Marketing Director Salaries By Region & Experience

Keeping up with today’s expectations for marketing director salaries is crucial to expanding your marketing organization. To recruit and retain top talent, use this resource to compare salaries to benchmark your compensation.

Marketing Director Salaries By Region

Calibrating your marketing director salaries to your region is getting more difficult in today’s market. The rise of remote work and hybrid working arrangements means candidates have more choices than ever before. The following statistics give you a picture of the regional variations by region.

• New York: $209,000 median salary. The salary range for New York marketing directors ranges from $165,000 to $261,000.
• California: $194,000 median salary. The salary range for California marketing directors range from $153,000 to $243,000.
• Washington State: $186,000 median salary. The salary range for marketing director salaries ranged from $147,000 to $232,000.
• Ohio: $170,000 median salary. The salary range for the position goes from $167,000 to more than $260,000.
• Florida: $165,000 median salary. The salary range for Florida marketing directors ranges from $130,000 to $206,000.

To properly interpret the above salary data, there are a few points to keep in mind. Salary expectations are likely to be at the high end in high cost of living cities like New York, San Francisco and Boston, MA. Likewise, lower cost areas may be at the lower end of the ranges.

While geography helps you to develop a salary range, experience and skills matter even more. That’s why we will look at experience factors on marketing director salaries next.

Marketing Director Salaries By Experience

Marketing director experience influences salary expectations in a few ways. For simplicity, consider the quantity and quality of work experience.

Years of Work Experience 

Considering years of experience in marketing and as a marketing director is a great starting point. Unlike other aspects of candidates, it is relatively easy to determine experience levels and compare them. If a company has an extensive marketing department and has many different campaigns, a more experienced marketing director is likely to be the best fit, holding everything else equal.

To assess a candidate’s years of experience, keep the following distinctions in mind:

• What are their total years of experience in their career?
• How many years of marketing experience do they have?
• How many years of marketing leadership experience do they have?
• Do they have significant non-marketing experience? For example, some marketing professionals also have sales experience, which may make them even more effective.

These questions help you to understand the nature of the candidate’s experience. Generally speaking, a marketing director with five years or more of experience in leadership levels will expect a median salary at the least. In comparison, a more junior marketing director may be willing to accept a below-median salary if the company has significant growth potential.

Quality of Work Experience

How long a marketing director has been in the workforce isn’t enough. It’s also essential to understand the quality of their work experience. A marketing director who has delivered impressive results will likely expect an above-average salary. Consider these questions.

• What industries does the candidate know and understand? A marketing director that already understands your industry is more likely to achieve results quickly.
• Has the candidate previously worked in a marketing agency? Agency experience is helpful in giving a person broad experience in many different areas.
• Does the candidate have a track record of successfully working with agencies and consultants?
• Does the candidate have specific successful marketing campaigns they have overseen?
• What marketing channels (e.g., search, events, social, etc.) does the marketing director have experience with?
• What is the candidate’s management style? Does the candidate’s approach fit with your company’s values?
• What size of company has the candidate been successful in? Achieving success in a Fortune 500 environment is different from achieving wins at a smaller company.

As you consider these questions, you are unlikely to find a candidate who meets every item on your wishlist. However, a candidate who meets at least 50% of your experience criteria should be considered promising (Not sure about this stat?). At the same time, marketing directors with significant accomplishments know their value and expect a highly competitive compensation package to change positions.

Non-Salary Factors To Attract A Marketing Director

A competitive marketing director’s salary is the starting point in the recruiting process. However, some non-salary options can help your company to stand out. 

Bonus and incentive plans

A robust bonus or incentive program is an excellent way to appeal to high-performance marketing directors. The bonus program may depend on a combination of overall company performance and the marketing team hitting their goals. 

Nature of the opportunity

Not all marketing director positions are created alike. A marketing director role with the responsibility to build a marketing team from the ground up or launch a new product may be more appealing to an ambitious marketing leader. The opportunity to significantly impact the company’s growth can make a position more attractive.

Career Advancement

When marketing director considers joining a company, they will want to know about their career options. For example, if the marketing director has two positions above them (e.g., Vice President Marketing and Chief Marketing Officer), there is some career growth scope. 

On the other hand, a smaller company may not have an obvious career path in the marketing department. In that case, be prepared to discuss other career growth opportunities.

Flexible working

A flexible working schedule, including openness to remote working, has become critical to compete. A fully remote position may be helpful because it allows you to recruit staff further away from your office.

Get Support To Find Your Next Marketing Director

APEX CMO Search helps companies recruit marketing directors, chief marketing officers, and other leaders. Want to learn how APEX works? This case study reveals how APEX helped a telecommunications company to recruit a CMO.