How to Build a Marketing CV That Stands Out to Recruiters (With Examples)

Breaking into marketing roles at tech companies is tough. Whether you're targeting digital marketing, product marketing, or demand generation, your marketing CV is more than a resume - it’s your first impression. In a world where recruiters spend just 6 to 8 seconds reviewing a resume, clarity and impact are everything.

A compelling marketing CV isn’t about listing every job you've ever had - but about showcasing your ability to blend creativity with data-driven results. The most effective marketers today combine digital marketing fundamentals with storytelling, analytics, email marketing, and brand awareness campaigns 

Here’s what this guide covers:

• The essential sections your marketing CV needs, including two tailored layouts - one for recent graduates and one for experienced candidates.

• How to highlight skills and achievements across tech-focused roles like digital marketing, product marketing, growth, and marketing operations.

• Common pitfalls to avoid and strategic use of keywords to help your CV pass both ATS and human reviews.

• Real-world CV examples that hiring managers will actually stop to read.

Whether you're a marketing intern, a seasoned marketing manager, or somewhere in between, this guide equips you to build a marketing CV that commands attention from recruiters in tech.

1. Understanding the Importance of a Tailored Marketing CV

One of the biggest mistakes marketers make is sending the same CV to every application. A generic marketing CV might save time, but it rarely gets results. Tech companies and startups are looking for proof that you understand their product, their market, and how you can contribute to their growth.

A tailored CV shows recruiters that you’ve done your homework. Instead of listing every marketing campaign you’ve worked on, you select the achievements that match the role’s job description. For example, if the role emphasises content marketing, highlights blog growth, SEO wins, or email open rates. If it’s focused on demand generation, show how you’ve influenced the pipeline or reduced CAC.

The benefits of tailoring go beyond keywords. Recruiters can tell when a CV is written specifically for their role, and this can be the difference between being passed over or shortlisted. 

On the other hand, sending out the same marketing CV to multiple roles signals a lack of focus. In highly competitive markets like tech, this is a red flag for employers and hiring managers.

Here’s why tailoring matters:

• Be visible to ATS and humans: Matching keywords gets you past systems and onto the recruiter's desk.

• Showcase relevance: Highlight the precise skills (e.g., SEO, demand gen, growth analytics) the role calls for.

• Stand out: A tailored CV marks you as intentional - someone who's already asking why this company and this role?

📌 Pro tip: Before applying, compare the marketing CV example in this guide with the job description of your target role. Adjust your resume summary, skills, and achievements so they directly reflect what the company is looking for.

2. Key Elements to Include in a Marketing CV (The Perfect Layout)

Every strong marketing CV has the same foundation: it’s clear, easy to scan, and shows measurable impact. Recruiters want to see evidence that you can do what you say - whether that’s boosting brand awareness, running a content marketing campaign, or executing digital marketing strategies.

Below, we’ve broken down two proven resume examples: one for recent graduates entering the industry, and another for experienced marketing professionals looking to advance in tech.

🟢 Marketing CV Layout for Recent Graduates

If you’re just starting out, your marketing CV should highlight potential, transferable marketing skills, and relevant projects (university work, freelance gigs, or internships).

Sections to include:

1. Contact Information: Clear and professional (name, email, phone, LinkedIn).
   Professional Summary: A 2–3 line pitch that highlights your enthusiasm for marketing in tech.

2. Key Skills: Tailored to marketing roles (SEO, social media marketing, campaign tracking).

3. Education & Certifications: Degrees plus extras like Google Ads, HubSpot, or analytics courses.

4. Projects: University projects, personal campaigns, or freelance marketing efforts.

5. Work Experience: Any marketing or customer-facing role with measurable achievements.

6. Additional: Side projects, awards, blog writing, or volunteering related to marketing.
   

📌 Example: “Built a social media campaign that grew engagement by 45% over 3 months as part of a university project.”

🔵 Marketing CV Layout for Experienced Professionals

If you’re already established in the field, your marketing CV should focus on measurable achievements and leadership in past roles.

Sections to include:

1. Contact Information: Keep it professional, include your LinkedIn and portfolio links.

2. Professional Summary: 2-3 lines that position you as a specialist in your area (e.g. digital marketing manager, product marketing lead).

