Now is a great time to pursue a career in marketing or advertising. The Australian Government reported an annual employment growth of 5,200 professionals in these sectors in the past year, which means there will be plenty of job opportunities for you to explore.
You may wonder: are marketing and advertising the same thing? While both functions share many overlapping goals and functions, there are core differences that set them apart. In this article, we delve into both disciplines and break down how they differ so you can understand which career path suits you better.
You may wonder: are marketing and advertising the same thing? While both functions share many overlapping goals and functions, there are core differences that set them apart. In this article, we delve into both disciplines and break down how they differ so you can understand which career path suits you better.
Defining the difference between marketing and advertising
Discover the functions, typical salary and qualifications needed for both disciplines below.
What is marketing?
Marketing involves efforts and activities to promote businesses, products or services. As a marketing professional, your main duty is to spark curiosity and get your audience to learn about the value of your brand with the goal of driving sales. Effective marketing allows you to increase brand awareness, build customer loyalty and increase revenue.
In this role, you typically have discussions with clients and stakeholders to learn about the products or services that you’re promoting. You may also conduct market research to understand the demographics and needs of your potential customers.
Building a marketing campaign is a collaborative effort. You will work with your team to develop and bring marketing campaign concepts to life. This may involve collaborating with writers to write engaging content and working with photographers and designers to manage the visual aspects of marketing campaigns. You may work with event planners to help you organise product launches and activations as a way to promote your brand. This career also includes working with account managers and sales representatives to drive lead generation and boost sales conversions.
After a marketing campaign is over, you may prepare a report about the campaign for stakeholders. This can be used to examine the effectiveness of the overall campaign and identify areas for improvement that can pave the way for more successful campaigns in the future.
As a marketer, your workplace setting can be dynamic as it depends on your responsibilities for the day. You may work in an office to develop marketing plans and content or be out in the field to meet clients and coordinate marketing events.
Average marketing salary in Australia
Curious about how much you can make as you grow your career in marketing? Explore the marketing roles below to discover your earning potential, with salary information provided by Indeed.
Marketing executive: This marketing professional supports the marketing manager by assisting in the preparation and execution of marketing campaigns. The average salary of a marketing executive in Australia is around $74,000 a year.
- Northern Territory: $92,000
- Australian Capital Territory: $84,000
- South Australia: $83,000
- Tasmania: $76,000
- New South Wales: $75,000
- Queensland: $74,000
- Victoria: $71,000
- Western Australia: $61,000
Marketing specialist: With an annual salary of $78,000 on average, a marketing specialist focuses on a specific area of marketing, such as event organising, social media marketing or branding.
- Tasmania: $83,000
- Australian Capital Territory: $83,000
- Northern Territory: $82,000
- Western Australia: $80,000
- New South Wales: $78,000
- Queensland: $78,000
- Victoria: $77,000
- South Australia: $76,000
Marketing manager: Professionals in this management role typically earn about $103,000 a year. A marketing manager supports an organisation’s business growth by overseeing marketing campaigns and providing leadership to the marketing team.
- Northern Territory: $125,000
- Victoria: $108,000
- New South Wales: $103,000
- Western Australia: $100,000
- Australian Capital Territory: $99,000
- Tasmania: $95,000
- South Australia: $87,000
- Queensland: $87,000
What qualifications do marketers need?
If you have long-term career aspirations as a marketing professional, higher education can be a valuable investment that can set you up for success. You can complete a bachelor’s degree in marketing, communications or a related field to prepare you for a career in marketing. This usually takes three years of full-time study. You can learn essential marketing principles and develop your skills in a wide range of marketing areas, with topics like customer experience and behaviour, digital marketing and brand management.
Acquiring an undergraduate qualification also opens doors to a variety of opportunities when you enter the job market as a fresh graduate. Many employers require marketers to have some level of tertiary education to demonstrate their marketing knowledge and skills.
You can take it a step further and complement your work experience with an additional qualification, such as a postgraduate degree. A master’s degree in marketing can help you enhance your expertise to attract customers and foster brand loyalty. If you’re aiming to enter a leadership or management role within your industry, consider pursuing a Master of Business Administration (MBA) to acquire the core competencies of a leader.
Many universities also offer MBA specialisations in marketing, allowing you to hone both your business and marketing skills.
What is advertising?
Advertising is an important function that falls under marketing. While marketing covers the overall process of promoting a brand from planning to execution, advertising is a specific strategy within that process, with a focus on paid promotional efforts.
Advertising professionals support their client or organisation’s sales objectives by planning and coordinating advertising campaigns to encourage customers to purchase their products or services across a variety of platforms, such as print, social media, television and radio. They also devise strategies to target the right audience to promote their brand’s offerings and ensure advertising activities are done within the allocated budget.
