How Much Do Digital Marketers Make in 2024? The Complete Salary Guide
Digital marketing is one of the hottest and fastest-growing career fields today. As more business shifts online, demand for skilled digital marketers continues to surge year after year.
But how much does a career in digital marketing really pay? What salaries can you expect in popular digital marketing jobs like search engine optimization (SEO), pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, content marketing, and social media marketing?
I’ve compiled the latest digital marketer salary data from Payscale and other sources to create this complete guide on how much money you can make in digital marketing.
You’ll discover median salaries for top marketing roles, salary ranges based on experience level, top skills that increase earnings, and much more.
Whether you’re just starting out in digital marketing or are a seasoned pro, read on to find out what kind of salary awaits you.
Quick Overview: Average Digital Marketing Salaries
Before we dive into details, here’s a bird’s-eye view of typical digital marketing salaries in 2024 for some of the most in-demand roles:
- Digital Marketing Manager: $74,320 per year
- SEO Manager: $76,550 per year
- PPC Manager: $59,177 per year
- Social Media Manager: $56,799 per year
- Content Marketing Manager: $73,837 per year
- Influencer Marketing Manager: $67,000 per year
- Content Manager: $65,586 per year
Clearly, salaries can vary widely for different digital marketing specialties. But even within the same job title, many factors impact how much you’ll earn.
Below I’ll break down key influencers on digital marketer pay, from experience level to location, skills, and more.
First, let’s explore popular digital marketing roles and their salary ranges in more depth.
Digital Marketing Manager Salary
The average salary for a Digital Marketing Manager is $74,320 per year. It’s one of the highest paying marketing jobs you can get.
But what does a digital marketing manager actually do day-to-day?
Digital Marketing Manager Job Duties
A digital marketing manager is an experienced professional with at least 5-10 years working in digital marketing.
Their core responsibilities include:
- Overseeing all digital marketing campaigns and initiatives
- Managing a team of digital marketers
- Coordinating with other departments like sales, product, and executives
- Analyzing campaign performance and identifying areas for optimization
- Staying on top of digital marketing trends and technologies
- Developing digital strategies and plans to acquire more customers
- Presenting reports and recommendations to key stakeholders
It’s a complex role requiring both technical digital marketing skills and soft leadership abilities.
Digital marketing managers earn their higher salaries because they steer the entire digital marketing ship for a company.
Salary by Experience
Not surprisingly, the more experience you have as a digital marketing manager, the higher your earning potential:
- 1 to 4 years experience: $64,000 per year
- 5 to 9 years experience: $77,000 per year
- 10 to 19 years experience: $87,000 per year
As you can see, during your first decade as a digital marketing manager you can nearly double your salary from around $64k to $87k on average.
Gaining cross-channel expertise and demonstrating how your strategies directly impact key business metrics like revenue and conversions are key to earning higher pay over time in this role.
SEO Manager Salary
The average salary for an SEO Manager is $76,550 per year.
That makes it one of the most lucrative digital marketing careers focused on a single area.
What Does an SEO Manager Do?
SEO stands for search engine optimization. It’s the practice of optimizing content and websites to achieve higher rankings in search engines like Google.
An SEO manager is focused solely on planning, executing, tracking, and improving their company’s organic search engine strategy.
Their responsibilities include:
- Conducting keyword research
- Overseeing on-site and technical SEO activities
- Creating SEO-friendly content
- Building high quality backlinks from other sites
- Tracking organic traffic, rankings, and conversions
- Identifying SEO opportunities and gaps
- Reporting on SEO performance to stakeholders
It’s a complex role requiring both analytical skills and creative content marketing abilities.
Experienced SEO managers can make or break a website’s success in competitive searches. That’s why they command strong salaries.
Salary by Experience
The more skilled you become in SEO, the more valuable (and well-compensated) you’ll be as an SEO manager:
- 1 to 4 years experience: $66,000 per year
- 5 to 9 years experience: $81,000 per year
- 10 to 19 years experience: $98,000 per year
With nearly a decade of hands-on SEO experience under your belt, you can make ~$30k more on average than early career SEO managers.
But remember – skills matter more than years logged. Stay on top of Google algorithm updates, learn technical SEO best practices, master link building, and become a data-driven SEO expert to boost your earning potential over time.
