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Job outlook for brand specialists in the United States
Brand specialist job growth summary. After extensive research, interviews, and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
The projected brand specialist job growth rate is 19% from 2018-2028.
About 150,300 new jobs for brand specialists are projected over the next decade.
Brand specialist salaries have increased 5% for brand specialists in the last 5 years.
There are over 4,860 brand specialists currently employed in the United States.
There are 69,687 active brand specialist job openings in the US.
The average brand specialist salary is $57,729.
Are brand specialist jobs in demand?
Brand specialist job and salary trends over time
Brand specialist jobs over time
Brand specialist job growth rate over time
| Year | # of jobs | % of population |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 4,860 | 0.00% |
| 2020 | 4,729 | 0.00% |
| 2019 | 5,196 | 0.00% |
| 2018 | 5,181 | 0.00% |
| 2017 | 5,058 | 0.00% |
Average brand specialist salary over time
Brand specialist salary by year
| Year | Avg. salary | Hourly rate | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | $57,729 | $27.75 | +3.2% |
| 2025 | $55,957 | $26.90 | +1.1% |
| 2024 | $55,370 | $26.62 | --0.2% |
| 2023 | $55,466 | $26.67 | +1.1% |
| 2022 | $54,878 | $26.38 | +0.7% |
Brand specialist jobs by state
Most common states for brand specialists
| Rank | State | Population | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | District of Columbia | 693,972 | 227 | 33% |
| 2 | Delaware | 961,939 | 249 | 26% |
| 3 | Vermont | 623,657 | 129 | 21% |
| 4 | Massachusetts | 6,859,819 | 1,397 | 20% |
| 5 | New Hampshire | 1,342,795 | 255 | 19% |
| 6 | Rhode Island | 1,059,639 | 188 | 18% |
| 7 | Montana | 1,050,493 | 186 | 18% |
| 8 | North Dakota | 755,393 | 138 | 18% |
| 9 | South Dakota | 869,666 | 137 | 16% |
| 10 | New Jersey | 9,005,644 | 1,308 | 15% |
| 11 | Minnesota | 5,576,606 | 837 | 15% |
| 12 | Utah | 3,101,833 | 456 | 15% |
| 13 | Nebraska | 1,920,076 | 296 | 15% |
| 14 | Idaho | 1,716,943 | 250 | 15% |
| 15 | Georgia | 10,429,379 | 1,418 | 14% |
| 16 | North Carolina | 10,273,419 | 1,397 | 14% |
| 17 | Maryland | 6,052,177 | 851 | 14% |
| 18 | Oregon | 4,142,776 | 592 | 14% |
| 19 | Pennsylvania | 12,805,537 | 1,642 | 13% |
| 20 | Connecticut | 3,588,184 | 481 | 13% |
Most common cities for brand specialists
| Rank | City | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl | Avg. salary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | East Hartford | 1 | 2% | $73,300 |
| 2 | Boca Raton | 1 | 1% | $52,388 |
| 3 | Gainesville | 1 | 1% | $52,053 |
| 4 | Grand Rapids | 1 | 1% | $70,806 |
| 5 | Hoover | 1 | 1% | $54,949 |
| 6 | Livonia | 1 | 1% | $72,215 |
| 7 | Waterbury | 1 | 1% | $73,321 |
| 8 | Atlanta | 1 | 0% | $59,783 |
| 9 | Boston | 1 | 0% | $72,831 |
| 10 | Fort Wayne | 1 | 0% | $63,566 |
Brand Specialist job outlook: Expert opinions
Our panel of brand specialist experts
University of Southern Mississippi
University of South Florida
Southern University and A & M College
University of North Georgia
University of Central Oklahoma
Southeast Missouri State University
Southern Connecticut State University
Millikin University
Southwestern University
The University of Texas at Austin
Union University
What general advice would you give to a Brand Specialist?
