Look at a typical digital marketing salary in 2022, and you can tell this field is competitive. But how competitive are they on average, and for entry-level marketers in Canada? And do you have options for growth after your first two years?

Luckily for you, this article has the latest Canadian digital marketing salaries you need to start plotting your career path! You’ll find rates for digital marketing roles, divided per category, and with sources cited, here:

Reading this list, you might think: How come only senior digital marketers make well above the Canadian average weekly wage? That’s partly due to their practical skills, which are honed through day-to-day work. But how can you grow those skills if you don’t have work experience?

Apprenticeships are one way of sharpening your skills in practical work situations. That’s because apprenticeships give you on-the-job experience under a mentor who’ll give you actionable points for improvement. With that in mind, Acadium apprenticeships offer upskilling, whether or not you have previous marketing experience.

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To start, let’s get the average digital marketing salary in Canada. Then, we’ll look at figures for every experience level, and sort which province has the highest digital marketing salary.

Average digital marketing salary, per experience level and province

digital-marketing-salaries

These salaries are for the general field of digital marketers.

Your average digital marketing salary in Canada, as of February 23, 2022, is US$55,460. Talent calculated this median from 1,055 salaries submitted to their site by digital marketers. Their average is comparable to the $59,240 estimated by Glassdoor from 146 companies. Then there is Indeed’s calculation of $48,646 from 1,466 salaries, slightly lower than that of Talent’s.

Let’s compare that to Canada’s average earnings. As seen on StatCan, the average weekly earnings in the country as of November 2021 is US$1,130.81. Whereas on Statistica’s report—released in the same month and year—the median Canadian income in 2019 was CAD$37,710.

Compare this to digital marketing salaries in 2021. The average was CA$56,550, with entry-level salaries starting at CA$43,934 and experienced positions dealing at CA$78,427. Your hourly rate then was CA$29.

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Quebec still has the highest average base salary for digital marketers.

In 2021, Quebec had the highest digital marketing rate at CA$70,000 per annum, while Saskatchewan had the lowest at CA$47,000.

In 2022, Quebec still has the highest average digital marketing salary for Canadian provinces at US$65,000, though this figure is based on 67 reported salaries on Talent.

Following that is British Columbia, at an average of $58,500 across 197 salaries. Then, Ontario comes in at third at $58,237, based on 430 salaries.

In the same report, it’s noted that the median in Alberta is $57,500 from 75 salaries. After that is Saskatchewan with $50,000 across 27 salaries. Lastly, with 10 reported salaries, is Nova Scotia at an average of $42,700.

As you can see, digital marketing pays well for salaried employees. The data is limited for freelancers, but the average range is $39,000 to $87,750 from two data points.

Digital marketing salary for each specialization

You now know the average salary in digital marketing, and what salary range you can expect in each province. So now it’s time to dig in deeper and find out the individual figures for specializations within digital marketing. To narrow it down, we’ll focus on six subsections.

digital-marketing-salaries

These salaries are averages from pay submitted anonymously to these job sites.

1. Marketing analysts

Marketing analysts use data collected from content and marketing campaigns to improve current and future marketing strategies. As you can tell, this involves using data-gathering tools such as Google Analytics and Google Data Studio to discover what works and how that aspect can be refined and duplicated.

Your average annual salary as a marketing analyst in Canada is CA$61,816, according to Salary.com. As of January 27, 2022, the range is usually between CA$54,535 to CA$68,850.

Another estimate, based on 199 data points on Payscale, is CA$51,430. Entry-level marketing analysts with less than a year of experience typically earn CA$47,847, while those with 5 to 9 years of experience earn an average of CA$58,006.

2. Content marketer

Your responsibilities as a content marketer include creating blogs, videos, graphics, and other forms of content to promote a brand. Everything you create as a content marketer must engage the target audience, create leads, and convert prospects into customers.

The average base salary for content marketers is a little harder to pin down. Indeed notes a figure of US$56,914 from 106 reported salaries, while Glassdoor estimates CA$60,398 off 26 data points. Payscale lists a base salary of CA$48,845 from 49 salary profiles.

Payscale calculates a compensation of CA$44,505 for those with less than a year of experience, and CA$54,369 for content marketers with 5 to 9 years of experience.

3. SEO (Search engine optimization) specialist

SEO is an essential part of digital marketing! This ensures the steady flow of organic or free traffic, reducing a company’s reliance on paid advertising. Organic traffic has the added advantage of attracting an audience that is more likely to convert because of the solutions your content offers.

Your typical pay, based on Indeed’s 156 data points, is US$50,759. In another report by Glassdoor, the average base pay of 114 SEO specialists amounted to US$53,048. Over at Payscale, the average of 136 profiles is CA$49,247.

Meanwhile Jobillico estimates an average of US$52,500 for SEO consultants. Nunavut has the highest median at US$72,280, while Yukon trails at $37,440.

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Social media and email marketing are active and passive marketing tactics. UX design helps facilitate marketing through user-responsive design.

4. Social media marketer

You’ll need to know how marketing works on various social platforms to get into this niche. Every social platform has a unique audience makeup, and it’s up to social media marketers to determine how to best adapt content to these demographics.

Social media marketing managers make US$51,827 annually, according to 259 salaries on Glassdoor. Meanwhile, Payscale’s figure of CA$48,329 scales off 79 profiles. Talent’s estimate from 217 data points for social media managers is comparable at US$48,080.

5. Email marketer

An oldie but a goodie, email marketing is still a powerful marketing tool. Email marketers are crucial for creating a loyal audience base through timely newsletters, promotional offers, and transactional emails, among other content.