Pay Per Click (PPC) Manager Salary
The average salary for a Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Manager is $59,177 per year.
What is PPC and What Does a PPC Manager Do?
PPC stands for pay-per-click advertising. It includes platforms like Google Ads and Facebook Ads that allow you to pay for visits or clicks to your website.
A PPC manager specializes in setting up, optimizing, and managing paid search and social ad campaigns with the goal of profitability.
Typical PPC manager responsibilities include:
- Managing Google/Bing Ads accounts and campaigns
- Developing Facebook/Instagram ad campaigns
- A/B testing ads
- Improving ad relevance through keyword research and negative keywords
- Reducing cost per conversion over time
- Analyzing performance data
- Identifying new lucrative audiences and untapped opportunities
Great PPC managers increase conversions and revenue through paid advertising while keeping marketing costs under close watch. Their ability to scale profitable paid ad campaigns directly impacts the company’s bottom line.
Salary by Experience
- 1 to 4 years experience: $55,000 per year
- 5 to 9 years experience: $63,000 per year
- 10 to 19 years experience: $61,000 per year
Interestingly PPC manager salaries peak after about 5-9 years experience, leveling off or even decreasing slightly for more seasoned professionals according to Payscale’s data.
Why might this be?
PPC platforms and auctions become more complex and competitive every year. The strategies, tools, and skills needed to master them are constantly evolving.
The demand for up-to-date PPC expertise could explain relatively high salaries for mid-career managers.
Savvy PPC managers never stop learning and stay on top of the latest ad platform updates and features to remain valuable assets despite years logged.
Social Media Manager Salary
The average salary for a Social Media Manager is $56,799 per year.
What Does a Social Media Manager Do?
Social media marketing focuses on reaching and engaging audiences through popular platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Youtube, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Snapchat, TikTok and more.
A social media manager’s core responsibilities include:
- Managing corporate social media accounts
- Developing social content calendars and campaigns
- Creating and curating daily social posts
- Engaging followers and building communities
- Running social media ads
- Analyzing campaign analytics
- Generating leads and sales through social platforms
- Reporting on key social media metrics and ROI
It’s one digital marketing role that demands both creative content skills and analytical abilities.
Top social media managers discover what content best resonates with their company’s target audiences and also directly fuels their conversion funnels.
Salary by Experience
Gaining more expertise in social platforms and campaign management drives increased earning potential over time:
- 1 to 4 years experience: $53,000 per year
- 5 to 9 years experience: $65,000 per year
- 10 to 19 years experience: $74,000 per year
Similar to PPC, social media manager salaries peak at around the 5-9 year mark then plateau according to Payscale.
Why? Social media evolves at lightning speed. Remember MySpace? Vine? What engaged social users five years ago may not work today.
The most valuable social media managers stay on the pulse of new platforms and trends while also mastering the nuances of social platform algorithms.
Content Marketing Manager Salary
The average salary for a Content Marketing Manager is $73,837 per year. It’s one of the highest paying specialized digital marketing roles.
Here’s the continuation of the content marketing manager section:
What Does A Content Marketing Manager Do?
Content marketing focuses on consistently creating valuable, relevant content to attract and engage a clearly defined audience in order to drive profitable customer action.
A content marketing manager’s responsibilities include:
- Developing data-backed content strategies and plans
- Producing useful content in a variety of formats like blogs, videos, podcasts, ebooks, guides, etc.
- Promoting content through multiple digital channels
- Conducting keyword research to optimize content
- Implementing SEO best practices for discoverability
- Analyzing content performance metrics
- Identifying opportunities for new content that converts
The best content marketers understand their buyers’ interests and pain points, and develop targeted content that provides solutions while moving the audience towards conversion. They turn content into a revenue channel.
Salary by Experience
Gaining more expertise across the content marketing spectrum increases earning potential:
- 1 to 4 years experience: $65,000 per year
- 5 to 9 years experience: $78,000 per year
- 10 to 19 years experience: $86,000 per year
Notice the nice salary jump between early-career and mid-career content marketers.
Why the over $13k boost?