Kevin Buckley: The biggest factor in earning potential is performance - salespeople get paid based on their ability to hit and exceed quotas through revenue generation. With a sales career, you have a lot of control over earnings. My advice is to be metrics-driven and have a plan to intentionally grow your sales skills through training, mentors, and personal development. Build a reputation for consistent over-achievement. It's also important to do research and understand typical compensation benchmarks. Some may offer higher base pay, while others offer more earnings leverage through aggressive commission/bonus structures.
Jay Civitillo
University of South Florida
Business/Commerce
What Brand Specialist skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Jay Civitillo: Good evening, Attached are my responses. I look forward to reviewing the draft. Have a great weekend!
What Brand Specialist skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Dr. Gulay Guzel PhD: Maximizing salary potential at the outset of one's marketing career requires strategic considerations. Marketing is inherently interdisciplinary, drawing from fields such as psychology, sociology, anthropology, and data science. Graduates should first identify their specialization within the marketing realm, whether it's in market research, product design, pricing strategy, or another area. Next, they should articulate what sets them apart from other candidates and highlight additional value they bring to the table. Realism is key when setting salary expectations; candidates should conduct thorough industry research to inform negotiations. Additionally, leveraging diverse experiences gained from internships and coursework to bolster their applications can significantly enhance their bargaining power.
What will help Brand Specialists increase their earning potential?
Barrie Silver M.Ed.: Be nimble! Marketing is a fast-paced, ever-changing field and marketers need to be able to keep up. I encourage my students to take a variety of courses -- both in school and online -- and do as many internships as they can. For example, students in my 'Strategic Online Community Management' class are expected to complete social media certifications from HubSpot or Meta. Students in my 'Integrated Marketing and Communication' class work with local businesses and nonprofits to develop comprehensive integrated marketing campaigns. Along with our other coursework, this gives them hands-on, real-world experience -- and may also give them a leg up on other candidates when they start their job search.
Vanessa Ferchaud Ph.D.
Assistant Research ProfessorSouthern University and A & M College
Agriculture
What general advice would you give to a Brand Specialist?
Vanessa Ferchaud Ph.D.: These are skills that will become more important and pervalent in the field in the next 3-5 years:
Creative Thinking and Innovative Thinking (Problem Solving)
Interpersonal Skills (People and Social Skills)
Acquire Leadership Skills and Developmental Skills along your Journey on the job
AI (Artificial Intelligence)
Have Good Commnication Skills
What hard/technical skills are most important for Brand Specialists?
Mary Norman: -Project management skills
-Knowledge of key marketing tools and analytics:
-Social media tools like Hootsuite, Google analytics, etc.
-Design tools like Canva, Photoshop, Illustrator
-Email and Survey tools like Mailchimp and Survey Monkey
-SEO Tools like Google Ads
-Digital/Social Media Marketing Skills in the following areas:
-Email marketing
-Search Engine Marketing and Search Engine Optimization (SEM/SEO)
-Email marketing
-Content marketing - ability to create content for social media and additional formats like blogs, etc.
-Social Media marketing through top platforms: i.e., Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, etc.
-Data Analysis - mining insights into customer behavior based on website and social media analytics
-Trendwatching / Consumer insights
Stacia Wert-Gray Ph.D.
Professor of Marketing, ChairpersonUniversity of Central Oklahoma
Department of Marketing
What soft skills should all Brand Specialists possess?
Stacia Wert-Gray Ph.D.: Communication is important in any job but especially in marketing. These professionals must be able to communicate with customers/clients about product/service benefits and must be able to listen and represent the needs of customers/clients to their own company.
Scott Thorne Ph.D.
InstructorSoutheast Missouri State University
Department of Marketing
What hard/technical skills are most important for Brand Specialists?
Scott Thorne Ph.D.: In today's market, skills in statistical analysis and market research, as well as working with social media platforms, are desirable. Skill with Office, Publisher, and Python are also highly desirable.
Charles Gamble
Adjunct ProfessorSouthern Connecticut State University
Marketing Department
What soft skills should all Brand Specialists possess?
