In the post-pandemic world, financial marketers can look forward to a well-compensated, but competitive, marketplace. The fight for good talent across all industries, combined with the ongoing “Great Resignation,” means that talented and qualified people of all stripes will be in demand. With a historically low unemployment rate of 3.8% in February, as reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, it is indeed a job-seeker’s market. More than half of marketing and creative managers said they were planning to add to their teams this year, according to Robert Half’s 2022 Salary Guide.
That stands in stark contrast to the spring of 2020, when economic doom and gloom prevailed. The unemployment rate stood at near 15% in April 2020. At that time, a survey of financial marketers by The Gramercy Institute predicted that financial marketing teams would downsize by more than 8% over the course of the next three months and that it would take at least a year for the industry to get back to normal in terms of staffing levels.
Overall Financial Marketing Pay Trends
Now that the job market is more robust for financial marketers, what might reasonable salaries look like for those in the industry? Much of that depends on experience, title and location, naturally, but there are still some general trends that can be examined.
ZipRecruiter lists an average nationwide salary for the generic title of “finance marketing” at a bit north of $60,000, with around 12% in that category making upwards of $100,000 annually. The website Comparably also lists the average salary for a financial marketer at $60,000, while Payscale lists the average salary for a generic financial marketing role at $57,000.
Of course, many of these may be entry-level or limited-experience roles. In terms of general marketing salaries, Robert Half puts the median salary for a CMO at $170,000; a VP of Marketing at $151,000; UX Director at $135,250; and Digital Marketing Manager at $86,000 (see table).
U.S. Marketing Salaries 2022 (all industries)
Additional Marketing Compensation Data
Scanning some of the job posting platforms reveals both differences and similarities from the Robert Half data. Indeed.com, for example, lists slightly lower salaries for the same titles: While the site has the average salary for a VP of Marketing at a comparable $151,382, it lists an average CMO salary at $131,000; Director of Marketing at $81,355 and UX Designer at $92,303. However, it should be noted these are general averages for the United States as a whole. When filtered for just CMO jobs in New York, for example, Indeed returns an average salary of $210,962. So where you live matters.
Read More: How Banks and Credit Unions Are Rethinking Marketing for 2022
LinkedIn lists the average U.S. salary for a chief marketing officer at $180,000, more in line with the Robert Half data. Other average salaries listed on LinkedIn are VP, Marketing at $160,000; Director of Product Marketing also at $160,000; UX Director at $165,000; Marketing Manager at $70,000; Content Marketing Manager at $85,000; Marketing Specialist at $53,000 and Digital Marketing Specialist at $52,000
Finally, Marketing Directors in financial services specifically can expect to make an average of $151,000, with a range between $129,000 and $176,000, according to Salary.com.
Perks and Work Arrangements Are Changing
In addition to generally higher financial marketing salaries, ancillary benefits are also likely to be more robust since attracting and retaining talent is a key struggle for banks and credit unions in 2022. Many marketing and creative managers have struggled to retain employees, while at the same time more than one-third of marketing and creative professionals said they plan to look for a new job, per Robert Half. That’s a big reason why employers, including many financial institutions, are also offering remote or hybrid work arrangements to keep top performers in place, the Robert Half survey notes.
Key Takeaway:
Banks are increasingly offering perks such a flexible work options and more PTO in order to attract and retain marketing talent.
“46% of marketing and creative employees said they feel more burned out than they did a year ago,” the survey continues. “Employers are responding with new perks that can help.” Two examples:
- 47% of U.S. employers are offering their workers more paid time off.
- 32% of employers are giving workers the option to work remotely.
Among the most in-demand marketing jobs are creatives skilled at developing intuitive and engaging UX and UI design, professionals with expertise in digital marketing and analytics, and content strategists, the Robert Half research finds.
Read More: Engaging Employees to Accelerate Digital Banking Transformation
The Evolving Role and Pay of the Bank CMO
Despite that fact that two of the top four U.S. banks — Bank of America and Wells Fargo — retired the CMO title, Chief Marketing Officers at banks in general are still highly sought after, and they appear to fetch a higher salary than the average CMO. Whereas Robert Half lists the median CMO salary at $170,000, and Glassdoor gives a figure of $161,000, Comparably lists the CMO salaries at top American banks at far larger than that.
The website puts the CMO salary at U.S. Bank at $283,000, Santander at $292,000, Citi at $278,000, and $273,000 at TD Bank, to list just a few examples.
Bottom Line:
More than coming up with memorable creative spots, a bank CMO’s job is to show how marketing efforts drive business growth and increase revenues.
It’s no surprise then that CMO positions at financial institutions are sought after. Often, they can lead to even bigger things as well. In an article on LinkedIn, Kristin Lemkau CEO of wealth management at JPMorgan Chase discusses how her previous role as Chase CMO was a launching pad to her current CEO role.
“A lot of it comes down to how we run marketing here,” says Lemkau. ‘In marketing, as I always tell people, your job is to drive growth for the business. It’s not to win awards. It’s not to speak at conferences. It’s not to go to Cannes. It is to drive growth for the business.”
Echoing that sentiment, marketing is much more about producing tangible results now than simply creating awareness or coming up with great creative, says KeyBank’s CMO Justin Morcelle, in an interview with Insider Intelligence.
“Knowing branding and the creative side is table stakes,” Morcelle states. “Your understanding of digital technology, numbers and analytics, and your client experience orientation — those are now the defining characteristics of great marketers. “
He adds: “People want to understand how you’re driving returns. Every dollar needs to be working hard toward advancing the long-term brand and short-term conversion.”