Marketing Industry Overview

From market research to product marketing to public relations, the US marketing industry comprises a sprawling assortment of jobs in marketing. The professionals who hold these marketing jobs put a face on the products and services that countless firms provide to consumers and businesses alike. Most companies have their own marketing departments; many also contract out several aspects of their marketing efforts to specialist firms. With firms ranging in size from solo practitioners to those with thousands of employees, the marketing industry is highly fragmented.

Marketing Job Market

The digital media revolution has brought a vast evolution in marketing communications and a broad expansion of marketing employment opportunities.Online metrics and social media are two of many Internet innovations that have pushed marketing professionals to broaden their imaginative reach andexpand their skill sets. Today, having a successful career in marketing is more about exploiting new media than it is about mastering conventional media such as print. Perhaps the greatest challenge inherent in marketing work in the 2010s is being able to integrate promotional and advertising programs effectively across many diverse media and channels.

Market research analysts held 282,700 jobs in 2010, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Market research employment is projected to grow 41 percent from 2010 to 2020, much faster than average for all occupations. As of 2010, there were 178,200 marketing managers, with employment expected to grow 14 percent between 2010 and 2020, the same as the average for all occupations, the BLS reports.

Common marketing job titles include marketing assistant, marketing manager, marketing communications manager, digital marketing manager, marketing project manager, market researcher, marketing director and vice president of marketing.

Marketing Salaries

Median wages for advertising, promotions and marketing managers were$116,010 in May 2011, according to the BLS. The middle 50 percent of marketingmanagers earned between $83,290 and $155,050. Market research analysts andmarketing specialists’ median wages were $60,250.