Digital marketing skills are very much in demand in the Philippines and elsewhere in the world. As such, more and more professionals are pursuing digital marketing careers as social media marketers, SEO specialists, content marketers, digital strategists and analysts, and community managers.

As digital marketing positions require more specialized skills, naturally, salaries for digital marketers tend to be higher than those of traditional marketers at the same level of experience.

Let’s compare the salary of a marketing manager and a digital marketing manager.

Salaries of Marketing Managers

Based on PayScale.com, a marketing manager in the Philippines earns a median average annual salary of Php572,679. That’s roughly Php48,000 a month. Not bad. The salary range reported by some 200 respondents is from Php214,585 to Php2,145,562 a year, or around Php18,000 to Php180,000 a month.

Marketing Manager (Philippines)

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Years of experience of the respondents were spread almost evenly: 35% for those with 1-4 years work experience, 28% for 5-9 years, 32% for 10-19 years, and 6% for 20 plus years. We can deduce that the more experienced marketing managers are the ones earning the higher range. For instance, PayScale shows a chart displaying the median annual salary of mid-career (5-10 years) marketing managers at Php680,000, experienced (10-20 years) ones at Php1,043,000, and late-career (over 20 years) ones at Php2,155,000.

However way you look at it, marketing in general is a lucrative career.

Salaries of Digital Marketing Managers

Here’s where it gets more interesting. PayScale.com also has a salary report for digital marketing managers based in the Philippines.

The median annual salary for a digital marketing manager in the Philippines is Php709,273, or around Php60,000 a month. Compare this to a traditional marketing manager earning Php572,679 or Php48,000 a month. A digital marketing manager has, on average, a 20% premium over the traditional marketing manager in the Philippines!

Looking at the range from Php404,500 to Php2,610,452 for digital marketers versus Php214,585 to Php2,145,562 for traditional marketers, the salary difference can be as high as 47%, particularly at the lower range.

Digital Marketing Manager (Philippines)

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Now, of course, digital marketing is a subset of marketing, and digital marketers typically report to a marketing director or CMO. But certainly, it pays off to specialize in digital marketing early on in your career. Or pursue the usual path for marketing (brand marketing, product marketing, marketing communications, etc.) but supplement it with digital marketing skills.

Salaries of DMI Graduates

One of the fastest ways to acquire digital marketing skills is to go through an intensive training and certification program in digital marketing. The Digital Marketing Institute (DMI) is the global standard in digital marketing certification. With over 47,000 graduates across 115countries, it is the market leader in digital marketing certification.

DMI recently ran a survey among its graduates and found out that 53% of DMI graduates have had their salary increased after taking the course. And 16% had more than one pay raise. The survey also revealed that 56% of DMI graduates are earning more than US$40,000 or roughly Php1,900,000.

Obviously, it pays to get trained and certified in digital marketing. DMI’s foundational course is the Certified Digital Marketing Professional (CDMP) program, which is available in the Philippines through DMI’s education partner Learning Curve Inc. through DMHQ.

Learn more about the Certified Digital Marketing Professional (CDMP) program and how it can help your digital marketing career.