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The differences between marketing designers and marketing communications specialists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 6-12 months to become a marketing designer, becoming a marketing communications specialist takes usually requires 4-6 years. Additionally, a marketing designer has an average salary of $56,958, which is higher than the $53,993 average annual salary of a marketing communications specialist.
The top three skills for a marketing designer include sketch, graphic design and digital marketing. The most important skills for a marketing communications specialist are digital marketing, project management, and graphic design.
| Marketing Designer | Marketing Communications Specialist | |
| Yearly salary | $56,958 | $53,993 |
| Hourly rate | $27.38 | $25.96 |
| Growth rate | 3% | 19% |
| Number of jobs | 115,910 | 95,444 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 76% | Bachelor's Degree, 79% |
| Average age | 38 | 37 |
| Years of experience | 12 | 6 |
Marketing Designers are marketing employees who specialize in graphic design. They bring the marketing vision to life by creating the actual publicity material. Marketing Designers may be hired directly by a company as an employee or maybe outsourced. They get the primer on the marketing vision and interpret this by illustrating. They consider the company's brand to ensure that their output would still be in line with the image that the company has been projecting in previous marketing campaigns - unless the company is actually rebranding. Marketing Designers also create design packs and presentation materials to ensure that all of the marketing collateral for that particular piece is on-brand.
A marketing communications specialist is an individual who is responsible for creating all the marketing materials that are distributed to customers to increase brand awareness for the company's products or services. To create these materials, marketing communications specialists must collaborate with graphic design teams. They are required to track their marketing performance so that they can identify ways to improve their marketing strategies. Marketing communications specialists must also set up interviews and press conferences as part of their marketing campaign.
Marketing designers and marketing communications specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Marketing Designer | Marketing Communications Specialist | |
| Average salary | $56,958 | $53,993 |
| Salary range | Between $36,000 And $88,000 | Between $36,000 And $80,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | Seattle, WA |
| Highest paying state | California | Delaware |
| Best paying company | Morgan Stanley | Apple |
| Best paying industry | Finance | Technology |
There are a few differences between a marketing designer and a marketing communications specialist in terms of educational background:
| Marketing Designer | Marketing Communications Specialist | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 76% | Bachelor's Degree, 79% |
| Most common major | Graphic Design | Communication |
| Most common college | University of Pennsylvania | Northwestern University |
Here are the differences between marketing designers' and marketing communications specialists' demographics:
| Marketing Designer | Marketing Communications Specialist | |
| Average age | 38 | 37 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 47.0% Female, 53.0% | Male, 28.0% Female, 72.0% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 3.4% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 10.6% Asian, 10.4% White, 70.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% | Black or African American, 5.3% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 12.6% Asian, 9.6% White, 67.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1% |
| LGBT Percentage | 13% | 10% |