What is the average Digital Marketer salary in 2022?

If you’re thinking about pursuing a career in digital marketing, you’re likely wondering what the average digital marketer’s salary is. 

That’s understandable. 

As you explore this path, there are a few things that you should know. First, there are numerous elements to digital marketing. So, the number of job titles in this field is many, and they vary significantly. 

Secondly, the digital marketing specialist role is among the top ten most in-demand jobs, with 860,000 job openings, according to LinkedIn. Another LinkedIn survey found that the major metro areas in the United States face a shortage of 230,000 digital marketing professionals. 

There are numerous openings for a marketing coordinators but not enough professionals to fill them. So, your job prospects will be very high with the proper digital marketing certificates. 

The only thing left now is understanding the role and the average digital marketing salary. Read on to find out.

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What is a Digital Marketer?

Today, most interactions between consumers and businesses occur online. To increase brand awareness, loyalty, and sales, companies promote their products via social media, email, paid search, organic search, etc.

This is where a digital marketer comes into play. They design and implement digital marketing strategies to promote the business and its products online. Given how digital marketing is continually evolving, great digital marketers continuously monitor trends. 

There are two common paths for digital marketers to understand if they want to rise above the average salary for digital marketing. First, you can become a generalist familiar with all or most channels. Or you can specialize in one or two channels.

If you want to succeed, you need a little bit of both, as specialists with “t-shaped” skill sets have the most demand. These digital marketers specialize in one or two channels but reasonably understand the rest. 

How much does the average Digital Marketer make?

Unless you are overly driven by passion, it’s fair to say that potential earnings are a key career determinant. 

According to salary.com, the typical salary range for digital marketing in the US is $95,845 to $132,160 annually. However, some earn lower or higher than the indicated range.

For instance, the bottom 10% take home $81,802 a year. This figure rises to $95,845 for the 25% mark. Those at 75% and 90% marks take home $132,160 and $151,180 annually on the other end of the spectrum. 

So, all this translates to an average digital marketing salary of $111,270 annually. 

Factors that impact a Digital Marketer’s salary

There are many components to digital marketing that translate to varying job titles. So, you can expect different salary levels for the various positions. 

Furthermore, other factors influence how much you take home as a digital marketer. They include:

1. Education

As you may expect, your educational background may impact your potential earnings. For example, a bachelor’s degree in advertising, communications, business, or journalism is a major boost for most marketing positions. 

But it’s important to note that digital marketing does not necessarily hinge on conventional education. Therefore, as with many others, starting a career in this field is possible without a college education. 

Of course, you’ll have to do specialized courses in specific digital marketing areas such as data analytics, search engine marketing (SEM), and search engine optimization (SEO). The more certifications you can attain, the better placed you’ll be to negotiate higher salaries. 

2. Certificates

Digital marketing is broad and requires several hard and soft skills. Some of the skills that are in most demand include social media marketing, search engine optimization, copywriting, Data analysis, and project management. 

You’ll need specialized training and certification for each skill you wish to gain. As you earn more certificates, your stock as a digital marketer will rise. 

3. Years of experience

Digital marketing strategies are continually evolving. Therefore, for you to thrive, you must be able to pick up on trends early on and use incorporate them into your marketing strategies. 

Experience is crucial in determining a digital marketer’s salary, as some things can’t be taught. So, the more years you spend as a digital marketer, the more money you can expect to make. 

Beyond the number of years, there are other ways to measure experience. This is through familiarity with a specific industry, tools, or unique skills. 

This boils down to the availability of qualified professionals and the demand for the skills. For instance, copywriters are more available than others among various digital marketers. So, you can expect to earn more than a marketing copywriter if you become an analytics specialist or mobile marketing manager. 

Also, digital marketers with experience in industries such as artificial intelligence and healthcare make more than their counterparts. 

4. Industry

The demand for digital marketing skills is high in virtually all industries. However, your salary can vary significantly from one industry to the next. 

One factor that influences this is the overall value of the industry. So if it’s a billion-dollar sector with high-earning firms, this will naturally push salaries up. 

However, that’s not always the case. The nature of work as a digital marketer may also change in some industries. For example, identifying keywords and generating leads becomes more complicated if a sector has low online activity or presence. 

Moreover, you may also have to be familiar with industry-specific practices, products, and terminology to succeed. For example, some sectors where digital marketers earn higher salaries include health care, finance, and artificial intelligence.

5. Location

Even though you may not think much of it, your location will play a key role in determining your salary. The numbers vary due to the concentration of talent or the cost of living. Just with the sector, it also depends on the nature and size of the companies in the area.

Some states where you can get a higher salary include Los Angeles and New York.

6. The Company You Work For

The company you work for is a key factor influencing how much you earn. For instance, you may make more at an entry-level position in a big firm than as a small company’s head of digital marketing.

The best places in terms of salary for a digital marketer are large data-driven companies and tech startups. These offer very competitive salaries to secure and retain top talent. Since they’re data-driven, obtaining a Tableau Data Analytics Certificate will make you a more appealing candidate. 

Digital Marketing job titles you should know about

As a whole, digital marketing is a lucrative field with numerous opportunities for qualified persons. Some of the options you can consider pursuing include: 

Digital Marketing Specialist

These are digital marketers tasked with developing, managing, and overseeing digital marketing campaigns. This involves managing teams and budgets and performing tasks such as:

• Managing social media
• Tracking content performance
• Optimizing results
• Running advertisements
• Executing content strategy

This role requires a diverse skill set, including:

• Business acumen to develop strategies
• Research skills 
• Basic understanding of all digital marketing channels
• Interpersonal skills such as communication, problem-solving, logical reasoning, collaboration

Social Media Strategist

If you spend hours on social media daily, this may just be your role. Your task as a social media strategist will be to increase brand awareness. This is done by developing and executing creative digital market content across the company’s social media platforms. 

Your responsibilities will include:

• Maintaining a social media calendar
• Creating content
• Respond to comments
• Evaluate performance
• Publish updates

To succeed as a social media strategist, you will require the following skills:

• Design
• Writing
• Video creation and editing
• Social media scheduling and publishing
• Analytics

Content Strategist

A content strategist is responsible for planning, designing, and executing content strategies. Such content includes:

• Texts such as whitepapers and blogs
• Visuals like infographics
• Video content
• Audio content such as podcasts

Although you don’t need to be skilled in all these avenues, you need to be an expert in one or two. That being said, your primary responsibility will be to create the content calendar plan and schedule content. You’ll also need to monitor the performance of your content and optimize it as needed. 

Required skills:

• Designing, writing, and video production
• Familiarity with content management tools like Squarespace and WordPress
• Collaboration and problem solving
• Understanding of mobile and web analytics using Google Analytics and other tools
• Attention to detail

Email Marketing Specialists

Email marketing specialists are in charge of planning, maintaining, and executing email campaigns for companies. This role comes with responsibilities such as:

• Maintaining email databases
• Planning campaigns
• Designing email templates
• Writing copy
• Scheduling blasts
• Monitoring performance

The key skill necessary for succeeding as an email marketer is an ability to write compelling copy that drives users to take the desired action.

Start your career on the right footing.

Considering the opportunities available and the average digital marketer’s salary, venturing into this line of work may be rewarding. First, you must position yourself as an expert by gaining the necessary training and certification.

Pathstream is an institution that prepares students for high-demand digital skills. So whether you want to become a project manager or a marketing specialist, we’ve got numerous courses you can take. Reach out to us today to learn more about our programs.