Marketing & Sales Resume: Keywords and Structure That Pass ATS

Marketing and sales resumes face a challenge most professionals don’t: they must persuade two audiences at once. The ATS filters on tool names and metric acronyms. The human recruiter wants concrete results and business impact. A poorly structured resume fails both.

What ATS looks for in marketing and sales resumes

Unlike technical fields where ATS focuses almost entirely on languages and frameworks, for marketing and sales the system scans a combination of three elements: specific tool names, recognized metric acronyms, and action verbs tied to measurable results.

The job description is your map. If it mentions “Google Ads”, “HubSpot”, and “conversion funnel”, those three phrases must appear in your resume — ideally in more than one place (skills section and experience descriptions). See the full keyword list by area to make sure you’re not leaving important terms out.

Keywords by specialization

Digital Marketing

SEO, SEM, Google Ads, Meta Ads, Google Analytics, GA4, inbound marketing, content marketing, copywriting, CRM, HubSpot, RD Station, marketing automation, email marketing, lead nurturing, landing page, buyer persona, customer journey.

Performance & Growth

CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost), LTV (Lifetime Value), ROI, ROAS, conversion funnel, CPC, CPM, CTR, conversion rate, A/B testing, growth hacking, campaign optimization, media attribution, cohort analysis.

B2B Sales

SDR (Sales Development Representative), BDR (Business Development Representative), closer, pipeline, Salesforce, Pipedrive, cold calling, social selling, average ticket, conversion rate, forecast, prospecting cadence, SPIN selling, MEDDIC, quota, customer onboarding.

B2C Sales & E-commerce

Retail, e-commerce, marketplace, customer service, post-sale, upsell, cross-sell, NPS, retention, churn, repurchase rate, consultative sales, conversion targets, portfolio management.

How to quantify results

Numbers turn responsibilities into achievements. See the difference:

Before:“Responsible for the company’s digital marketing campaigns.”

After:“Grew organic traffic 145% in 6 months through technical SEO and content production; reduced CAC from R$120 to R$45 by optimizing Google Ads and Meta Ads campaigns.”

Before:“Worked as an SDR on the B2B sales team.”

After:“Exceeded quarterly target by 130% as SDR, generating 80 qualified meetings per month and contributing to a R$2M pipeline managed by the closing team.”

Ideal resume structure for marketing and sales

Professional summary with key metrics

Position yourself in 3–5 lines: your current or target title, years of experience, area of specialization, and one or two standout results.

Example: “Digital Marketing Specialist with 6 years of experience in inbound marketing, SEO, and performance campaigns. Track record of reducing CAC by over 40% and growing organic traffic above 100% in B2B and B2C projects. Google Ads and HubSpot Marketing certified.”

Experience: action + result + number

Each bullet point should follow: action verb + what was done + measurable result. Use 3–5 bullets per role, prioritizing results most relevant to the job.

• Marketing action verbs: grew, reduced, launched, optimized, structured, automated, created, implemented
• Sales action verbs: exceeded, prospected, closed, managed, developed, won, reactivated, expanded

Skills and tools

• Marketing tools: Google Ads, Meta Ads, Google Analytics, HubSpot, RD Station, Mailchimp, SEMrush, Ahrefs
• Sales tools: Salesforce, Pipedrive, HubSpot CRM, Outreach, Apollo
• Metrics you command: CAC, LTV, ROI, ROAS, NPS, conversion rate, churn

Education and certifications

Certifications carry significant weight in marketing and sales — often more than in other fields. List the most recognized: Google Ads (Search, Display, Performance Max), HubSpot Academy, Meta Blueprint, Google Analytics. Include the year obtained and expiration date if applicable.

Common mistakes that get the resume rejected

• Tools without context— listing only “HubSpot, Salesforce, Google Ads” in the skills section without mentioning those tools in experience entries reduces the relevance the ATS perceives
• Generic descriptions— “Responsible for company marketing” or “Worked in sales” say nothing to the ATS or to the recruiter
• No numbers — a marketing or sales resume with zero metrics is automatically less competitive than one with concrete results
• Misused terminology— calling an SDR role a “closer” position, or labeling ROI when the calculation described is actually ROAS, creates inconsistency that hurts credibility

The structure described here is the starting point. The next step is tailoring each version of your resume to the specific job description — time-consuming, but it significantly increases your pass rate on automatic screening. See how the ideal ATS resume structure applies to your profile, or run your resume through our free ATS checker to see where you stand before you apply.