30-60-90 day plan for marketing directors
On this page
- What does a marketing director own that a marketing manager does not?
- What does the 30-60-90 day plan look like?
- How should a new marketing director audit the budget, contracts and tools?
- Which marketing rules should a new marketing director check?
- Which numbers should a new marketing director baseline?
- What does "on track" look like at day 30, 60 and 90?
- A filled example
- How should the hiring manager use this plan in the final interview?
- What should the hiring manager ask at the check-ins?
- What the hiring manager owes a new marketing director
- Common mistakes
- Adapting the plan
- Questions people ask
A 30-60-90 day plan for a new marketing director should reconcile the marketing budget with finance and list every agency and software contract with its renewal date in the first 30 days, set up one intake process for requests and agree two or three priorities in days 31-60, and present next year's marketing plan and budget by day 90. A marketing director runs a team of managers, the agencies and the marketing software stack, so the first month also checks the rules those campaigns and contracts carry. As of November 2026 that includes the FTC's amended children's privacy rule, false advertising claims under the Lanham Act and, for businesses California's privacy law covers, the contract terms its regulations require of vendors.
This page is for the VP of marketing, CMO, CEO or general manager hiring a marketing director who leads several marketing managers or specialists. If the role owns a pipeline target and the lead handoff to sales, add the reverse-funnel work in the 30-60-90 day plan for VPs of marketing; if it owns positioning and board reporting, see the 30-60-90 day plan for CMOs; for a hands-on owner of one channel, the 30-60-90 day plan for marketing managers fits better.
What does a marketing director own that a marketing manager does not?
| Area | Marketing manager | Marketing director | VP of marketing or CMO |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plan | Runs campaigns in one channel or program | Writes the annual marketing plan and calendar across channels | Sets strategy, positioning and the growth target |
| Budget | Spends an allocated program budget | Owns the department budget, its commitments and variance reporting with finance | Sets the total investment case |
| People | Works alone or leads a small team | Manages managers, hires and balances workload | Designs the organization |
| Agencies and software | Briefs agencies and uses the tools | Owns agency scopes, the software stack and their renewals | Approves the largest contracts |
| Requests from other teams | Receives them | Runs intake and decides priorities with sales, product and leadership | Settles conflicts between functions |
Titles vary. In a company of a few hundred people the marketing director may be the most senior marketer; in a large one it may lead a region, a brand or a group of channels. The closest federal occupation is marketing managers: the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook reports a national median annual wage of $166,790 for marketing managers in May 2025 and projects 7 percent employment growth from 2025 to 2035.
What does the 30-60-90 day plan look like?
30-60-90 day plan — [Name], Marketing Director, [company / region / brand]
Reports to: [VP of marketing / CMO / CEO] Start date: [date]
Team: [N] managers, [N] specialists Agencies: [names]
Budget: [amount] (people / programs / agencies / software)
Next year's plan due: [date]
DAYS 1-30 — Learn the team, the money and the commitments
Goals:
- One-to-one with every team member, the head of sales, product
leads, the finance partner and each agency account lead
- Reconcile this year's spend with finance, line by line,
including spend committed but not yet invoiced
- Build the contract register: every agency, software and data
contract with owner, annual cost, renewal and notice dates
- Map the team's work: who owns what, how requests arrive, how
much time goes to unplanned requests
- Read last year's plan, recent campaign results, brand
guidelines and the approval process for claims
- Review campaign and vendor data rules with counsel
Deliverables by day 30:
- Budget reconciliation with a forecast to year end
- Contract register with the next 6 months of renewals flagged
- Team and workload map
DAYS 31-60 — Set the rhythm; choose the priorities
Goals:
- Agree 2-3 priorities with [manager] and the head of sales
- Start one intake process for requests from other teams, with
a weekly priority review
- Decide each upcoming renewal: keep, renegotiate or cancel
- Start a monthly marketing review on measures finance and
sales accept
- Development conversation with each manager
Deliverables by day 60:
- Priorities and measures agreed in writing
- Renewal decisions logged before their notice dates
DAYS 61-90 — Own the plan
Goals:
- Present next year's plan: priorities, calendar, budget by
program, team and agency model, measures
- Run the second monthly review, with a cause for each miss
- Close the contract and data issues found in month one
Deliverables by day 90:
- Plan and budget approved by [manager] and finance
- Hiring and agency changes approved, with dates
Check-ins: weekly with [manager]; reviews at day 30, 60 and 90.How should a new marketing director audit the budget, contracts and tools?
