Marketing at Microsoft

Marketing at Microsoft is organized into three major groups, including a central organization, product managers that oversee marketing for specific products or business units, and field marketers in charge of outbound marketing in their region. To help Microsoft expand into new markets and overcome challenges such as longer release cycles, these groups are cooperating on new initiatives, such as having marketers partner with engineers throughout the product design phase. To overcome resistance from product groups, marketers will receive more technical training and be encouraged to stick with the same product group for a longer time.

How Marketing Is Organized

Marketing employees at Microsoft are organized into three major groups.

Central Marketing Group (CMG). This group, headed by Senior Vice President Mich Mathews, consists of about 500 employees. It’s responsible for evaluating and improving Microsoft’s marketing practices across the company, conducting market research, creating advertising and branding campaigns for the company overall, maintaining its relationships with public relations companies, and overseeing outbound communications on nonproduct issues (such as legal matters). The CMG also has input into hiring and training marketing professionals who work in product groups and field sales offices.