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Writer's pictureLisa V.

What is your worth? Marketing salaries globally

Updated: Sep 7, 2023

Marketing plays an essential role in a business and is a big part of its growth. This means, there should be a lot of money to be made in marketing right? Let's discuss this topic.

What does someone in marketing make and how is that compared globally?


Thinking about money illustration


Let me start by explaining why I am writing about this topic:


I obtained my university degree in the US, with work experience mainly in marketing and business development, in industries such as tech, fin-tech, recruiting, automotive, events, venture capital, beauty (cosmetics/ aesthetics) etc..

The average salary of a marketing manager in the US is $110k, which is pretty decent. Obviously, money wasn't the main incentive for starting this journey. I was always very creative, data and psychology driven and marketing fit that hat.

Until now, I have worked in 3 different countries and was able to compare salaries in each of these markets (considering the cost of living), so I did some digging and put together what I have found:

​Country

Avrg. Salary gross ($)

Avrg. Cost of Living ($)

How much of your salary goes towards your CoL

USA

110k

​41k

​37%

UK

​49k

​34k

69%

Germany

​44k

​25k

​57%

Switzerland

​99k

​48k

48%

UAE

​120k

​30k

25%

Hong Kong/ Singapore

​48k -57k

​40k

70%

(These numbers are from 2022 and vary from city to city/ state to state as well. See the references from which I calculated the data. These numbers are based on a single person)


The least favourable countries for a marketer to live in are:

  1. Hong Kong/ Singapore

  2. UK (jokes on me)

  3. Germany

The most favourable countries for a marketer to live in are:

  1. UAE

  2. USA

  3. Switzerland

Indubitably, this can all vary depending on experience, seniority level and company.

And if you are absolutely in love with a city, cannot or do not want to move, then there is always the option to either continue living with your parents, find a flatmate, go out less, or find a side hustle (aka passive income stream, which I recommend regardless of income)


I still find it quite interesting how different marketers are valued based on where they live, because I don't believe that a lot of companies really account for the cost of living.


Marketing is one of the most important areas of a company. When competing with another brand, you don't even need to have the best product, you just need top marketing, sales and customer service. (In that exact order)

Apple vs its competitors is an excellent example, as we can see in the chart below:





Of course, we need to take into account the infrastructure, UX/ UI and customer experience that Apple products convoy, but without its marketing, it wouldn't be the 'culture' it is today.


What are your thoughts on this topic?

Do you work in marketing and where?

Do you feel that you are paid sufficiently?


-Liva






 








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