Two things surprise new marketing directors most often: money that is already committed and software nobody uses. Both show up in a list of contracts, not in the budget. The register below takes a week to build with finance and procurement, and it drives the renewal decisions in month two.
| Column | What to record | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Owner | The person who uses and approves the agency or tool | Contracts without an owner renew without anyone deciding |
| Annual cost and terms | Committed amount, billing frequency, overage and minimum spend terms | The year-end forecast often misses commitments that are not yet invoiced |
| Renewal and notice dates | The renewal date and the last day to give notice | A missed notice usually means another full term |
| Data received | Which customer or prospect data the vendor receives, and whether the company sells or shares it with them | Decides the contract terms and the privacy review |
| Use | Active users, last campaign, overlap with other tools | The case for consolidating at renewal |
The register also shows overlap that no single manager can see, such as two email platforms or three analytics products bought by different teams. Agency scopes belong in the same list: what each agency is paid to deliver, who briefs it and how its work is judged.
Which marketing rules should a new marketing director check?
The VP of marketing plan covers email, texts, influencer disclosures and review programs, and the CMO plan covers California's opt-out preference signals and risk assessments. The rows below are the ones a director meets through campaigns and contracts. Checked as of November 2026; this is not legal advice, and which rules apply depends on the business.
| Area | What the rule requires | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Children's data | For sites, apps or campaigns directed to children under 13, or where the company knows it collects their data: the FTC's amended COPPA Rule took effect June 23, 2025, and most changes had to be met within one year of its April 22, 2025 publication. It requires separate verifiable parental consent before disclosing children's personal information to third parties, for example for targeted advertising, and bars keeping that information indefinitely. | Federal Register, April 22, 2025; FTC announcement |
| Comparison and performance claims | Section 43(a) of the Lanham Act lets any person who believes it is likely to be damaged sue over a false or misleading representation in commercial advertising or promotion about the nature, characteristics or qualities of goods or services; competitors use it against comparison ads | 15 U.S.C. 1125(a)(1)(B) |
| Vendors that receive personal information (California) | For businesses the CCPA covers, the contract with a service provider or contractor must, among other terms, bar it from selling or sharing the personal information and name the specific business purposes; a business that sells or shares personal information with a third party needs an agreement limiting it to specified purposes | CCPA regulations, sections 7051 and 7053 (text effective January 1, 2026) |
The CCPA applies to for-profit businesses that meet one of its thresholds; the revenue threshold has been $26,625,000 since January 1, 2025, according to the California Privacy Protection Agency. The "data received" column in the contract register is what makes this check quick.
Which numbers should a new marketing director baseline?
Use the definitions finance and sales already use. The measures are examples; pick the ones that match how the company makes money.
| Area | Example measures (examples only) | The question behind it |
|---|---|---|
| Budget | Spend and commitments against plan; share on people, programs, agencies and software | Will marketing land on budget, and how much is already locked in? |
| Contribution | Marketing-sourced pipeline or revenue by program, on the definition sales uses | Which programs pay for themselves? |
| Efficiency | Cost per qualified lead or per new customer, by channel | Where should the next dollar go? |
| Team capacity | Share of time on planned work versus unplanned requests; open roles | Can the team deliver the plan it is given? |
| Speed | Days from brief to launch for a standard campaign | Is intake and approval slowing the work? |
| Software use | Active users and campaigns per tool | What can be consolidated at renewal? |
What does "on track" look like at day 30, 60 and 90?
| Checkpoint | On track | Worth a direct conversation |
|---|---|---|
| Day 30 | Budget reconciled with finance including commitments; contract register complete; workload map shows where time goes | A strategy deck before the numbers; contracts still unknown; no time spent with sales |
| Day 60 | Priorities agreed in writing; intake running weekly; renewal decisions made before notice dates | Every request still accepted; a renewal missed; a reorganization announced without the managers |
| Day 90 | Plan and budget approved; monthly review reports results on shared definitions; month-one issues closed | Plan repeats last year's calendar; measures defined only by marketing |
A filled example
Marketing director: Marisol Grant (invented), joining a 300-person software and services company with five marketing managers and two agencies, reporting to the VP of marketing.