3. Key Skills: Tailored to the role (e.g. demand generation, growth marketing, project management, CRM tools).

4. Key Achievements: Highlight 3-4 results-driven accomplishments (e.g. “Increased pipeline by 30% in 12 months through targeted ABM campaigns”).

5. Work Experience: List roles in reverse chronological order with measurable impact.

6. Education & Certifications: Degrees plus advanced certifications (CIM, Google Analytics, HubSpot).

7. Additional: Speaking engagements, awards, or published campaigns.

📌 Example: “Led a cross-functional team to launch a product marketing campaign that generated £2M ARR in its first year.”

If you want to skip the formatting headaches, grab one of our free, ATS-friendly CV templates and customise it for your marketing role.

3. Highlighting Marketing Skills and Achievements (With Examples)

Your marketing CV should do more than list responsibilities - it should prove impact. Tech companies want to see that you can take an idea from strategy to measurable results, whether it’s building brand awareness, running paid campaigns, or driving demand for a SaaS product.

The best way to do this? Pair marketing skills with achievements and metrics. Instead of writing “Responsible for managing email campaigns”, frame it as:

✅ “Designed and executed an email marketing strategy that increased open rates by 28% and contributed £500K in pipeline.”

Here’s how to break it down across fields in tech marketing:

Digital Marketing → Showcase expertise with tools (Google Ads, SEO, analytics platforms) and metrics like click-through rate, CPC, or ROI.

• “Launched and optimised a Google Ads campaign that reduced cost-per-click by 35% while increasing qualified leads by 42% in Q1.”

Content Marketing → Highlight measurable results like traffic growth, leads generated from blogs, or engagement rates.

• “Developed a content strategy that increased organic traffic by 65% in 6 months and generated 300+ MQLs through gated assets.”

Demand Generation → Show pipeline influence, SQLs generated, or cost-per-lead improvements.

• “Led multi-channel demand generation campaigns that influenced £2.1M in pipeline and shortened average sales cycle by 15%.”

Product Marketing → Demonstrate how you’ve positioned products, launched features, or supported sales enablement with measurable outcomes.

• “Created go-to-market strategy for a SaaS product launch, resulting in 1,200 signups within 30 days and £500K ARR within the first year.”

Marketing Operations (Marketing Ops) → Focus on CRM automation, reporting accuracy, campaign attribution, or how you’ve improved team efficiency.

• “Implemented marketing automation workflows in HubSpot, improving lead scoring accuracy by 40% and reducing manual reporting time by 12 hours per week.”

Growth Marketing → Show experimentation (A/B testing, landing pages, referral programmes) and their measurable business impact.

• “Ran A/B tests on landing pages that boosted conversion rates from 12% to 21%, generating an extra 800 signups per month.”

Recruiters and hiring managers are drawn to results. In fact, 68% of employers prefer CVs that highlight achievements over tasks (zety.com). Numbers don’t just show what you did – they prove how good you are at it.

📌 Pro tip: When describing achievements, use the STARL method (Situation, Task, Action, Result, Learning) to give structured, memorable examples.

4. Personal Branding Within Your Marketing CV

In marketing, your CV isn’t just a list of roles - it’s your first campaign. Recruiters and hiring managers are looking for marketing professionals who not only have the right skills but also know how to present themselves as a brand. That’s where personal branding comes in.

Why personal branding matters

For marketers, personal branding is more than a buzzword. It’s proof of your ability to position, package, and sell an idea - starting with yourself. A well-crafted marketing CV that reflects your unique voice makes you memorable in a crowded applicant pool. It can be the deciding factor between being shortlisted or overlooked.

How to weave personal branding into your CV

• Resume Summary as a Pitch: Treat your resume summary like an elevator pitch. Instead of “Experienced marketer with 5 years in digital marketing,” try:
  “Tech-focused growth marketer specialising in demand generation and data-driven campaigns that scale SaaS revenue.”

• Show Your Marketing Expertise: Highlight your marketing portfolio or projects that showcase your creativity and results. Even a personal blog, campaign case study, or side project can demonstrate initiative.

