Picture this: A world where words wield power, crafting narratives that propel brands into hearts and homes.

That’s the realm of content marketing—a fusion of art and strategy where storytelling meets the bottom line. Yet, if you’re steering this ship, what’s the true worth of your voyage?

The pulse of content marketing salary beats loudly in the minds of business owners and strategists alike.

It’s a figure that encapsulates skill, experience, and marketplace demand. In this digital era, where digital marketing remuneration and SEO specialist salary charts reflect ever-changing industry currents, understanding compensation elements becomes essential.

I’ll guide you through the financial fog. You’ll uncover how factors like job roles, career growth, and geographic location influence your payday.

From the basic content marketing pay scale to competitive salary in content marketing nuances, expect a treasure trove of insights.

By article’s end, anticipate a clearer map of not just numbers, but the narrative behind them—equipping you for better budgeting decisions and strategic planning.

Dive into salary surveys, like LinkedIn Salary Insights, and decode whispers of digital marketing career earnings. We’re not just talking figures; we’re strategizing futures.

What is Content Marketing?

Content marketing is a type of marketing that involves the creation and sharing of online material (such as videos, blogs, and social media posts) that does not explicitly promote a brand but is intended to stimulate interest in its products or services.

The main purpose of content marketing, which often involves a variety of tools and techniques, is to attract and bring in new customers. They create and focus their development efforts on the top of the funnel (TOFU), a major method of bringing new customers to a brand.

This focus on the “customer journey” is one of the guiding aspects of a content marketer’s work and their content creation earnings potential.

Content marketing, in such a way, is vital to boost your company’s presence online on search engine results, ensuring the entry-level content marketing pay is justified.

A content strategist’s goal, with a keen eye on digital marketing wage trends, is to bring in new customers or “leads” by optimizing everything with this search engine presence always in mind. The main method of doing this is by collecting email addresses.

Content marketers use a variety of tools in the form of content, from blog posts to infographics, to achieve this. The type of content that is often used includes:

  • Blog posts
  • Whitepapers
  • eBooks
  • Long-form writing
  • Infographics
  • Micrographics
  • Videos
  • Social media content
  • Much more

The difference between content marketing and the more traditional forms of marketing, considering compensation trends in content marketing, is that the focus is on reaching the maximum number of relevant customers possible.

This is based on their previous search patterns and what they are interested in already.

What Do Content Marketers Do?

I kid you not. This is what a content marketer does, according to Unsplash.

At the heart of work done by content marketers, often justified by the content marketing salary or content marketing compensation, are the needs and goals of the company they represent.

The most vital skill an effective content marketer will bring to the job is the ability to develop and optimize a complete content strategy. This strategy will be built with the company’s needs at the forefront of the design philosophy.

They will also pivot this strategy towards the target audience. The goal ultimately is to bring in new customers, ensuring salary expectations for content roles are met, and ensure repeat business.

Content marketers use a vast array of specialized tools to achieve these goals. Mostly, they use online product advertising aided by researching Google statistics, social media interaction, and SEO (search engine optimization), to ensure the best listing results for the company or product.

The digital marketing wage, which is closely related to the content marketing salary, often depends on how effectively these tools are used.

Many of these tools are based on the ability to communicate effectively with an audience.

For this reason, writers and editors tend to be a good fit for the role of content marketer, especially considering the entry-level content marketing pay scale.

The skill of writing clearly, with concise and compelling copy, is a vital tool for effective content marketing. Altering tone and style quickly to fit with a specific target audience is also key.

What Do Content Marketing Managers Do?

As part of a content marketing team, the marketing managers oversee content strategies and employ content-delivery plans.

This happens across different forms of media including print, audio, video, and others. They can work on various platforms including social media, blogs, and many others.

Their main focus is on developing the most effective means of driving customer demands for relevant products and brands and making sure that the given deadlines are met, always keeping in mind the industry-standard content marketing salary.

Content marketing managers mainly oversee the other members of a marketing team. This includes writers, consultants, and others.

They ensure that the quality of work is maintained throughout the process, and conduct relevant reviews to make sure.

An important part of being a marketing manager is staying up to date with the latest news and development in the fields in which your team works.