Email marketing specialists, across 63 data points on Payscale, average CA$55,928 a year. On Talent, the annual pay averages US$57,500 from 53 reported salaries. On the other hand, the average base pay of at least 54 email marketing managers on Glassdoor is US$73,121.

6. UX/UI designer

You might be thinking what User Experience (UX) and User Interface (UI) have to do with digital marketing. UX and UI are essential to having customers interact with your product. In other words, if your website has poor UX design, customers are prone to clicking out or not interacting with your site at all.

Based on 860 salary profiles, Payscale delivers an average base salary of CA$61,668 for UX designers in Canada. Glassdoor lists an average annual salary of US$77,090 per 109 salaries. This is comparable to Payscale’s estimate for senior UX designers—CA$70,697 for mid-career designers, and CA$78,056 for those with 10 or more years of experience.

Highest digital marketing salary

Naturally, there are roles that pay top dollar for experience and expertise. Here are a few notable roles, split between executive and senior levels, to give you a wide range of positions beginner marketers can branch out to in their careers.

1. Executive-level salaries

Executive-level roles earn double of mid-experience roles.

As you can see, the compensation for every executive-level role is heads and shoulders above the cost of living expenditures estimated by the National Bank of Canada. Most of the data also derives from job postings.

For example, the figure cited for marketing research directors in the infographic is an estimate derived from job postings on Indeed. Then, Payscale notes that half or 43 of the salaries reported to them for chief marketing officers came from those with 10 to 19 years of experience.

Furthermore, Talent and Payscale only have 26 and 38 data points for the average salary of directors of digital marketing. So the middle point of CA$116,790—cited by 22 salaries on Payscale—was put into the infographic.

And finally, we cited Glassdoor’s figure of US$132,974 because it had more data points (95) than Payscale (15).

However, you should keep in mind that senior positions are usually filled internally, and a casual search for salaries in these positions may bring up US figures first.

2. Senior role salaries

This list of senior roles was chosen because they are commonly seen in digital marketing departments, advertising agencies, and marketing companies. While we’ve cited data with the most data points from February 23, 2022, you can check any differences through our sources here:

senior-role-salaries

These senior roles typically have more than two years of experience.

  1. Data scientist: CA$85,000 [LinkedIn, Talent, Indeed]
  2. Creative director: CA$80,555 [Payscale, Glassdoor, Jobilico]
  3. Brand manager: CA$70,984 [Payscale, Talent, Indeed]
  4. Senior copywriter: CA$72,283 [Payscale, LinkedIn, Indeed]
  5. Art director: US$73,210 [Glassdoor, Talent, Indeed]

Factors that affect your digital marketing salary

Your digital marketing salary—just like in any other job—is affected by several factors. You have to keep these factors in mind, as they can help you in applying for jobs or creating marketing career opportunities.

1. Years of experience

Yes, your years of experience can affect your salary! Aside from showing that you’ve done a job for a long time, your tenure normally shows that you’re more productive than someone starting out. Plus, working longer usually means you’ve picked up more skills than someone who’s just starting out.

This brings us to the next point:

2. Professional qualifications

Your continuing professional development can be the difference between your current salary bracket and the next one. Even if you’re in the same occupation, your salary can differ from that of your co-worker.

General marketing skills, such as marketing analytics and SEO, can be acquired through work and extensive online courses. Soft skills can be acquired on the job, though there are other ways of acquiring them.

For instance, Acadium Plus has personalized coaching bundled with your courses. Having one-on-one sessions like that can help you figure out what soft skills you can work on. Active listening, time management, and problem-solving are some skills you can work out this way.

3. Cost of living

It’s undeniable that the cost of living affects how much you earn. Location and occupation influence how much you keep from your salary, due to taxes, housing, and living expenses. The value of a dollar differs from state to state, and that’s one of the factors job seekers often keep in mind.

Compare a content writer in Lloydminster with their counterpart in downtown Vancouver. A one-bed apartment rents for $2,163 a month in Vancouver and $740 in Lloydminster. In terms of taxes, BC charges 5.06% on the first $42,184 of taxable income, while Alberta charges 10% on the first $131,220 of taxable income.

While Brookings uses US states as an example, this quote holds true:

“A lower cost of living—including cheaper housing, food, education, transportation, and other goods and services—allows the same dollar of wages to stretch farther. A worker in a metro area with a relatively low cost of living (e.g., Dallas) might think twice before accepting a slightly better-paying position in a metro area with a higher cost of living (e.g., San Francisco).”

 

4. Size of company

Your wage as a social media manager may differ from a colleague working the same job. Other than a difference in skills, that could be due to the size of your respective companies. Your company might afford to pay their employees more because they’re mid-size. Conversely, it might take you longer to work up to your colleague’s rate if you’re working for a non-profit.

That being said, how can you earn more as a digital marketer?

How can you increase your digital marketing salary

You can earn more as a digital marketer if you upskill. Now, imagine if you’re upskilling while learning the real-world responsibilities of a digital marketer. How can you get this ideal arrangement?

An apprenticeship in digital marketing will help you get this experience.

In an apprenticeship, you’ll work on different aspects of a marketing campaign. You’ll have a mentor who’ll guide you and offer actionable feedback to improve your practical skills and understanding of digital marketing. In the end, you’ll have valuable experience that will help you find—and land—opportunities.

Need more help planning your digital marketing career? Take a look at these guides for digital marketing careers:

You can also use these resources to prepare for your job hunt: