While today’s marketers are looking for the full package, salary remains key to attracting and retaining top talent. Fair pay is important and this year it’s under the microscope more than ever. With real-term wage growth slowing down, dissatisfaction rising, and marketers moving jobs more than any other profession, salary benchmarking is something you need to consider.

It’s not enough to rely on old pay structures or last year’s budget. Marketing professionals are informed and clear on what they want from a job. That makes benchmarking salaries much more effective than taking a vague approach to what’s competitive.

Our latest salary survey is an eye-opener for hiring managers. When it comes to marketing salary benchmarks, here’s a few pointers from the data we’ve gathered.

Why salary benchmarking matters more than ever

When hiring top marketing talent, salaries are under the spotlight. Despite modest increases in base pay, real-term growth has ground to a halt, leading to frustration. Our survey found that over a third of marketers say they are underpaid and nearly 70% are considering a move this year. Salary is among factors influencing whether they stay or go.

A salary benchmark is a necessity in 2025. The days of relying on outdated pay scales or informal comparisons are over. To stay competitive, hiring managers need to utilise live market data to benchmark salaries and understand what ‘fair’ really means.

Accurate salary benchmarking enables you to:

• Offer truly competitive and credibly pay
• Justify decisions internally with confidence
• Reduce time-to-hire and improve offer acceptance
• Prevent high-performance staff from walking away

How to conduct salary benchmarking in a changing market

The starting point for a salary benchmarking approach is high-quality, industry-specific data. This is where our 2025 salary survey comes to the fore with detailed breakdowns by role, seniority, and sector.

Beyond data, benchmarking salaries depends on having clarity around the role itself. What are the key responsibilities? How senior is the position? Is it generalist or a specialism? Vague job descriptions make benchmarking meaningless as you need to compare like-for-like.

You also need to factor in the broader employment model. A hybrid marketing professional based in London may expect a different salary than a remote-first candidate living somewhere more rural. Understanding regional nuances and how they play into expectations is also important.

Where employers are falling behind on pay

Simply put, plenty of companies are still not using salary benchmarking, relying on outdated salary bands instead. These frameworks often fail to reflect the true market value of today’s marketing roles.

Another common error is benchmarking by title rather than responsibility. A head of marketing in one organisation might lead an entire function, while in another, they could be the sole marketer. Without understanding role complexity, benchmarks lose relevance.

Failure to benchmark salaries regularly can also create problems. As demand shifts in key areas, salary expectations shift too. Employers that don’t update their data risk falling behind competitors who do.

The risks of not using salary benchmarking

Without salary benchmarking, there are clear consequences. We found that a lack of salary progression is causing 45% of marketers to have one eye on the exit door, while many others report receiving offers from competitors with more attractive packages.

A lack of salary benchmarks means hiring teams are at risk of making offers that are out of touch with what top candidates expect. These are frequently declined or blown out of the water by counteroffers from those who have done their research. This means longer hiring cycles, reduced offer acceptance rates, and increased recruitment costs.

Internally, there are also risks. By not benchmarking salaries, you could end up with pay disparity. We found a significant proportion of marketers are not only open to leaving but are actively looking for their next role due to the issues caused by unclear pay structures. Salary benchmarking tactics could be key in a market this competitive.

Get the inside scoop to improve your marketing recruitment strategy

We partner with hiring managers to help them make informed, data-driven decisions. Our salary survey offers role-specific benchmarking and sector comparison to guide your marketing recruitment. If you’re ready to hire now, you won’t want to miss out on the insights provided.

That’s not all. As well as a deep dive into salary benchmarking, you’ll find everything you need to know to help appeal to top talent.

Download our 2025 Salary Survey & Market Trend Report today to get a closer look at the industry or submit a brief today to start working with us.