Day 30: The reconciliation showed a large share of the year's program budget already committed to an events contract and an annual data subscription that renewed in two months. Three managers had each bought a different webinar tool. The workload map showed most of every Friday going to slide and one-pager requests from sales.
Day 60: She gave notice on the data subscription before its deadline and chose one webinar tool to keep at renewal. A weekly intake review with two sales managers replaced direct requests. Counsel found the data vendor's contract did not limit its use of the company's customer list to a stated purpose, and an addendum fixed it.
Day 90: The plan moved the savings into a customer marketing program, and the monthly review reported pipeline on the definition sales uses. The VP and finance approved it with one new hire.
How should the hiring manager use this plan in the final interview?
Give every finalist the same brief: last year's plan, the budget by line, the team chart, the contract list and one known problem. Score the plans with the rubric in how to evaluate a 30-60-90 day plan in an interview, and use the interview guide for marketing roles for the rest of the loop. A strong plan reconciles before it reallocates. Questions that test it:
- "Here is our budget and contract list. What would you want to know before the next renewal?"
- "Sales, product and the CEO all send urgent requests. How does your team decide what to work on?"
- "One of your managers is strong in their channel but misses deadlines. What do you do in your first month?"
- "We plan a comparison ad against our main competitor next quarter. What do you check first?"
What should the hiring manager ask at the check-ins?
- Day 30: How much of the budget is already committed? Which renewals come up in the next six months? Where does the team's time go?
- Day 60: What are the priorities, and who agreed them? Which requests did the team turn down, and how did that go?
- Day 90: What does the plan stop doing? What does it cost, and how will we know it worked?
What the hiring manager owes a new marketing director
- Access to the finance ledger, purchase orders and signed contracts in week one.
- Clear authority over renewals and agency scopes within the approved budget.
- Introductions to the head of sales and the product leads, and their time for the intake process.
- Counsel's time for the claims and contract review in month one.
Common mistakes
- Planning against the approved budget instead of the committed one. A plan that ignores signed contracts is short from the first day.
- Missing a notice date. Software and data contracts often renew automatically for a full term.
- Reorganizing the team in the first month. Learn who does what before moving people.
- Saying yes to every request. Without intake, the team's plan becomes whatever arrived last.
Adapting the plan
- Online store or direct-to-consumer business: add the funnel and checkout work in the 30-60-90 day plan for ecommerce managers.
- Consumer products sold at retail: the claims and promotion review in the 30-60-90 day plan for brand managers applies.
- Content-led or social-led teams: add publishing cadence and audience growth to the baseline, and agree with the content lead which requests the team will not take.
- Director as the senior marketer: add the sales agreement from the VP plan and the measurement agreement from the CMO plan.
- Regional or brand director in a large company: the budget and contract audit still applies, but renewals may sit with central procurement; agree in month one which decisions are the director's.
Questions people ask
What should a new marketing director do in the first 30 days?
Meet every person on the team, the head of sales, the product leads, the finance partner and each agency; reconcile this year's marketing spend with finance, including money already committed but not yet invoiced; list every agency, software and data contract with its owner, cost, renewal date and notice deadline; and map how requests reach the team. The month ends with a budget forecast to year end, a contract register and a picture of the team's workload.
How is a marketing director's 30-60-90 day plan different from a VP of marketing's?
A VP of marketing's plan centers on the pipeline target, the lead handoff to sales and channel budgets. A marketing director's plan centers on running the department: the annual marketing plan and calendar, the budget and its commitments, a team of managers, agency scopes, the marketing software stack and the intake of requests from other teams. In smaller companies the marketing director is the senior marketer and borrows from both plans.
What should a marketing director present at 90 days?
Next year's marketing plan with its budget: two or three priorities, the calendar, budget by program, the team and agency model, contract renewals and their decisions, and the measures marketing will report each month on definitions finance and sales accept. It should be agreed with the director's manager and finance before it is presented more widely.
Which marketing laws should a new marketing director check?
As of November 2026, the ones a director meets through campaigns and contracts include the FTC's amended children's privacy rule (COPPA), which took effect June 23, 2025 with most changes due by April 22, 2026; false advertising claims under Section 43(a) of the Lanham Act, which competitors use against comparison ads; and, for businesses covered by California's privacy law, the contract terms its regulations require of vendors that receive personal information. Email, text, endorsement and review rules apply too. This is not legal advice.