• Consistency Across Platforms: Make sure your CV, LinkedIn profile, and portfolio tell the same story. Employers often check all three.

• Visual & Formatting Choices: While keeping ATS in mind, you can use formatting (headings, bold keywords) to make your CV look polished and professional - showing you understand presentation.

• Go Beyond Paper with a Video Resume: In competitive markets, a CV isn’t always enough to stand out. Platforms like Reslink allow you to create a short video pitch to showcase your communication style, energy, and personality - the qualities that don’t come through on a written page. For marketers, this is a powerful way to prove you can sell yourself just like you’d sell a product or campaign.

Examples of strong personal branding in a CV

• A digital marketing CV that links to a personal website showcasing case studies.
  A product marketing manager including a one-line “positioning statement” in their summary.

• A marketing analyst using data visualisation in bullet points (e.g., charts or dashboards as portfolio links).

📌 For more on building a consistent personal brand, check out this guide to key marketing skills on Coursera.

5. Common Mistakes to Avoid When Writing a Marketing CV

Even the most talented marketers lose out on interviews because their marketing CV doesn’t hit the mark. Many of the pitfalls come down to the same issue: focusing on tasks instead of impact.

Here are the biggest mistakes you’ll want to avoid:

❌ Using a Generic CV for Every Application

A generic marketing resume looks like a copied campaign template. Hiring managers can spot it immediately. Tailor your CV to each role by reflecting the job description, emphasising the most relevant marketing skills (like SEO, demand generation, or content marketing).

❌ Forgetting Measurable Impact

Writing “Managed social media campaigns” is not enough. Instead, quantify your achievements:

• “Grew LinkedIn followers by 200% in 12 months, contributing to a 30% increase in inbound leads.”

Numbers are your proof of value, and recruiters in tech want specifics.

❌ Overloading with Buzzwords

Marketers love words, but avoid cramming in too many fluffy terms. “Creative marketing professional with great communication skills” won’t make you stand out. Instead, showcase specific examples of achievements or campaigns.

❌ Ignoring ATS and Keywords

Even for creative roles, your CV must pass through applicant tracking systems. Make sure to use industry-relevant keywords like digital marketing, content marketing, brand awareness, or marketing campaign. Tools like Jobscan can help.

❌ Poor Design Choices

It’s tempting to make your CV “look cool.” But remember, not all designs are ATS-friendly. Stick to clean templates - you can always showcase design flair in your marketing portfolio or personal site. Use a simple, professional CV template that balances readability with style.

📌 Pro tip: If you’re going for senior roles like marketing manager or marketing director, don’t bury leadership achievements. Make them prominent, ideally in a dedicated “Key Achievements” section.

6. Using Keywords Effectively in Your Marketing CV

If your marketing CV doesn’t have the right keywords, it may never reach a human eye. Most tech companies, from startups to giants like Google, use Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) to filter applications before a hiring manager even reviews them.

Why keywords matter

ATS works by scanning your CV for relevant terms from the job description. If you’re applying for a digital marketing manager role but don’t include terms like “SEO,” “campaign optimisation,” or “content marketing,” your CV might be rejected automatically.

How to find the right keywords

1. Read the job description carefully – highlight repeated skills, tools, and outcomes.

2. Look at resume samples – see how other marketing professionals describe achievements.

3. Use tools - free platforms like Jobscan help compare your CV against a job ad to identify missing keywords.

How to use them naturally

Don’t keyword-stuff. Blend them into your resume summary, work experience, and skills sections. Example:

• Instead of “Handled campaigns”, say “Executed multi-channel digital marketing campaigns across email marketing, paid ads, and content marketing, generating £1.2M pipeline.”

Keywords to consider for tech marketing roles

Depending on your focus area, include keywords like:

• Digital Marketing: SEO, Google Ads, social media marketing, campaign optimisation.

• Content Marketing: copywriting, blog strategy, audience engagement, content calendar.

• Demand Generation: pipeline growth, lead nurturing, ABM, MQL/SQL.

• Product Marketing: go-to-market, product launches, positioning, sales enablement.

• Marketing Ops: CRM, automation, reporting, attribution, data analysis.

• Growth Marketing: experimentation, conversion rate optimisation, A/B testing.

