Hi everyone, I have a quick question that’s kind of silly. I work at a pretty small company leading marketing. My title is technically Marketing Lead but I want to put Head of Marketing on my LinkedIn etc. I think of these titles as totally interchangeable—I just like the way the second one reads better. I know titles don’t really matter, but I’m battling a little bit of imposter syndrome.

What does everyone else think?

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Is there another person above you that’s in charge of marketing? If not, go for it. If so, maybe not.

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Marketing Lead in my experience is much more similar to Marketing Manager. Someone with 3-5 years of experience.

Head of Marketing is above Director of Marketing but below CMO, so somewhere in the 8-12 years of experience.

If you report to the CEO with 8+ years of experience I don’t see a problem. If that doesn’t fit you, then might be a bit of a stretch.

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I would agree

Context for everyone: I’m the only dedicated marketing person managing a few contractors. I report to the CEO, who has communicated the expectation that I lead marketing for the foreseeable future and grow the team. I don’t have eight years of experience; it’s much closer to 5 (6 if you count my pre-marketing experience in a different industry).

I am making all marketing decisions with very little oversight—driving strategy, execution, budgets, growth, etc.

For me, it’s less hubris or ego (although that might play a part) and more confusion.“Marketing Lead” doesn’t mean anything to me, I guess. And it’s pretty evident from this thread that there are various interpretations.

Anyway, thanks for all these responses, everyone.

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I was in the same boat and asked the CEO while I was there if I could update my LinkedIn with “Head of Marketing” since this was a step down from my director title — that I finally made — at a previous role. If you’re managing contractors, technically you’re a manager and I’d say go for it. For SEO reasons with applicant tracking systems, it might not be great, but as long as you have other roles with “marketing manager,” it shouldn’t be a problem.

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Why is it so important that you put that on LinkedIn? Is it hubris and ego, or are you trying to get recruited away? Do you think anyone will care if you add it to your profile? Also, imposter syndrome is where you are working at a high level, but you’re doubting your abilities and feel like you’ll be found out as a fraud. Looks like you’re the opposite of that, LOL.

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@growth “Catty” is a gendered insult. Please don’t use it here. Or, for a fun twist, start using it on men in your life

If you’re looking for a title change and not necessarily a ‘promotion’ I would ask the CEO if your title can be changed to be commensurate with your actual role. If your not comfortable with that, I’d just change the title on your LinkedIn profile. I don’t think anyone in your organization will care. To me Marketing Lead is somewhere between a manager and a coordinator, definitely lower than you’re operating at. If you ARE looking to get recruited, head of marketing is a job title recruiters are searching for.

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Head of Marketing is tricky—sometimes it’s lower, but sometimes it’s either right below or at the CMO. That’s my current role and it’s right below CMO (I’m the top of Marketing in my US-based company but not quite at the C-Suite level) and my partners’ company (he’s in a big multinational company).

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You know best the size and structure of your Company. In smaller companies, it’s easier to “know your role”, therefore no one will question your title since no one is obligated to rethink your wages nor responsibilities. If you have an HR person, have a quick chat regarding your thoughts. It will help if in the future your Company grows and you find yourself filling positions in your department. Also, regardless of how the title sounds, make sure you understand the “standard” responsibilities associated to the title, because of what could be carried or passed onto a future employer that will have certain base expectations.

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I get what you are saying, but head of marketing seems vague to me and may imply different responsibilities. A marketing lead might be one level below a manager normally where a head of marketing might be a senior level position over the entire department. If your role reflects the latter, I would push for a change in title to better reflect your responsibilities.

I’ve never seen a lead above a manager, and certainly never above a senior manager. Not to say it couldn’t happen, but every lead I’ve ever known is either right below manager, or sort of a soft-launch of a manager—meaning they may help manage a team, but don’t have any direct reports just yet.

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I agree. You don’t want to offend anyone.

I made myself head of global social media once because that’s exactly what I was doing - coordinating corporate account and others internationally and nobody could really say anything about it because it was what I was doing haha

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