Latest / The Marketing Career Podcast with Fexingo: Marketing Jobs, Skills, and Career Growth / How Marketing Salaries Are Changing in 2026
Transcript
- Lucas: If these marketing conversations have sparked something you've actually used in your own career, this episode might land a little differently. Because we're going to talk about something that gets uncomfortably personal for most marketers: how much you should be getting paid in 2026. Luna: I think this is actually the question I get asked most by listeners. 'Am I leaving money on the table?' and 'What are other people at my level making?' Lucas: Right. And the answer has shifted pretty dramatically just in the last eighteen months. There's a new salary survey out from Robert Half — their 2026 Marketing and Creative Salary Guide — and I want to walk through the specific numbers that jumped out at me. Luna: I've seen that report. One thing that struck me immediately was the widening gap between generalist roles and traditional specialist roles. It's not subtle anymore. Lucas: Not at all. Let's start with the headline number: across all marketing roles, the median base salary increase in 2026 is 8.2 percent year-over-year. That's the highest single-year jump since 2021. But when you break it down by role type, the story gets much more specific. Luna: So where are the big spikes? Lucas: The biggest winner is what Robert Half calls the 'marketing generalist with data fluency' — basically someone who can run a campaign, interpret the analytics, and also write the brief. That role cluster saw a 12.4 percent median increase. A senior marketing manager with those skills in a mid-sized city like Austin or Denver is now seeing base salary ranges between $115,000 and $145,000. Luna: That's a real premium. Meanwhile, what happened to the pure digital advertising specialist — the person who only runs paid search and doesn't touch brand or content? Lucas: Flat. Zero percent real increase. In some cases, nominal declines because the supply of people who can just set up a Google Ads campaign is now abundant. The value has shifted to people who can connect that channel to the broader brand story and to revenue. Robert Half's language is 'paid search manager, standalone' versus 'paid search manager, full-funnel' — the second commands 18 percent more. Luna: And that's where the AI piece comes in, right? Because the 'full-funnel' marketer is also the one who can use AI to generate creative variants, automate reporting, and still hold a strategy conversation with the CMO. Lucas: Exactly. The survey has a specific breakout for ai related skills. Marketers who can demonstrate proficiency in generative AI for content creation, data analysis, or campaign optimization are seeing an average salary premium of 14 percent above the base for their role. That's not a future trend — that's already priced into the 2026 market. Luna: And before anyone thinks 'I'll just take a weekend course', the survey also shows that the premium only holds if you can show actual application. Just listing 'ChatGPT experience' on a resume isn't moving the needle anymore. Lucas: Right. Recruiters are now asking for portfolio examples of ai augmented work. But let's talk about the geographic dimension, because that's also changed. Remote work has flattened some salary differentials but created new ones. Luna: Yeah, the old 'New York premium' isn't what it used to be. Some companies are now using a national compensation band for fully remote roles. Lucas: That's right. According to the Robert Half data, about 40 percent of companies with fully remote marketing roles now use a single national salary band, not a location-adjusted one. That means a marketing manager in Columbus, Ohio can earn the same base as one in San Francisco for the same job, provided they work remotely. But the flip side is that companies that mandate in-office presence are paying a premium to get people back — typically 10 to 15 percent above the national band. Luna: So the choice is becoming stark: take the remote role at a national rate, or go into an office three days a week and earn more. That's a trade-off a lot of marketers are weighing right now. Lucas: And worth noting: the in-office premium is most pronounced for roles that involve cross-functional collaboration — product marketing, brand strategy, anything that requires regular stakeholder syncs. The premium is smaller for roles like content writing or graphic design, where output is more individual. Luna: Before we go deeper into the data, I want to pause on something. Lucas, you and I have been doing this show without ads since day one. And the reason is simple: we want these numbers and these conversations to be useful to you, not interrupted by a pitch for something you don't need. Lucas: It's important to us that this stays a resource, not a revenue stream. And if that kind of independence matters to you, the way to support it is