There’s a significant ramp-up in high-level strategic skills during those mid-career years. Stuff like:
- Optimizing full conversion funnels
- Data-driven content development
- Large-scale content promotion across channels
- Analyzing and balancing content for customer journey stages
- Presenting content insights to inform executives
- Mentoring and leading a content team
Develop expertise across the content marketing spectrum and demonstrate how your original content directly fuels business growth for maximum career earnings.
Influencer Marketing Manager Salary
The average salary for an influencer marketing manager is $67,000 per year. However, there still isn’t enough data to break down pay by experience level.
What Does An Influencer Marketing Manager Do?
Influencer marketing focuses on partnering with popular social media personalities and industry experts to promote your brand.
Typical responsibilities include:
- Identifying influencers that align to your brand and target audience
- Recruiting influencers as brand advocates
- Developing influencer partnerships through free products, affiliate promotions, pay per post/story, and other collaborations
- Briefing influencers on campaigns and brand messaging
- Tracking the ROI of influencer initiatives
It’s one of the fastest growing digital marketing specialties – especially for consumer brands.
Savvy influencer marketing managers team up with creators to expand branded reach and credibility with relevant audiences. They tap into influencers’ loyal followers and expertise to move consumers down the marketing funnel.
Content Manager Salary
The average salary for a Content Manager is $65,586 per year.
A content manager may also be known as a copywriter, content creator, or blog manager in some companies.
What Does A Content Manager Do?
Content managers focus mainly on producing blogs, articles, guides, social posts, and other optimized content that engages audiences while also attracting search traffic.
Typical content manager responsibilities include:
- Writing blogs and articles that target buyer interests and questions
- Developing content calendars/editorial plans
- Incorporating SEO research and best practices into content
- Promoting content through social media
- Conducting basic analysis on content metrics
- Working with subject matter experts and designers to produce content
- Briefing stakeholders on content performance
It’s one integral piece of the content marketing engine. Content managers work closely with content strategists, marketing teams, and company execs to ensure their articles and blogs support broader business goals.
Salary by Experience
- 1 to 4 years experience: $59,000 per year
- 5 to 9 years experience: $70,000 per year
- 10 to 19 years experience: $81,000 per year
There’s over a $20k jump in average pay from early-career to later-career content managers according to Payscale.
Some of the skills you build over time that really boost salaries include:
- Optimizing full funnels with highly targeted, converting content
- Leading full content production processes
- Mentoring and managing a team of content creators
- Presenting high-level performance reports and analysis to executives
- Directly tying content analytics to broader revenue outcomes
Become the content expert across multiple formats with your finger on the pulse of high-converting themes and topics for maximum value.
Salary Ranges for Other Digital Marketing Jobs
So far we’ve focused solely on specialized management titles in the digital marketing field.
But there are many other digital marketing roles that come with their own salary ranges based on seniority, skills, and responsibilities.
Let’s explore salaries for a few more common digital marketing job titles.
Digital Marketing Specialist Salary
The average salary for a Digital Marketing Specialist is around $55,000 per year according to recent data.
A digital marketing specialist is generally an experienced professional with approximately 5-9 years working in online marketing.
Depending on the company structure, digital marketing specialists may:
- Oversee certain digital marketing channels like email or content under a digital marketing manager
- Lead specific campaign types such as SEO or PPC without “manager” in their title
- Manage a small team of entry-level coordinators or associates
- Analyze campaign data and provide recommendations to executives
- Have marketing cross-channel responsibilities under a director
They represent an integral element of most digital marketing departments.
Salary Ranges for Freelancers
Digital marketing freelancers typically don’t earn an annual salary. Instead, they either charge per hour or price packages and projects.
Freelancer rates can vary widely based on skills, demand, experience, and geographic location.
But on average, expect freelance digital marketers to charge anywhere from $50 per hour on the low end ranging up to $200+ per hour on the high end.
Of course, specialists in extremely high demand skills like conversion rate optimization (CRO) can charge even more for their services.
For comparison though, a full-time digital marketer earning $70k per year works out to around $40 per hour.
So freelancers definitely command premium pricing!
Entry Level Digital Marketing Salaries
At the other end of the spectrum, entry level digital marketers just getting started generally earn around $40,000 annually.
It’s the lowest paying digital marketing role.
