A credit union compensation study reveals how marketing staff are paid — from senior execs down to coordinators — including bonuses. Do you deserve a raise?
CUES Employee Salary Survey looks at compensation packages for seven different marketing positions using data collected from 624 credit unions. CUES shared salary and bonus data with The Financial Brand for three of these positions: Senior Exec, Director/Manager and Specialist/Coordinator (detailed tables provided below).
The other four marketing positions for which CUES has data include:
- Marketing Communication Specialist
- Manager of Business Development
- Business Development Specialist
- Marketing Research Analyst
Access to the CUES Employee Salary Survey requires a subscription — 12 months at $609 for members or $899 for non-members — but getting internal approval shouldn’t be too big a problem. Who doesn’t want to see how much their peers are earning? Or how much they could be making? Or (more practically) how much they should be paying the staff they manage?
The survey covers way more than just marketing jobs. You can slice data just about any way imaginable for nearly every credit union position with a title — over 60 total. You can analyze salaries or bonuses (average, median, high range, low range), compare similar positions between credit unions across varying asset sizes, and even isolate specific geographic regions. You can run all kinds of different analyses with the online database, then print out custom reports or save them as PDFs.
The CUES compensation study has been around since 1979, and has nearly 1,000 subscribers today. The data pool is updated constantly throughout the year.
If you’re interested in a walk through or want more information on the CUES Employee Salary Survey, contact Dana Murn at 866.508.0744 or send her an email.
Senior Marketing Executives
For the purposes of the survey, CUES defines the senior exec as the highest marketing position, whether that title be CMO, SVP, VP or something else — the credit union’s top marketing spot. This person plans and directs the marketing of the credit union’s products and services, and is responsible for public relations, advertising and communications activities.
The highest paid senior executives in the industry work at credit unions with over $5 billion in assets, earning over $200,000 annually with a bonus that can top $40,000. Meanwhile, someone in a similar position at a credit union one-tenth that size will earn just about half those figures. Some top marketing execs at smaller credit unions break six figures, but that isn’t the norm.
| Senior Marketing Exec. | Base Salary |
Annual Bonus |
Total Comp. |
Avg. Assets |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $1 Billion+ in assets | ||||
| Average | $147,131 | $26,073 | $169,328 | $2.7 billion |
| 25th Percentile | $115,157 | $10,515 | $128,022 | $1.3 billion |
| Median | $145,030 | $23,464 | $160,743 | $1.7 billion |
| 75th Percentile | $180,468 | $32,868 | $201,505 | $2.7 billion |
| 90th Percentile | $200,038 | $42,910 | $229,903 | $4.9 billion |
| $600M – $999M in assets | ||||
| Average | $117,668 | $10,889 | $126,463 | $774 million |
| 25th Percentile | $97,306 | $5,083 | $104,875 | $692 million |
| Median | $115,528 | $8,516 | $125,616 | $761 million |
| 75th Percentile | $131,347 | $14,552 | $138,450 | $863 million |
| 90th Percentile | $150,357 | $20,075 | $163,702 | $923 million |
| $400M – $599M in assets | ||||
| Average | $100,967 | $7,222 | $106,908 | $494 million |
| 25th Percentile | $86,336 | $4,652 | $88,945 | $439 million |
| Median | $96,503 | $6,065 | $101,846 | $505 million |
| 75th Percentile | $114,704 | $8,199 | $123,518 | $546 million |
| 90th Percentile | $130,072 | $17,654 | $138,007 | $565 million |
| $200M – $399 in assets | ||||
| Average | $84,816 | $8,003 | $89,619 | $291 million |
| 25th Percentile | $73,831 | $3,887 | $76,738 | $250 million |
| Median | $85,000 | $5,851 | $87,679 | $281 million |
| 75th Percentile | $91,795 | $9,870 | $97,047 | $349 million |
| 90th Percentile | $105,960 | $16,056 | $112,842 | $372 million |
| $100M – $199M in assets | ||||
| Average | $67,772 | $5,494 | $70,986 | $143 million |
| 25th Percentile | $56,836 | $1,554 | $57,929 | $120 million |
| Median | $67,500 | $3,000 | $71,000 | $138 million |
| 75th Percentile | $77,500 | $7,126 | $79,372 | $159 million |
| 90th Percentile | $92,723 | $11,583 | $103,349 | $186 million |
Marketing Directors/Managers
As defined here, the Marketing Manager or Marketing Director is a non-executive management level position, managing day-to-day operations and supervising staff in support of advertising, public relations, and business development activities. If the job title for the top marketing executive was “Marketing Manager” or “Marketing Director,” their data would be included in the “Senior Executive” group, and not included in this section.
Marketing Managers at $1 billion credit unions earn around $85K, while those at credit unions with $2+ billion in assets will likely break the $100,000 mark. Bonuses range from around $1,500 to $7,500 and up. A Marketing Manager at a $500 million credit union will earn a similar bonus, but get a salary around $75K.
| Marketing Manager/Director |
Base Salary |
Lowest Range |
Highest Range |
Annual Bonus |
Total Comp. |
Avg. Assets |
Avg. Members |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All Credit Unions | |||||||
| Average | $70,325 | $55,990 | $86,929 | $4,707 | $73,659 | $879 million | 74,378 |
| 25th Percentile | $55,000 | $44,644 | $68,226 | $1,755 | $56,989 | $222 million | 20,695 |
| Median | $67,127 | $52,400 | $85,572 | $3,874 | $69,140 | $541 million | 45,744 |
| 75th Percentile | $78,996 | $65,000 | $102,000 | $5,772 | $83,413 | $1.2 billion | 101,786 |
| $1 Billion+ | |||||||
| Average | $82,126 | $61,867 | $98,559 | $5,681 | $86,354 | $2.0 billion | 163,706 |
| 25th Percentile | $67,156 | $50,601 | $85,745 | $3,383 | $70,117 | $1.3 billion | 108,763 |
| Median | $72,113 | $59,300 | $96,827 | $4,908 | $75,162 | $1.8 billion | 142,023 |
| 75th Percentile | $94,320 | $68,600 | $108,000 | $7,476 | $98,535 | $2.4 billion | 195,494 |
| $500 Million | |||||||
| Average | $73,387 | $51,127 | $77,200 | $4,141 | $76,234 | $517 million | 48,563 |
| 25th Percentile | $64,603 | $45,312 | $66,665 | $2,486 | $66,397 | $473 million | 33,535 |
| Median | $71,285 | $47,566 | $71,628 | $3,953 | $76,174 | $528 million | 47,000 |
| 75th Percentile | $86,380 | $57,528 | $88,470 | $5,360 | $87,899 | $569 million | 65,813 |
Marketing Specialist/Coordinator
CUES defines Marketing Specialists and Marketing Coordinators as those who work under supervision to implement marketing and communication activities. Typical support functions include working with mailing houses and printers on daily promotional- and branch marketing needs.
Some Marketing Coordinators at small credit unions make just a shade more than $30K, while those at billion-dollar CUs can earn nearly twice as much. Bonuses for Marketing Coordinators are modest, ranging from a few hundred dollars up to a couple thousand.
| Marketing Specialist Coordinator |
Base Salary |
Lowest Range |
Highest Range |
Annual Bonus |
Total Comp. |
Avg. Assets |
Members |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All Credit Unions | |||||||
| Average | $42,591 | $34,573 | $54,324 | $1,868 | $43,702 | $954m | 80,964 |
| 25th Percentile | $36,757 | $30,076 | $46,888 | $988 | $37,779 | $269m | 27,560 |
| Median | $41,640 | $33,263 | $51,868 | $1,622 | $42,674 | $576m | 55,033 |
| 75th Percentile | $47,481 | $38,029 | $59,997 | $2,467 | $48,595 | $1.2b | 108,542 |
| $1 Billion+ | |||||||
| Average | $46,782 | $38,132 | $62,606 | $2,709 | $48,338 | $2.2b | 172,897 |
| 25th Percentile | $40,466 | $32,609 | $52,426 | $2,093 | $41,930 | $1.2b | 110,067 |
| Median | $43,490 | $36,221 | $59,956 | $2,763 | $45,005 | $1.8b | 150,000 |
| 75th Percentile | $50,983 | $42,642 | $66,532 | $3,500 | $53,463 | $2.5b | 209,672 |
| $500 Million | |||||||
| Average | $42,504 | $33,678 | $51,317 | $1,299 | $43,298 | $501m | 46,261 |
| 25th Percentile | $38,485 | $29,500 | $48,896 | $1,000 | $38,786 | $433m | 33,051 |
| Median | $42,639 | $33,600 | $50,400 | $1,347 | $43,680 | $531m | 45,802 |
| 75th Percentile | $47,953 | $37,049 | $56,228 | $1,871 | $48,979 | $566m | 53,968 |
| $250 Million | |||||||
| Average | $36,694 | * | * | $1,116 | $37,588 | $251m | 32,224 |
| 25th Percentile | $33,977 | * | * | $763 | $34,361 | $237m | 26,595 |
| Median | $37,981 | * | * | $1,038 | $38,904 | $242m | 30,317 |
| 75th Percentile | $40,384 | * | * | $1,581 | $40,932 | $273m | 33,436 |