Their compensation, often denoted as content marketing manager compensation, often reflects their pivotal role.

An effective marketing manager must be skilled in multiple areas, such as writing, editing, and communication.

They should also have strong analytical skills and be able to maintain strong and productive relationships with clients and colleagues alike.

This multi-skilled approach is crucial, especially in light of the compensation trends in content marketing.

Content marketing is a sector that is growing exponentially. Around 90% of B2C marketers now use relevant content to grow their companies.

Due to this, people with these skills are being sought out for these propositions, resulting in an increase in the content marketing salary and the growth of content marketing career opportunities.

Those looking to become content marketing managers should expect their responsibilities to include:

  • Writing content for multiple platforms (blogs, websites, social media, etc)
  • Producing media such as videos, podcasts, and more
  • Directing content production and managing teams
  • Creating and maintaining content strategy plans and calendars
  • Work with other departments such as SEO and PR to optimize the effectiveness of the team’s work
  • Tracking KPI and metrics to ensure that goals are being met

What Kind of Content Marketing Salary You Should Expect?

Before finding an accurate answer to this, it’s important to look at a range of resources that can offer a glimpse into what kind of salary you can expect as a content marketing manager.

  • PayScale: According to PayScale, the average salary of a content marketing manager is $67,446. It also notes that there are sometimes extra bonuses. On average, these are $5,030 for a standard bonus and around $2,500 in the sharing of profit.
  • Glassdoor: Glassdoor says that the average wage for a content marketing manager is around $65,539. The average for content marketing as a whole is around $56,779.
  • Salary.com: According to this site, the average wage of a content marketing manager is around $72,938 (as of June 28th, 2020). importantly, it also notes that this can depend on many factors, such as education, certifications, extra skills, and more. When taken into account this means that the wage can vary from between $66,028 and $79,177.
  • SimplyHired: According to SimplyHired, the average wage is around $66,060
  • Indeed: Indeed.com states that the average salary for a content marketer is around $67,662. This is based on 620 sample salaries submitted by users.

Extra Costs

Due to content marketing being such an open, versatile, and ever-changing market place, the additional costs relating to the work can vary hugely.

While many fantastic free tools can and should be used by content marketers, such as Google Analytics, other vital tools can cost many thousands of dollars per year.

Here are some examples of the most common tools within content marketing, and some of the costs that may be incurred in the process of carrying them out.

Project Management

Asana or Trello are both free to use depending on the team size. For larger teams, other software options will perform better, however the cost increases. These can cost upwards of $500 – $7,500 per year.

Design Software

Canva or Adobe Creative Cloud, and Elementor are all free for their basic services, but quickly increase in price the more you use them. This can vary between $10 – $70 per month, or for businesses they can vary between $3,000 – $20,000 per year.

Social Media Management

Buffer or Hootsuite both range from being free to costing $10 per month. For businesses, this increases to $50 – $300 per month.

Analytics Software

Google Analytics and self-serve tools are free to use, but can also vary between $400 – $10,000 per month depending on the services you opt to use. For some companies, Google Analytics in its 360 version can cost upwards of $1 million per year. This is a testament to how useful their features can be.

Content marketing software

SEMrush has a 7-day free trial, but it can get up to $399.95 per month. And if you’d use Ahrefs, their priciest tier can go to $999 per month.

And these are just basic content marketing tools. There are lots of others that a content marketer is using and can add up some serious costs.

Note that for all of these jobs and their corresponding tools, there are often some great free services that can be used, yet at a professional level you still have to pay.

What Kind of Content Marketing Salary to Pay

dollar dollar bills y’all

As we have seen, there is no simple answer when setting a content marketing salary. Depending on a variety of factors, such as business size, budget, goals, geographical location, and resources, a salary, or content marketing compensation, can range from anywhere between $5,000 to $50,000.

Content marketing is an important job. Without a strategy, often reflected in a content strategist’s salary, content marketing may as well be a game of pin the tail of the donkey.

This is the importance of a content marketing team that handles strategy, keeping in mind the industry-average salary for content roles.

It’s important to remember two things when deciding on what to pay for your content marketer or when considering the entry-level content marketing pay scale.

