Marketing Salary Guide

Discover essential salary trends, sought-after skills, and industry insights to inform your hiring strategies or career choices.

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Marketing Salary Guide

Your guide to salaries and trends

This guide brings you the latest insights in the Marketing field across the UK. Whether you’re a professional aiming to understand your market value or an employer looking to attract top talent, our guide provides a clear, straightforward view of salary expectations and trends. Built on responses from our candidate and client surveys, it’s designed to support informed decisions and strategic career moves.

In our guide, you’ll find:

  • Key insights from our sentiment survey: Discover current trends, job satisfaction levels, and motivators in Marketing, gathered from our latest survey of professionals and hiring managers.
  • Salary tables by region: Gain a clear picture of salary levels across the UK for a range of roles in Marketing, helping you make informed decisions on compensation, no matter where you’re based.

Key findings

  • Salary dissatisfaction: 33% of professionals express dissatisfaction with their current salary.
  • High job mobility: 62% of candidates plan to change roles within the next 12 months.
  • Salary expectations: 50% of candidates anticipate a 5-10% salary increase when changing roles.
  • Work-life balance concerns: 60% rate their current work-life balance as "Poor" or "Very Poor."
  • Primary motivator: 29% cite work-life balance as their top motivator when seeking new opportunities.

Market Overview

The Marketing sector is flourishing, driven by businesses adapting to the dynamic demands of modern consumers and an ever-evolving media landscape. As industries compete for audience attention and loyalty, marketing agencies are focusing on delivering innovative campaigns, creative storytelling, and data-driven strategies to maintain their edge.

With rapid advancements in technology and shifting consumer behaviours, organisations are placing significant emphasis on areas such as campaign strategy, creative execution, and analytics to better understand performance and inform decision-making. This has led to a surge in demand for skilled professionals across key roles, including account management, design, and creative leadership, to deliver seamless client experiences and impactful results.

In this highly competitive environment, professionals are seeking roles that go beyond traditional expectations, prioritising opportunities that offer flexibility, career progression, and the chance to contribute to exciting and forward-thinking projects. Creative and collaborative workspaces, access to cutting-edge tools, and the ability to work on campaigns that challenge conventional ideas are increasingly important to top talent.

To meet these expectations, employers are reshaping the way they attract and retain candidates. Offering hybrid and remote work models, competitive salary packages, and access to high-quality resources is becoming the standard for agencies looking to secure the industry’s brightest minds. As we move towards 2025, success in the Marketing sector hinges on the ability to not only deliver compelling work but also create environments where talent thrives and grows.

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2025 hiring landscape

2025 hiring landscape

The marketing landscape in 2025 is poised for continued growth, fuelled by the increasing importance of digital channels and consumer insights. Agencies are prioritising teams that can deliver data-driven campaigns, craft compelling creative content, and optimise strategies to achieve measurable results for their clients.

Key roles such as account management, creative design, and marketing analytics are in high demand as agencies strive to enhance their clients' online presence, engagement, and ROI. Professionals with expertise in performance marketing, social media strategy, and campaign analytics are particularly sought after in this competitive environment.

To attract and retain top talent, agencies are embracing hybrid work arrangements, flexible policies, and opportunities for career development, ensuring they remain competitive in a talent-driven market.

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Candidate sentiment

 

  1. Prioritising flexibility: 77% of UK professionals prefer roles offering hybrid or remote work options.
  2. Career growth focus: 66% of candidates rate clear progression opportunities as a top factor in their job search.
  3. Work-life balance: 3 in 5 candidates highlight work-life balance as their primary motivator when seeking new roles.

Employer sentiment

 

  1. Skill gaps: 59% of employers report challenges in hiring skilled professionals due to increased competition.
  2. Retention pressures: 50% of employers feel they are losing talent to firms offering higher salaries or better flexibility.
  3. Salary increases: Over half of UK employers expect to raise salaries by 5-10% to remain competitive in the hiring market.

  • 1 in 3

    professionals report dissatisfaction with their current salary.

  • 1 in 2

    candidates expect a salary increase of 5-10% when changing roles.

  • 3 in 5

    rate their current work-life balance as “Poor” or “Very Poor.”

  • 3 in 5

    consider work-life balance as their top motivator for seeking new opportunities.

Soft skills in demand

Soft skills in demand

In Marketing, professionals with strong communication and interpersonal skills are essential, as effective messaging and audience engagement are at the core of successful campaigns.

Flexibility and adaptability are also highly valued, as marketers must respond quickly to shifting trends, platforms, and consumer behaviours. Additionally, emotional intelligence has become a key asset, enabling marketers to better understand customer motivations and create authentic connections.

Building these skills can lead to greater influence in strategy development and open doors to leadership roles in an evolving marketing landscape.

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Top employer challenges

 

  1. Adapting to flexible work models: Balancing employee preferences for hybrid/remote work with organisational demands remains a challenge.
  2. Upskilling needs: 71% of employers identify skill gaps, particularly in digital and technical roles, as a barrier to growth.
  3. Retention struggles: High turnover rates persist, with 62% of professionals considering job changes within the next year.

Top external factors

 

  1. Economic uncertainty: Ongoing inflation and market instability influence hiring decisions and candidate confidence.
  2. Technological changes: Rapid adoption of AI and automation is creating both opportunities and anxieties in the professional services sector.
  3. Regulatory shifts: Changing compliance and reporting standards, particularly in finance and legal sectors, require constant adaptation.
Looking ahead

Looking ahead

Looking to the future, the Marketing sector will continue to evolve with advancements in technology and shifting consumer preferences. The integration of artificial intelligence into Marketing strategies is expected to accelerate, enabling organisations to personalise campaigns and optimise performance with greater precision.

Professionals who can blend creative vision with data-driven insights will be well-positioned to lead in this dynamic and rewarding field.

Henderson Scott is committed to guiding marketing professionals in navigating these changes, helping them enhance their skills and connect with opportunities that align with the industry’s future demands.

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