Marketing Career Salaries

What’s the outlook (and current reality) for marketing jobs involving content these days?  

Our 2025 Career Outlook for Content and Marketing research found a mix of good and less-than-great signals. On one hand, most marketers are more or less satisfied with their jobs. And the generative AI boogeyman? Not stealing jobs yet.

On the other hand, marketers report feeling somewhat down about their job prospects and the difficulty of job searches. And return-to-office mandates? They’re a no-go for most.

The 700 marketers who participated in the study shared all kinds of interesting information about career goals, hiring trends, and reskilling plans. (Did you know that 22% of full-time marketers freelance on the side?)

They also shared details about their salaries and what factors may influence compensation.

I’m sharing six key findings here to help you advance your career (and not get too bogged down with AI anxiety).

Download the 2025 report (registration required) to review the figures, nuanced salary details (years of experience, position, gender, location, etc.), and other findings.

1. Outlook for marketing jobs

One in three marketers tells us their company laid off marketing employees in the last 12 months — a higher figure than we expected.

And many feel somewhat pessimistic about the job market: 68% believe finding a job in marketing today is more challenging than five years ago. A quarter say it’s about the same, and only 7% say job hunting is less difficult.

Most (75%) believe the challenges are related to macroeconomic factors like financial pressures. And 69% cite heightened competition for marketing jobs as a challenge. Far fewer (33%) believe AI is a factor.

Meanwhile, an undercurrent of frustration exists among marketers about “phantom job” postings. More than a few shared suspicions and anecdotes:

• “Many job listings are not actually real or open. Many I encounter are scams.”
• “Some companies are not really hiring. They’re posting jobs to see what’s out there and then ghosting people.”
• “I wonder whether some job listings I see are just a way to grab followers on social media, or even worse, collect data about job seekers.”

On the brighter side, marketers who were laid off in the last two years report it took just three months on average to find a new role. That’s undoubtedly slower than during the hot talent market a few years ago but not as discouraging as informal chatter might lead you to believe.

2. AI isn’t taking marketing jobs … yet

Here’s more good news. The claim that AI can replace marketing departments? Yeah, that’s not happening yet. Only 3% of marketers report that their teams have replaced employees with AI tools.

But that’s only part of the story.

In open-ended responses about how AI impacts marketing careers, many tell us their employers won’t hire to backfill positions anytime soon. That may mean the promise of AI-driven efficiencies is quietly shrinking teams after all.

Even so, many marketers (51%) view generative AI tools as a net positive for their marketing careers — that’s four times more than those who call them a net negative. This bodes well for the innovative AI-based marketing tools hitting the market.

3. Most marketers do use generative AI (if somewhat unenthusiastically)

Don’t be fooled by that “net positive” number. Many who responded seem conflicted about generative AI’s abilities.

The study shows that marketers tend to use generative AI primarily as a “co-pilot” — a tool to make them more efficient and creative. And 68% say these tools save them time.

The majority say they use generative AI to brainstorm topics (62%) and summarize content (53%). Fewer are using generative AI to create content: Less than half (44%) say they use AI to “write drafts.”

That’s likely because most (69%) believe that the writing output from AI tools is mediocre — “soulless,” as one marketer tells us. Another says, “My direct report uses AI for outlining and brainstorming at times, but I usually find AI-generated content to be unsophisticated.”

But when we looked at which AI uses marketers consider “high value,” the list turned out a little different. The top 10 uses marketers rated “high value” are:

1. Proofread (50%)
2. Summarize content (48%)
3. Outline assignments (42%)
4. Brainstorm new topics (40%)
5. Write article drafts (38%)
6. Analyze data performance (38%)
7. Write email copy (34%)
8. Repurpose content (32%)
9. Create buyer personas (31%)
10. Optimize content (31%)

4. Most marketers report job satisfaction — but still might move on

Satisfaction levels for marketers are remarkably high. Most marketers (76%) report being somewhat or very satisfied in their roles.

That percentage varies slightly by position (percentages do not total 100 due to rounding):

• At the director and above level, 79% say they’re somewhat or very satisfied, 10% are neutral, and 12% are somewhat or very dissatisfied.
• Among managers, 79% are somewhat or very satisfied, only 7% feel neutral, and 15% are somewhat or very dissatisfied.
• Among individual contributors, 73% are somewhat or very satisfied, 11% are neutral, and 16% are somewhat or very dissatisfied.

But don’t mistake satisfaction for complacency. Even satisfied marketing professionals eye how to grow and advance in their careers. More than one-third of marketers (35%) tell us they’re pursuing or highly interested in finding another job. That’s up 4 points from last year and 7 points from two years ago.

5. Remote work is not negotiable

Marketers as a group appreciate remote work. And most tell us they don’t want to go back to the office full time.

A sizeable chunk (84%) of marketers say they work remotely or in a hybrid setup (a mix of remote and in-office). Of that group, 68% say they would leave their job if their employer required them to work in the office full time.

Employers may be getting the message. Less than a quarter (24%) of marketers say their employers are less willing to allow remote work than they were a year ago. More than half (58%) say their willingness remained the same, and 18% report their employers are more willing to allow it.

6. When it comes to salary, location matters

So many factors go into how much marketers earn that a single average amount obscures more than it reveals.

For example, marketers who work in large urban centers (e.g., New York City, Boston, and San Francisco) make quite a bit more money than their peers in smaller markets.

People who work in major metro areas earn about 30% more than those who don’t. And that bump is even higher for director-level-or-above employees in major markets: They make 43% more than their peers in smaller locations.

The report goes into so much more information about:

• Salaries (by seniority, gender, and generation)
• Advancing your career
• Upskilling and training (desired and offered)
• Retaining top talent  

I hope you’ll download the research and then join the LinkedIn conversation. Look for my post or watch the Live With CMI episode about the findings and comment there.

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Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute