2025 Marketing and Creative Salaries and Hiring Trends

Marketing and creative professionals with AI experience are crucial today for creating compelling campaigns and designs, decoding customer behavior, and gauging ROI. Using AI tools in daily workflows helps boost efficiency, but hiring challenges are causing workloads to pile up — and increasing starting salaries for professionals with specialized skills.

Marketing and creative employees have generally enjoyed more remote and hybrid work options than those in other fields, but candidates often seek even greater flexibility. Professionals want more off-site days, and many say they’re willing to change jobs to get them.

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Enter your city to localize national average salaries. Starting salaries can vary greatly depending on a professional’s skills and experience, the company’s size and industry, and demand for the role.

Design and Production: Management

Design and Production

Design and Production: Digital

Design and Production: UX

Content Development and Management

Advertising and Marketing: Agency

Advertising and Marketing: Corporate

Advertising and Marketing: Agency or Corporate

Advertising and Marketing: Digital

Public Relations

Position Title

25th Percentile

50th Percentile

75th Percentile

Creative Director

101750

131500

163500

Creative Services Manager

76500

95000

113250

Studio Manager

59500

71250

87250

Production Manager

55250

67750

77750

25th Percentile

The candidate is new to the role and building the needed skills, experience and autonomy.

50th Percentile

The candidate has the experience to perform core responsibilities without direct supervision and is comfortable with the role’s processes and subject matter.

75th Percentile

The candidate delivers value beyond the stated job duties, has advanced qualifications and experience, and is ready for the next career level.

Salary and Hiring Trends in Marketing and Creative

Marketing and creative agencies are hiring account managers, project managers and digital marketers. In-house teams seek graphic designers, web designers and SEO specialists most often. 69% of all marketing and creative managers say advancements in AI and automation are reshaping needed skill sets.

of marketing and creative managers say hiring fast enough to land top talent is one of their biggest recruiting challenges.

How much should I pay or earn?

Digital marketing Digital marketing

Traditional marketing Traditional marketing

Content strategy, development and management Content strategy, development and management

Digital design and development Digital design and development

Highly sought candidates expect a robust compensation package, including comprehensive benefits and perks. Expanding flexible work options can be key to successful compensation negotiations. For managers, the ideal is 4 days on-site for staff. But workers in these fields prefer an average of 3 days.

of marketing and creative job seekers are interested in a hybrid work arrangement.

Creative development
and art direction UX and UI design Content strategy Graphic design Creative development
and art direction UX and UI design Content strategy Graphic design

Upskilling
employees Paying for
professional
certifications Reskilling
employees
for new roles Implementing
mentoring
programs Engaging
skilled contract
talent Using
managed
services Upskilling
employees Paying for
professional
certifications Reskilling
employees
for new roles Implementing
mentoring
programs Engaging
skilled contract
talent Using
managed
services

The hottest marketing and creative jobs, skills and industries

Marketing and creative jobs

Copywriter

Digital marketing manager

Digital project manager

Skills

Content development

Digital marketing

Graphic design

SEO/SEM

Social media marketing

Web design

Industries

Financial services

Government

Healthcare

Professional services

Retail/e-commerce

Technology

Data analysis
and reporting Customer
service Email
marketing Predicting
sales/
performance Content
creation Social media Data analysis
and reporting Customer
service Email
marketing Predicting
sales/
performance Content
creation Social media

Emerging AI marketing and creative roles

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The salary benchmarks listed in the Salary Guide From Robert Half are the result of a rigorous, multistep process to ensure our projections accurately reflect the marketplace. They are based on actual compensation for professionals Robert Half has matched with employers across the country and third-party job posting data from Textkernel that we use to independently validate the salary ranges. Learn more about our methodology.

The salaries listed in the salary tables represent starting compensation only, meaning pay for someone new to a company in the position listed. Company size, industry and the availability of remote work options can influence salaries. Our estimates do not include bonuses, benefits or perks. We report salaries in percentiles and ranges, recognizing that professionals join companies at varied experience levels.

Non-salary data referenced in this Salary Guide is based on online surveys developed by Robert Half and conducted by independent research firms. Respondents include hiring managers and workers from small (1-99 employees), midsize (100-999 employees) and large (1,000-plus employees) private, publicly listed and public sector organizations across the United States.