Marketing & communications specialists' salaries rise as they gain more experience in the workforce.
As a marketing & communications specialist, you are responsible for developing brochures, newsletters, press releases, case studies and other sales collateral to educate and attract new customers. Marketing & communications specialists also work with various departments to help launch products and execute marketing campaigns that drive sales revenue. As of December 2010, PayScale reported that marketing communications specialists in the U.S. made an average salary ranging between $39,138 and $54,372 per year. Salary.com placed the median expected salary for marketing communications specialists at $58,288 per year.
Industry
Salaries for marketing & communications specialists vary slightly across different sectors. For example, specialists working in manufacturing and distribution earned average salaries that ranged from $39,542 to $53,476 per year according to PayScale. Marketing & communications specialists working in health care and media organizations had similar pay ranges. Health care professionals earned on average $39,635 to $51,698 and media professionals earned on average $38,710 to $51,622. Marketing & communications specialists working at insurance companies had the highest average salary range at $43,250 to $59,031. Specialists employed by colleges and universities fell within the lowest pay range scale, making an average salary range of $35,615 to $44,384.
Location
PayScale shows that annual wages for marketing & communications specialists differ across major metropolitan cities. Professionals in Chicago, who made average salaries ranging from $39,216 to $51,833, were comparable to Milwaukee professionals, who made average salaries ranging between $38,900 and $50,000 per year. However, the average salaries for marketing & communications specialists in Washington D.C. fell between $48,600 and $76,051. Average salaries also differed in Minneapolis, where marketing & communications specialists reported average salaries ranging from $42,344 to $56,087 per year.
Time Frame
The amount of work experience a marketing & communications specialist accumulates throughout her career has a significant impact on her salary potential. Based on PayScale's report, marketing & communications specialists with only one to four years of experience made average salaries ranging between $35,432 and $48,563 annually. Marketing & communications specialists who had been working for five to nine years averaged $41,704 to $56,329 per year. Professionals who held 10 years of experience or more averaged as high as $70,432 per year.
Gender
Whether marketing & communications specialists are male or female has little impact on salary potential according to PayScale. For instance, female marketing & communications specialists earned average salaries ranging from $39,252 to $54,208. Male marketing & communications specialists within the 25th percentile of earners averaged lower at $38,037 per year. However, male earners within the 75th percentile averaged slightly higher than females at $54,492 per year.
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