When you think of the most likely jobs for statistics majors, titles like Marketing Manager or Market Research Analyst may not be the first to come to mind. However, the demand for statisticians in the field of marketing makes it one of the most exciting and promising frontiers for statisticians.
Increasingly, marketing is at the heart of almost every successful business and organization. Digital marketing, where statistics are crucial, is growing exponentially, and expenditures on digital marketing around the world are expected to exceed $384 billion in 2020 and top $500 billion by 2023 (source). More than ever, executives and leaders are looking for professionals who can help them spend this money in smart, targeted ways to help their businesses grow.
This, of course, doesn’t come easily. The staggering amounts of data that businesses and marketers have to sift through create endless problems that need solving. But statisticians are problem-solvers first and foremost. In many ways, statisticians are uniquely suited to seize this particular moment as new doors suited to their skills continue to open.
What Kind of Jobs Do Statisticians Hold in Marketing?
Marketing Manager
Given the significant role that statistics and statisticians play in marketing, a statistician with vision and ambition can ascend to a management position quite naturally. In fact, the field of marketing offers management and executive roles in several subfields. These include:
- Marketing Manager
- Advertising Manager
- Promotions Manager
These positions all work within the marketing realm to accomplish tasks such as (source):
- Designing and planning major marketing strategies
- Overseeing advertising campaigns for television, radio, print, and online media
- Developing marketing projections and budgets
- Initiating market research studies and analyzing their findings
- Developing pricing strategies for products marketed to target customers
- Meeting with clients and developing key organizational relationships
The Bureau of Labor Statistics identifies some distinctions in these key marketing management roles (source).
For example, marketing managers pay close attention to target markets for a company’s products or services. They use statistics and other information they gather to help identify the interest level among potential customers and determine where the company stands among competitors. The marketing manager works with a broader team to integrate that information into an overall marketing strategy.
Advertising managers utilize marketing data to create interest in a company’s products within identified markets. They may work in-house for the company, for an advertising agency, or for a media firm. They must understand the data driving the marketing strategy and determine which ad campaigns are most likely to generate results.
Promotions managers work within the marketing and advertising initiatives to design specific events or strategies that will gather potential customers or clients. These managers may plan large events, product placements, social media campaigns, or other creative efforts to complement the overall marketing strategy.
Marketing Manager Job Outlook
A marketing manager can work in a variety of settings and industries. Some of the most common are the following (source):
- Professional, scientific, and technical services
- Management of companies and enterprises
- Finance and insurance
- Manufacturing
- Wholesale trade
Increasingly, marketing managers are considered crucial to the mission and success of a company or organization. As a result, they often work among executive-level leadership. This also means they will help design and execute strategies to shape organizational identity, develop a customer base, and grow a business.
This is one of the reasons why overall employment in this area is expected to grow by eight percent by the year 2028 (source). That’s significantly faster than overall projected job growth in the United States.
Marketing Manager Salary Expectations
Without question, pursuing a career in a management or executive role is an effective way to increase your earning potential. The median annual salary for a marketing manager is $136,850 (source). Here are the median salaries in each of the most common areas of work:
- Finance and insurance: $145,720
- Management of companies and enterprises: $145,510
- Professional, scientific, and technical services: $145,300
- Manufacturing: $138,950
- Wholesale trade: $128,680
In each of these industries, the earning power of a marketing manager is significant.
Market Research Analyst
In many ways, a market research analyst is the statistical compass of a business or organization. Though many members of an organization are involved in collecting data and developing strategy, market research analysts help make sense of the most important statistics and information.
These key market research jobs are crucial for executives to gain an accurate understanding of their company’s potential and of their customers. A market research analyst performs important tasks such as the following (source):
- Tracking and predicting marketing and sales trends
- Measuring the impact of marketing programs and strategies
- Devising and evaluating ways to gather information, including surveys, questionnaires, and polls
- Gathering information about customers, competitors, and market conditions
- Analyzing data with various tools
- Converting complicated information into language and forms other team members and clients can digest and use for key decisions
Put more succinctly by U.S. News and World Report, “market research analysts help their clients figure out who their consumers are, what those consumers want and how much they'll pay for what they want.”
Market Research Analyst Job Outlook
Opportunities to work as a market research analyst are growing rapidly. In fact, the number of market research analyst jobs is expected to grow by 20 percent (source). That’s a growth rate four times the expected rate for all jobs.
U.S. News and World Report ranks market research analyst jobs in the top half overall of its “100 Best Jobs” and in the top 10 of its “Best Business Jobs” (source).
It’s also important to note that, like many jobs, market research analysts work under a number of different job titles. Some of these include:
- Marketing Analyst
- Research Analyst
- Market Researcher
- Market Data Analyst
- Business Analyst
- Market Research Statistician
- Researcher Statistician
- Digital Marketing Analyst
- Business Development Analyst
Under any title, the need for market research analysts will continue to grow as businesses and organizations have to process an always-increasing flow of data.
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Market Research Analyst Salary Expectations
The median annual salary for a market research analyst is $63,790. The median annual salaries for market research analysts in the top industries in which they work are as follows (source):
- Publishing industries (except internet): $75,720
- Management of companies and enterprises: $74,510
- Finance and insurance: $71,500
- Wholesale trade: $61,780
- Management, scientific, and technical consulting services: $61,520
The role of a market research analyst also offers executive growth potential. Market research managers make an average annual salary of $75,192 (source).
