Commercial awareness is a phrase that appears in countless job descriptions, but it’s often poorly defined.
For marketing teams, commercial awareness doesn’t mean becoming sales-focused or losing creative freedom. It means understanding the context your work sits within and how it contributes to wider business goals.
What commercial awareness is (and isn’t)
Commercial awareness is about understanding priorities, customers and outcomes. It helps marketing teams make better decisions about where to focus time, budget and energy.
It isn’t about chasing targets or being measured solely on revenue. In many cases, it simply brings clarity and alignment, making marketing work more effective and better supported internally.
Why this matters for hiring
Businesses that clearly define what they mean by commercial awareness tend to hire more successfully. Candidates understand expectations, and roles are less likely to drift or become misaligned over time.
For candidates, understanding the level of commercial exposure in a role helps ensure the environment matches their strengths and preferences.
Our perspective
Recruiting marketing teams has shown us how valuable commercial context can be when it’s handled well. It strengthens collaboration rather than diluting marketing’s role, which is why we consider commercial understanding an important part of many modern marketing environments.
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Photo by Daniel Enders-Theiss on Unsplash