Charles Gamble: Be a good communicator (internally and externally). Marketing is all about effective communication. Most of the roles in marketing are basically managing the various channels through which the communications are disseminated (Events, PR, Paid Search, Web, Social Media, etc.). If you can communicate effectively, you will be a strong asset to the team, and your skills will be easily transferable to multiple roles within the marketing organization. This will provide you security in your current role and a path for career advancement. Three things help to make you a more effective marketing communicator:
-Empathy - Have deep empathy for your prospective customer and the challenges that they are facing. Understand their industry, language, motivation, what their day is like, why they do what they do, who their customers are, etc.
-Product Knowledge - Have a deep understanding of the product or service that you are marketing. Understanding how the functionality of a product or a solution can solve a prospective customers pain point
-Macro Mindset - Think about how content layers together to create a hierarchy or matrix. Understanding how a content theme can be expanded or contracted can help you see the "big picture" and offer more granular detail on a particular topic.
Dr. Carrie Trimble
Associate Professor of MarketingMillikin University
Tabor School of Business
What soft skills should all Brand Specialists possess?
Dr. Carrie Trimble: Communication skills and problem-solving top this list. When less is done face-to-face, businesses and their customers have new problems at hand and fewer communication methods at their disposal. Customers have also been dealing with a high level of stress for over a year now, so applicants who can empathetically, reliably, and efficiently communicate via e-mail and phone will rise to the top.
What experience really stands out on Brand Specialist resumes?
Valerie Renegar Ph.D.: Internships are probably the single best educational experience for new graduates, since they demonstrate to employers that they have already developed some expertise applying their education to workplace contexts. Another highlight for employers is study abroad, especially in fields that value or are seeking to increase diversity.
Students with experience interacting with different cultures, especially those who can explain why this kind of interaction makes them better qualified than others, can set themselves apart. In some fields, intensive student-faculty research might be valued or community-based learning opportunities. All of these high impact practices have in common that they only occur for students who push themselves to enhance their own educational experience, beyond the classroom.
Graduates who have consistently sought to augment their college experience are attractive candidates because they have already demonstrated that they seek out and embrace new challenges. One of the reasons Southwestern is such an outstanding choice for students is that we offer all of these experiences. The vast majority of our students graduate having engaged in at least one of these kinds of programs, and many of them have had more than one.
What general advice would you give to a Brand Specialist?
Andrew Gershoff Ph.D.: First, graduates may find that they need to do more leg work to find jobs in this environment. Schools with career services often have long-term relationships with the same businesses, who tend to hire multiple students in any given year. If one sector falls apart, there may be fewer jobs available at the career center. But students should take advantage of any services that help them understand the jobs in the marketplace, develop their resumes, and practice interviewing.
Second, students should try to think more broadly about following their interests and still finding employment. So taking some time to learn about career paths that they hadn't considered is worth doing. Many jobs rely on similar skills and may offer similar fulfillment and happiness.
Third, students should be ready to explore possibilities at companies they may not have heard of. Now, is an excellent time to look at companies that may only have a few jobs to offer, but may be doing some of the most exciting things a student can be part of. Finding a good fit is essential to happiness in a career, which may not be at a "name brand" firm.
Finally, students should keep in mind that their journey is their own. It is easy to discourage if you are having a difficult time, and your peers find success. But it can be freeing to focus on developing new knowledge and skills that interest you. Your success will come, and it doesn't have to be defined by someone else.
What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for Brand Specialists in the next 3-5 years?
Jason Garrett Ph.D.: We will see considerable innovations in technology tools that help consolidate and utilize the data and information we now have at hand. This includes integrating data from legacy enterprise systems, business intelligence software, secondary data sources from governmental and non-governmental organizations, and rapidly growing data from the web/digital tools. Learn the basics of a few tools. R, Python, Tableau, PowerBI, Oracle, Mircosoft Dynamics, SAP, and Salesforce seem to be the leaders. The devices will change, moreso than tools, we focus on our students learning to make excellent theory-based decisions with the information produced from whatever tool tomorrow might bring