Search Engine Optimization Specialist
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has emerged as a long-term force in the field of marketing. As the world continues to shift more of its daily activities online, it becomes crucial for marketers to understand how to follow and maximize that change. Understanding and leveraging the way people search the internet for the information, products, and services they seek is key.
The internet is packed with over one billion websites, which means every business is competing in that crowded field for the attention of internet searchers. Search Engine Optimization specialists understand and work with the formulas that drive results for major search engines like Google. This enables them to help their employers or clients climb to the top of search engine results (source).
This role is at the heart of marketing strategy, which is no surprise considering these facts (source):
- 93 percent of online activity begins with a search engine
- 90 percent of internet searches occur on Google
- 75 percent of users never look beyond the first page of search results
- SEO leads result in sales or customer creation 14.6 percent of the time compared to 1.7 percent through traditional offline marketing efforts
- Internet searches are the number one way people find content sites (more than 300 percent more frequent than social media links) (source)
Virtually any business or organization looking to grow needs a strategy for ensuring it appears in search engine results in its associated fields. SEO specialists analyze internet search data and marketing plans to create effective keyword matches and help shape online marketing strategies.
SEO specialists perform key tasks like the following (source):
- Researching, developing, and tracking the effectiveness of content keywords
- Analyzing marketing content performance within search engines
- Identifying areas of weakness and new content opportunities for SEO
- Tracking key SEO statistics like organic traffic, conversion rates, and time spent on the organization’s website
Given the data-centric nature of SEO work, it is one of the truly promising jobs for statistics majors to consider as they make choices about further education and a career path.
Search Engine Optimization Specialist Job Outlook
SEO specialists are finding a growing demand for their services as key organizational leaders look for SEO solutions. In fact, SEO jobs are increasing 43 percent from year to year (source). Content marketing, a job field closely related to and increasingly intertwined with SEO, has seen comparable increases at 33 percent per year.
Those working in SEO also find opportunities to diversify their work. Some of the more popular roles for SEO specialists include (source):
- Search Engine Marketer
- Business Marketing Consultant
- Digital Marketer
- Marketing Analyst
- Content Marketer
- SEO Manager
By all accounts, Search Engine Optimization is a strong and growing segment of the marketing field, and SEO specialists find themselves in a “seller’s market” (source).
Search Engine Optimization Specialist Salary Expectations
Perhaps the best news about salary prospects for Search Engine Optimization Specialists is the emerging market for SEO professionals. As demand increasingly outpaces supply, compensation opportunities naturally will continue to grow.
Recent research indicates a range of salaries for those working in the SEO field (source). SEO Managers earn a median income of over $64,000, Content Marketers more than $56,000, and Business Marketing Consultants in the SEO field over $57,000.
Marketing or Freelance Statistician
As should be clear by now, the demand for statisticians is as great in marketing as anywhere. In addition to some of the specialized roles, this includes the need for freelance statisticians and marketing statisticians focused on pure statistics. Specialists and executives rely on statisticians who gather, organize and help analyze crucial data.
Some marketing statisticians work in-house for a business or organization while others work as a freelance statistician. Freelance roles allow you to work for a variety of different entities and gain valuable experience. It also often means you can choose when and how you work, offering a freedom some people prefer.
In either case, marketing statisticians create and guide the ways their employers or clients collect data. They also develop reliable plans for organizing and utilizing that data. This requires specialized skills unique to well-trained statisticians.
Marketing or Freelance Statistician Job Outlook
The growth in jobs for statistics majors is compelling across the board. A statistician is the sixth-ranked overall job in U.S. News and World Report’s “100 Best Jobs” and the #1 job in their “Best Business Jobs” (source).
One of the main reasons? Demand for statisticians is growing more than six times the national average for all job growth. Job opportunities for statisticians are expected to increase by 31 percent by the year 2028 (source).
It’s also worth noting that the emerging field of data science is closely tied to statistics. Many statisticians find themselves working under this title, which incorporates statistics and related areas of expertise. The growth of data science is one factor feeding the demand for statisticians.
The news for statisticians is good here as well. Glassdoor lists Data Scientist at number three on its “50 Best Jobs for America in 2020” (source).
Marketing or Freelance Statistician Salary Expectations
In the most recent report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median salary for statisticians is $91,160. The top ten percent of statisticians earned more than $146,770 (source). Glassdoor reports an average base pay for marketing statisticians as $99,034 per year (source).
As statisticians move into the realm of data science, their earning potential remains promising. A recent report by Burtchworks notes that data scientists with a master’s degree earn, on average, $92,500 (source).
How Can You Seize Opportunities in the Growing Field of Marketing Jobs for Statisticians?
As the marketing field becomes increasingly dependent on the wise use of data and statistics, the number of jobs for statistics majors will continue to grow. Statisticians guide efforts to gather, analyze, and interpret volumes of information that otherwise overwhelm marketing professionals without a comprehensive understanding of statistics.
Of course, the most lucrative job opportunities for statisticians require a master’s degree. Advanced training in statistics gives you a working understanding of the data science at the heart of emerging marketing efforts as well as experience with statistical and data analysis software. You’ll also learn the kind of problem-solving skills that will enable you to grow and diversify your career as a statistician.
You can take advantage of this field brimming with new possibilities by pursuing an online Master of Science in Applied Statistics from Michigan Tech.
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