📌 Pro tip: Always adapt keywords for each role. For example, a marketing manager resume example should include leadership terms like “team management” and “strategic planning,” while a marketing analyst CV should lean into “data analytics” and “market research.”

7. Marketing CV Examples for Tech Roles

Here’s a sample marketing CV that pulls everything together - structure, keywords, measurable impact, and personal branding.

📌 Want to create your own recruiter-ready version? Download our free Marketing CV Templates.

8. Crafting a Marketing CV That Gets You Hired

A strong marketing CV is more than a list of job titles - it’s your best campaign. Whether you’re aiming for a role in digital marketing, product marketing, demand generation, marketing ops, or growth, your CV needs to highlight impact, not just responsibilities.

The key takeaways:

• Tailor every application to the job description. Recruiters know when they’re looking at a generic marketing resume.
  Show measurable results. Use metrics to prove how your campaigns, strategies, or projects drove outcomes.

• Integrate personal branding. From your resume summary to linking a Reslink video resume, present yourself as a marketer who understands positioning.

• Optimise for ATS. Use the right keywords to get past filters and onto the desk of a hiring manager.

Remember: your CV is just one part of the process. Pair it with a strong LinkedIn profile, a consistent personal brand, and a portfolio of your best marketing campaigns to maximise your chances. 

Need help shaping your own path into tech marketing? Check out our step-by-step guide on how to change careers into marketing in tech.

Download our free Marketing CV Templates to create an ATS-friendly, recruiter-ready CV.

And if you’re ready to take your CV to the next level - and land interviews that matter - the TechTalk community is here to support you. From peer feedback and mock interviews to live workshops, CV templates, and coaching tailored to tech marketing roles, we provide the structure and insight you need to stand out.

9. FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)

1. What is the difference between a marketing CV and a marketing resume?

A marketing CV is typically more detailed and used in the UK/Europe, while a marketing resume is the US version, often shorter (one page). Both should highlight marketing skills, measurable impact, and be tailored to the job description.

2. Do you have a marketing CV example I can follow?

Yes! See the full marketing CV example in this guide for inspiration. You can also use our free CV templates to build your own recruiter-ready version.

3. What should I include in the resume summary of my marketing CV?

Your resume summary should be 2–3 sentences that capture your expertise, achievements, and goals. For example: "Digital marketing specialist with 4+ years in SaaS, skilled in SEO, Google Ads, and content marketing. Increased organic traffic by 135% in 12 months and passionate about driving data-informed campaigns for growth-focused tech companies."

4. How do I tailor my marketing CV for different roles?

Read the job description carefully and mirror the language. For example, a marketing manager resume should emphasise leadership skills, team collaboration, and project management, while a marketing analyst CV should highlight data analysis and reporting.

5. Do startups look for different things than big tech when hiring marketers?

Yes. Startups often want adaptability and the ability to juggle multiple tasks (e.g., SEO + email marketing + paid ads), while big tech companies tend to hire more specialised roles like product marketing managers or digital marketing specialists.

6. How do I highlight my marketing experience if I don’t have much?

If you’re a marketing intern or recent graduate, focus on projects, coursework, and campaigns you’ve contributed to. Even side projects like running a social media marketing account, building a blog, or launching a small campaign can count as valuable marketing experience.

7. Should I include certifications on my marketing CV?

Yes. Certifications like Google Ads, HubSpot Inbound Marketing, or digital marketing strategist programmes not only validate your marketing expertise but also show commitment to professional growth.

8. What’s the most common mistake marketers make on their CVs?

The biggest mistake is focusing on responsibilities instead of results. Instead of writing “managed email campaigns”, write “designed segmented email marketing campaigns that lifted CTR by 24%.” Hiring managers want proof of impact.

9. How long should a marketing CV be?

For graduates or early-career professionals, one page is fine. For experienced marketers, aim for two pages — especially if you’re applying for marketing manager or marketing director roles. Keep it clear and results-focused.

10. Can I use a video CV for marketing roles?

Yes! In fact, a video resume can set you apart in creative industries like marketing. Platforms like Reslink let you attach a short video pitch to your traditional CV, giving recruiters a better sense of your communication style and personality.