First, it is not an area you should neglect. Content marketing will only continue to grow in importance as business shifts to a more digital existence, thus justifying the digital marketing wage associated with it.

Second, carefully consider what your business needs from a content marketer. Not all businesses are the same, and each requires a particular, tailored service from a marketing team.

Factor in the compensation trends in content marketing when making decisions.

Hopefully, this article will help you on your road to hiring a great content marketing team and understanding the significance of content marketing career opportunities.

FAQ On Content Marketing Salary

What’s the average starting salary for someone in content marketing?

The starting line? Think of it as a patchwork quilt – varies by region and experience. A fresh-faced content strategist might pocket around $40,000 annually. 

Digital marketing remuneration is like a seesaw influenced by skillset and demand.

How does content marketing salary grow with experience?

Experience? Now we’re talking seasoning. The more years you rack up, the tastier the pot gets.

Mid-level folks can reel in anywhere from $60,000 to $90,000. Step into a Content Marketing Manager‘s shoes, could be looking at six-figures.

Do content marketing salaries differ by industry?

You bet. Selling tech? Numbers tend to skyrocket. Finance? Pretty robust too. Health, education—each has its flavor. Knowing your industry is key when navigating the salary sea.

What role does location play in content marketing salary?

Location’s the spice. Park yourself in a bustling city, say New York City, and presto, salaries swell. Why? Cost of living and competition jacks up the juice.

Remote roles? They’re changing the game, blending borders, shaking up the salary scale.

Can education impact a content marketer’s salary?

Absolutely. Think of education as a lever—it can jack up your position on the pay scale. Specialized professional certifications? They’re golden tickets, bump up your market value.

Are content marketing consultants paid differently than full-time employees?

Consultants, think mercenaries. They drop in, business owners swoon, they set their price. Often, they charge by project or by hour—rates swaying wildly based on clout and craft.

How does a specialized role like an SEO specialist relate to content marketing salary?

SEO specialist salary sits pretty on the family tree, cozied up close to content marketing.

They’re the magicians of organic traffic. SEO know-how adds heft to paychecks, as you become more indispensable to the team’s goals.

What additional benefits should I expect beyond salary in a content marketing role?

Here’s the cherry on top—benefits. Stuff like bonus potential, health insurance, retirement matchings.

Soft sweets like flexible hours, telecommuting, educational perks. Each’s a puzzle piece in your total comp picture.

How does company size affect content marketing salaries?

Under the roof of giants, paychecks tend to bulk up.Contrast that with startups; they might play a leaner hand salary-wise but sweeten the pot with equity—a gamble with potential glittering gains.

Are content marketing salaries increasing with the rise of digital media?

Digital media’s on fire, and salaries? They’re feeling the heat—in a good way. Demand’s surging, talent’s at a premium.

If you’ve got the digital prowess, you can ride that wave right to the bank.

Conclusion

Navigating the terrain of content marketing salary, one thing’s clear – it’s as diverse as the content created. Mastery over the mix of digital marketing remuneration and SEO specialist salary issues, these speak to value. They underscore expertise.

Pondering pay? Whether part of an SME or nestled in a corporate goliath, know this: your skills – they’re an investment. They command a price, shaped by factors as varied as experience and geography. A content strategist or Content Marketing Manager, the title isn’t just a name—it’s a marker of your market worth.

Let’s talk takeaways:

  • Digital marketing career earnings? On the up.
  • Inbound marketing salary spectrum? Wide.
  • Pay bumps? Tied to skill level, location, industry.

Dollars and cents are just part of the picture. Salary surveys, like Glassdoor, they’re starting points. The real story? It’s about the race for talent, a bid to secure the best navigators of this digital sea we’re all sailing.

Are you interested in hiring a content marketer but don’t want to spend $5,000+ each month? We can help for a more reasonable monthly fee.

Do we cut corners or offer a crappy service? Nope.

We have some really neat case studies you can check out for you to see the type of results that we can deliver.

Interested in working with us? Send us a message and we’ll start from there.

Author

I'm the manager behind the Upcut Studio team. I've been involved in content marketing for quite a few years helping startups grow.