Entry-level responsibilities usually look like:
- Managing individual social media accounts day-to-day
- Assisting executing simple email campaigns
- Creating very basic content
- Helping track basic analytics and campaign data
- Performing routine digital marketing daily tasks
Think of it as the developmental grounds where you begin gaining hands-on experience and familiarity working under a digital marketing manager to learn the ropes before specializing further.
Most entry-level digital marketers hold either a bachelor’s degree specifically in marketing or another field combined with a digital marketing certificate or bootcamp.
Within just a few years, motivated entry-level marketers can quickly gain specialized skills to propel their salaries higher into the $55k+ ranges.
5 Big Factors That Influence Your Digital Marketing Salary
While the salaries above reflect industry averages, pay can vary substantially based on individual situations and attributes.
From location to skill sets, many key factors shape what you ultimately earn over your digital marketing career.
1. Experience and Expertise Gained
It almost goes without saying that experience level influences salary. But it’s not just about the number of years logged in digital marketing.
True expertise and specialization in one or more high-demand skills (like conversion rate optimization or technical SEO) also boosts earning potential.
Sure, you may put in five years strictly managing social media campaigns. But you’d likely earn much higher compensation mastering how to funnel social audiences into purchasers.
Takeaway: Become an expert channel integrator over time instead of siloed to maximize value.
2. In-Demand Digital Marketing Skill Sets
Talking further about skills – the specific digital competencies you cultivate also determine salary ceilings.
Certain expertise like SEO, email marketing, and conversion optimization tend to pay higher dividends according to Payscale and other salary surveys.
Why?
Because skills that directly impact a business’ bottom line get rewarded. Stuff like driving targeted traffic, generating leads, and increasing conversions hold tangible value.
So focus on building compensable digital skills beyond just executing basic campaigns.
3. Personal Brand and Reputation
Your professional brand and reputation also influence earning potential in digital marketing.
Though less discussed than hard skills, marketers who establish themselves as thought leaders and build strong personal brands command higher salaries and contracts.
How come?
A few reasons:
- They craft versatile skill sets that apply across industries – not just niche
- They create original research and content that attracts opportunities
- They build authority that brands pay more to associate with
- They network with other respected industry figures
- They have recognizable personal brands that precedes them
In other words, boosting your authority and visibility separates you from the professional pack.
Here’s more on factors that influence digital marketing salaries:
4. Geographic Location
Where you live and work plays a huge role in compensation (especially for freelancers).
Why? Salaries vary significantly based on the local job market and cost of living.
For example, the same digital marketing manager with 7 years experience earns:
- San Francisco: $112,000
- Denver: $85,000
- Boise: $68,000
Generally, competitive big cities will pay more. Rural areas or countries with lower costs of living will pay less.
When it comes to freelancing, location also matters for what clients can afford:
- NYC based freelancer: $150 per hour
- Small town freelancer: $60 per hour
Consider opportunities to relocate or work remotely for increased earning potential.
5. Current Job Role and Responsibilities
Your current job title and responsibilities also dictate your salary ceiling.
For example, an SEO specialist may max out around $80k while an SEO manager overseeing teams and strategy can progress well into six figures.
As shown earlier, upper level digital marketing managers, directors, VPs, and CMOs earn the highest base salaries based on their broader responsibilities and leadership scope.
But individual contributor roles still see nice pay bumps over time as well through raises and job changes.
In other words, focus on the impact you can make in your current position – then quantify that during salary negotiations to motivate higher pay.
Digital Marketing Salaries: The Bottom Line
Let’s tie all this digital marketing salary research together.
Key Takeaways:
- $70k+ salaries are realistic for experienced digital marketing managers, directors, and VPs
- Specialists and freelancers can also earn $100k+ targeting in-demand skills
- Getting started, expect $30k-$45k salaries for entry level roles
- Location, expertise, responsibilities, and negotiation impact pay
- Become a versatile, results-driven digital marketer to maximize earning potential
Hopefully this gives you a better sense of digital marketing salary ranges and what it takes to land top pay.
With internet usage growing globally every year, skilled digital marketers will only become more crucial and compensated in line with their business impact.
The world runs digitally now – and digital marketing professionals make it turn. There’s no ceiling to what you can potentially earn mastering these essential abilities.