If you work in the advertising sector, you will typically collaborate with various internal and external stakeholders to launch effective advertisements, such as your team, clients, media buyers and more. Your team may consist of other professionals who may specialise in different areas like social media advertising, copywriting and media production. You may also work with other departments, like sales and marketing, to accomplish advertising goals.
It’s common for an advertising professional to work in an office setting where you prepare advertising campaign concepts and content. You may also attend meetings with stakeholders like clients and media contacts.
Average advertising salary in Australia
Below are several roles you may explore in advertising along with their average annual salary, according to Indeed.
Advertising executive: This advertising professional plans and organises advertising initiatives, which may involve building client relationships, pitching advertising concepts and implementing advertising campaigns. An advertising executive makes an average of $73,000 annually.
- New South Wales: $83,000
- Victoria: $82,000
- Northern Territory: $70,000
- Western Australia: $69,000
- Tasmania: $67,000
- South Australia: $67,000
- Australian Capital Territory: $65,000
- Queensland: $58,000
Advertising specialist: The average annual salary of an advertising specialist in Australia is around $77,000. In this role, you typically specialise in customising advertisement campaigns for specific platforms like digital channels or traditional media.
- Australian Capital Territory: $84,000
- Northern Territory: $82,000
- Victoria: $80,000
- Tasmania: $78,000
- New South Wales: $77,000
- Western Australia: $75,000
- Queensland: $74,000
- South Australia: $70,000
Advertising manager: An advertising manager oversees advertising activities, which may include negotiating advertising contracts, checking and approving promotional material and examining campaign results to measure its effectiveness. This management professional typically earns about $79,000 a year.
- Australian Capital Territory: $94,000
- Northern Territory: $94,000
- Tasmania: $87,000
- Queensland: $83,000
- New South Wales: $82,000
- Western Australia: $80,000
- Victoria: $69,000
- South Australia: $67,000
What qualifications do advertisers need?
You can gain the skills you need to pursue a fulfilling advertising career by pursuing a bachelor’s degree in advertising, marketing, communications or a similar field. It typically takes three years to complete this qualification as a full-time student. Courses in these fields can help you obtain fundamental knowledge and transferable skills in advertising, such as creativity, communication and project management.
A bachelor’s qualification can improve your employability as prospective employers may favour those with a relevant academic background to take on advertising roles. You’ll be able to apply what you’ve learned in your university days to real-world business problems as you strategise the best ways to advertise products or services.
You can also choose to advance your studies with an MBA or a master’s degree in advertising. Besides enhancing your expertise, you can set yourself apart from other professionals and position yourself for more senior roles in this field, which can also increase your earning potential.
Choosing a course in marketing or advertising
Explore some of the key differences between marketing and advertising courses below.
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Should I study marketing or advertising?
Choosing between marketing and advertising largely depends on your personal interests, strengths and career aspirations. While both disciplines are closely related, each offers a distinct focus.
If you thrive on strategy and long-term impact, marketing might be the perfect fit for you. This field examines the broader approach of how businesses build lasting relationships with customers, from product development to pricing, distribution and promotions. Some of the skills you should have to create effective marketing campaigns include strategic thinking, data analysis and project management.
A marketing career path also allows you to explore various roles in business, such as marketing manager, product manager, market research analyst and digital marketing specialist.
In contrast, advertising focuses on crafting persuasive messages to captivate your intended audience and ultimately drive sales for your brand. Whether you're passionate about creating compelling commercials or strategising how advertisements are delivered to target audiences, advertising allows you to utilise your creativity to make a real impact.
You can also discover plenty of advertising professions that align with your specialised skills. Some roles you can consider include advertising manager, advertising art director and media planner.
Another key factor to consider when deciding on your career path is the job demand for roles in both disciplines. For example, Jobs and Skills Australia reported a shortage of sales and marketing managers in several states and territories across the country in 2024. The future demand for advertising specialists is also very strong. High-demand jobs not only provide potential for greater job security but can also offer exciting career opportunities and long-term growth.
Whether you're drawn to developing strategies for long-term growth or creating compelling messages that resonate with audiences, both career paths are promising and packed with potential.
Elevate your brand’s reputation
While marketing and advertising may have different roles in a business, they share the primary goal of enhancing a brand’s image and broadening its reach. Understanding their core functions can help you choose the career path that best suits your passion and skill set.
Pursuing higher education can be the key to unlock your potential and develop the skills you need to start your career in these industries. Check out postgraduate marketing and advertising courses offered by leading Australian universities today to get started.
