborate with product and design teams to communicate product launches and feature updates, aligning messaging and go-to-market timing across sales and marketing channels.
- Maintain and update pricing, promotions, and packaging communications in coordination with finance and product teams to support margin and growth objectives.
- Lead conversion rate optimization (CRO) initiatives for landing pages, forms, checkout flows, and micro-conversions, using heatmaps, session recordings, and statistical A/B testing.
- Implement and enforce lead lifecycle SLAs between marketing and sales to ensure rapid follow-up, minimize lead leakage, and improve marketing-sourced revenue percent.
- Drive customer retention and cross-sell initiatives with lifecycle marketing campaigns and segmented outreach to reduce churn and grow average revenue per user (ARPU).
- Oversee creative briefs and production for digital ads, landing pages, and sales collateral, ensuring brand consistency, clear value propositions, and clear calls-to-action.
- Monitor marketing budgets, forecast spend vs. ROI, and partner with finance to optimize media allocation and demonstrate measurable contribution to revenue.
- Train and coach sales reps and new marketing hires on campaign assets, lead handling, CRM best practices, and value propositions to ensure cohesive go-to-market execution.
- Ensure compliance with data privacy regulations (GDPR, CCPA) and email marketing laws (CAN-SPAM) across all outreach and data processing activities.
Secondary Functions
- Build custom reports and dashboards in analytics platforms (Google Analytics, Looker, Tableau) to support executive decision-making and continuous improvement.
- Support ad-hoc sales requests such as customized collateral, targeted email lists, and competitive insights to accelerate priority opportunities.
- Contribute to the marketing strategy roadmap by piloting new channels, tools, and technology stacks (e.g., marketing automation, conversational bots).
- Collaborate closely with customer success to gather testimonials, case studies, and reference customers that improve credibility and shorten sales cycles.
- Participate in weekly forecasting, pipeline reviews, and post-mortem analyses to iterate on campaign levers and sales tactics.
- Manage CRM hygiene and enrichment projects, including data validation, lead deduplication, and third-party enrichment to improve segmentation and personalization.
- Coordinate creative testing and messaging experiments to identify high-impact copy, visuals, and offers for both paid and organic channels.
- Assist in vendor selection and management for agencies, media partners, and technology providers to ensure service level agreements and performance goals are met.
Required Skills & Competencies
Hard Skills (Technical)
- CRM management (Salesforce, HubSpot, Microsoft Dynamics) — lead lifecycle, workflows, and reporting.
- Marketing automation (Marketo, HubSpot, Pardot) — segmentation, email journeys, and lead scoring.
- Paid media execution (Google Ads, Microsoft Ads, LinkedIn Ads, Meta Ads) — bid strategies and campaign optimization.
- SEO and content strategy — keyword research, on-page optimization, technical SEO basics, and content performance tracking.
- Web analytics (Google Analytics 4, Looker, Tableau) and UTM attribution for campaign measurement and funnel analysis.
- Data analysis and reporting — Excel (pivot tables, VLOOKUP), Google Sheets, and basic SQL for extracting insights.
- Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) tools and A/B testing platforms (Optimizely, Google Optimize, VWO).
- Email marketing platforms and deliverability best practices (Mailchimp, SendGrid, SparkPost).
- Basic HTML/CSS familiarity for landing page edits and email template troubleshooting.
- Experience with CMS platforms (WordPress, Webflow, or similar) and landing page builders (Unbounce, Instapage).
Soft Skills
- Strong communication and presentation skills for cross-functional collaboration and executive reporting.
- Strategic thinking with a bias for action and measurable outcomes.
- Excellent project management and prioritization in fast-paced, ambiguous environments.
- Customer-centric mindset with a focus on buyer journeys and lifecycle marketing.
- Analytical problem-solving and attention to detail when interpreting campaign data and attribution.
- Collaboration and influence — able to align sales, product, and leadership around go-to-market initiatives.
- Creativity in messaging, content ideation, and campaign design to differentiate in competitive markets.
- Resilience and adaptability to pivot channels and tactics based on performance and market signals.
Education & Experience
Educational Background
Minimum Education:
- Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Business Administration, Communications, or a related field.
Preferred Education:
- Bachelor’s plus relevant certifications (Google Ads, HubSpot Academy, Google Analytics) or a Master’s/MBA for senior roles.
Relevant Fields of Study:
- Marketing
- Business Administration
- Communications
- Economics
- Information Systems / Data Analytics
Experience Requirements
Typical Experience Range: 2–5 years of combined sales, marketing, or demand generation experience.
Preferred: 3–5+ years of hands-on experience in B2B or B2C digital marketing, CRM management, and directly supporting or interacting with field sales teams. Experience in SaaS, technology, or enterprise solutions preferred, with a proven track record of generating marketing-sourced pipeline and improving conversion metrics.