Senior Content Marketing Manager Earning $129,000/year (plus 20% annual bonus)

Welcome to another post in the $100k Club series. You can see the full series here. This is "My Morning Routine" for content marketing folks making six figures. The goal is to shed light on the skills and habits that enable people to achieve lucrative jobs and help get more people in this club.

These will be anonymous and updated regularly. If you make more than $100k/year and want to contribute, email me.

For more info on content marketing salaries, check out our salary report.

If you'd like to see more info on salary by job title, check out these resources: Content Marketing Manager Salary, Content Strategist Salary, Head of Content Salary, and Content Director Salary.

What was your first full-time job in content? What was the salary?

I graduated with a degree in Broadcast News and within a few months, was hired as a morning show producer at a local TV news station for $30k per year. This was in 2011, which was a terrible time to be getting into journalism for the money.

There was no bonus and in theory we had PTO, though we were discouraged from taking it. Our benefits were so bad that when I had my wisdom teeth removed, my insurance didn't even cover the anesthesia.

I only lasted 10 months in that job, for a multitude of reasons. But it taught me how to focus under pressure, turn copy around within minutes and sometimes seconds, and how to edit mercilessly.

List out your income by year for as long as you've been working in content marketing.

• 2011: $30,000
• 2012: $30,000 plus $2000 in freelancing income
• 2013: $30,000
• 2014: $30,000
• 2015: took a gap year and lived off of savings
• 2016: $67,000
• 2017: $80,000
• 2018: $99,000
• 2019: $99,000
• 2020: $110,000
• 2021: $140,000
• 2022: $155,000

How much do you earn today? What's your job title?

I am a Senior Content Marketing Manager at a late-stage startup. I make $129,000 in salary and earn a 20% bonus annually.

What's the single biggest salary jump you've made? (either from job-hopping or a promotion/raise)

I made $30,000 a year the entire time I worked in media, whether I was in TV or magazines, and there was very little potential for raises or promotions.

After taking a gap year to travel, I switched my focus to marketing and got a copywriting job, making more than double what I had previously—from $30,000 to $67,000. My salary hasn't doubled in one go since; though it has grown steadily with every job change and a few internal promotions.

What is your most valuable skill?

Until recently, I would have said being able to write well and write quickly. Since I've taken on direct reports and team management, I'm no longer writing.  My most valuable learned skill over the last two years has been content ops: templatizing, introducing processes, streamlining workflows, etc.

What's the best book you've ever read on writing, marketing, sales, business or productivity? (Feel free to suggest more than one!)

I'll be honest, I don't read many nonfiction books, especially on business and productivity, so my list for this category is short.

• On writing: The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White—it's a classic for a reason, folks!
• On general creativity: The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron

Have you had a career mentor/coach? If so, how did you find them and what have you learned from them?

I’ve had an informal mentorship relationship with a colleague, though we never formally referred to it as such. She taught me the value of authenticity, speaking my mind, and disagreeing respectfully.

What skills or habits help you thrive at work?

Being able to switch mindset quickly between strategy and execution, plus the ability to turn content around on tight deadlines, have come in handy when I've been a content team of one. On larger teams, organization and process skills have been essential.

What advice would you give to someone who wants to join the $100k club?

When you're interviewing for a job, interview the hiring manager back to get a sense for how much they—and the business—value content, and whether they see this role as a strategic role or simply execution. When your manager and company leadership see you as a strategic contributor, you are able to provide much more value to the business and (hopefully) will be compensated accordingly.

Plus, always negotiate.

Who are you?

I’m a Caucasian woman living in Denver, Colorado.