at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. That's it. No tiers, no perks, just knowing that the show stays exactly what it is. Luna: And it directly funds more episodes like this one, where we dig into real data instead of generic advice. So if you've gotten value from the show, that's where you can make a difference. Lucas: Okay, back to the salary story. Let's talk about the roles that are shrinking in relative compensation. The biggest decline is in traditional media buying — print, broadcast, out-of-home. Those roles saw a median decline of 3.2 percent in real terms. And the reason is structural: as ad dollars shift to digital and programmatic, the skillset required is less about negotiating rates and more about managing algorithms. Luna: That's a tough pill for people who built careers in that space. But the flip side is that the 'programmatic media buyer' role, which is essentially the digital successor, is up 9 percent. So the demand is still there, just in a different form. Lucas: Right. And this is where the concept of 'pay for skills' is really taking hold. Robert Half's survey shows that 62 percent of marketing employers now use some form of skills-based compensation — meaning they peg salary increases to specific skill acquisition, not just tenure or title. So a content marketer who adds email automation proficiency might see a 5 percent bump, while adding predictive analytics might get 8 percent. Luna: That changes how you think about career growth. Instead of waiting for a promotion to get a raise, you can actively target skill-building that has a direct, immediate impact on your paycheck. Lucas: Exactly. And the skills that command the highest premium in 2026, according to the data, are: first, marketing analytics and attribution modeling, second, AI and machine learning application, third, customer data platform management, and fourth, strategic brand planning. Those four skill clusters each command at least a 10 percent premium over base. Luna: I want to zoom in on brand planning for a second, because there's this narrative that brand marketing is 'soft' or unmeasurable. But the salary data says something different. Lucas: It really does. The 'brand strategist' role — someone who can articulate a brand purpose, build a positioning framework, and then translate that into a creative brief — that role's median salary increased 9.8 percent year-over-year. That's faster than the average for all marketing roles. And it's consistent with what we've seen across the industry: companies are reinvesting in brand differentiation because in a crowded digital marketplace, attention is scarce and trust is valuable. Luna: So the marketer who can blend that strategic brand thinking with data fluency is really in the sweet spot. And that's exactly the profile that commands the premium we saw earlier. Lucas: Let me give a concrete example from the survey. A 'marketing director' at a mid-sized company, say 200 to 500 employees, in a city like Atlanta or Chicago, with a combination of brand strategy and digital analytics skills — the range is $150,000 to $185,000. That's up from $135,000 to $165,000 in 2025. That's a real jump. Luna: And what about entry-level? Because I know a lot of our listeners are early career and wondering if the path is still viable. Lucas: Entry-level is interesting. The 'marketing coordinator' role — typically zero to two years experience — shows a median salary of $48,000 to $62,000, up about 6 percent from last year. But the data also shows that entry-level hires with demonstrated project management skills, even from internships, are starting at the higher end of that band. So it's not just the degree anymore; it's the proven ability to execute. Luna: That's consistent with what I'm hearing from hiring managers. They want people who can hit the ground running. And the ones who can are being rewarded. Lucas: Now, a word of caution. The Robert Half data is a guide, not a guarantee. It's based on job postings and employer surveys, and actual offers can vary. But it's the best benchmark we have. And it suggests that if you're not seeing at least a 6 to 8 percent increase in your next move or your next review, you might be underselling yourself — especially if you have skills in analytics, AI, or brand strategy. Luna: So the takeaway for listeners: if you're a marketing generalist who's developed data skills, you're in a strong negotiating position. If you're a specialist in a declining area, it might be time to reinvest in yourself. Lucas: And the final stat I'll leave you with: according to the survey, 71 percent of marketing employers say they're willing to negotiate salary more now than they were two years ago. The leverage has shifted, at least for the right skill sets. So go into your next conversation informed, specific, and ready to make the case based on data, not just desire. Luna: And that's exactly the kind of conversation we want to help you have. Thanks for being here.