Fashion Marketing Careers: 9 Roles With Tasks and Salary

Updated 2 April 2023

A career in fashion marketing typically requires artistic and technical skills to help manage and promote a brand's marketing campaigns. If you're passionate about fashion and are considering a career in the fashion industry, working as a fashion marketer could be for you. Learning about the various available roles, required skills and typical salaries can help determine your career choices. In this article, we discuss different fashion marketing careers, provide steps for becoming a fashion marketer and identify some tips to consider if you're contemplating a career in fashion.

What are fashion marketing careers?

Fashion marketing careers refer to marketing roles that promote clothing items and accessories. Professionals working in fashion marketing typically manage social media accounts and coordinate marketing campaigns to raise brand awareness and encourage sales of fashion brands. There's a wide range of career options available, from traditional marketing to e-commerce and publicity.

A fashion marketer usually either works with several brands, such as a marketer at a marketing agency, or can work exclusively with a specific brand or designer. Some typical responsibilities of a fashion marketer may include:

managing marketing campaigns
creating a brand image and messaging
identifying the target audience of a brand
analysing market reports to measure performance
creating unique content for various channels
scheduling photoshoots for new fashion collections
predicting and monitoring fashion trends and buyer behaviour
researching opportunities to enhance customers' shopping experience
managing marketing budgets
facilitating communication with customers on behalf of a designer or brand.

9 typical roles within fashion marketing

There are various roles you may pursue if you're interested in a career in fashion marketing. Here are a few options to consider, including the typical duties of each role and their average salaries:

1. Marketing assistant

National average salary: $58,751 per year

Primary duties: A marketing assistant working in the fashion industry is typically responsible for assisting with the administrative tasks of a broader marketing team or marketing manager. Tasks can include helping with the execution of marketing strategies, events or campaigns. Other duties may involve data entry, data analysis, writing content or distributing promotional material. Having strong communication skills, good attention to detail and a basic understanding of marketing concepts can help you succeed in this role.

2. Marketing coordinator

National average salary: $69,639 per year

Primary duties: A fashion marketing coordinator implements campaigns using sales analysis and data insights. They can prepare marketing strategies, working closely with marketing managers to determine goals and objectives. In addition, they may plan promotional presentations and support social media. Strong problem-solving skills and the ability to research thoroughly and analyse data are often vital for an effective marketing coordinator.

3. Event coordinator

National average salary: $68,800 per year

Primary duties: An event coordinator in the fashion industry typically works with brand and marketing managers to plan events that raise brand awareness and generate sales. The role may involve brainstorming with marketing teams to create new and exciting ideas for promotional events. It can also involve preparing budgets and managing vendors to support events, such as booking catering or organising lighting specialists. Good organisational skills are beneficial if you're looking for a role as an event coordinator.

4. Social media manager

National average salary: $81,878 per year

Primary duties: As a fashion social media manager, you're typically responsible for managing a brand or designer's online presence. This can involve developing a social media strategy, creating content, analysing posts' performance and managing online campaigns. Social media managers can work closely with brand managers and may identify trends relating to customer interactions to help increase brand loyalty and retention.

5. Digital and e-commerce manager

National average salary: $98,810 per year

Primary duties: A digital and e-commerce manager specialising in fashion is typically responsible for managing the digital marketing strategy for a brand or designer. Duties can involve introducing initiatives that aim to generate traffic or drive customer engagement and conversion levels. They're usually also responsible for developing online sales strategies, including using websites, CRM, social media and e-commerce tools. A large part of their role usually centres around analysing data, such as email marketing results, establishing benchmarks and reporting on campaign outputs.

6. Brand manager

National average salary: $95,851 per year

Primary duties: A fashion brand manager is usually the 'brand guardian' and creates the strategy for a brand's target market. Developing a brand can include creating style guides, vision and value propositions. In addition, the brand manager is typically responsible for maintaining brand integrity across all marketing and communications. Brand managers can also assist with pricing, new product launches and identifying new business opportunities.

7. Head of marketing

National average salary: $156,580 per year

Primary duties: The head of marketing oversees all the marketing activities for the designer or brand. They usually work closely with the creative, sales and marketing teams to develop targeted marketing campaigns. These professionals also manage budgets and marketing projects. They may work closely with internal or external research teams to undertake market research that helps develop appropriate marketing strategies.

8. Fashion merchandiser

National average salary: $109,649 per year

Primary duties: As a fashion merchandiser, your role revolves around making fashion relatable to the target audience. This can include attending fashion shows, researching and monitoring fashion trends, working with the designers and sales teams to plan launches and developing marketing strategies, including advertising. You may also manage relationships with retail outlets, price clothing and work with suppliers and manufacturers.

9. Fashion publicist

National average salary: $86,220 per year

Primary duties: A fashion publicist's role is to create and pitch story ideas for fashion media. In addition, they're usually responsible for developing and providing talking points for any media visits, interviews or press conferences. They produce press releases and press kit materials. A vital skill of the role is relationship management, building strong relationships with relevant stakeholders in key media publications relating to the target audience of the brand or designer.

How to become a fashion marketer

If you're interested in working in fashion in a marketing role, these steps can help:

1. Complete a bachelor's degree

Securing a role in fashion marketing usually requires you to complete a bachelor's degree in marketing or communications. Most degrees take three years and you can specialise in marketing, journalism, communications, advertising, public relations, business management or multimedia. All can teach valuable marketing tools transferable across any industry, including fashion.

2. Arrange an internship

While you're studying, securing an internship can help get you relevant experience. Some degrees include work experience placements as part of your course. In addition to providing you with practical experience, internships offer an excellent opportunity to build your professional network. The organisations you work for as an intern and the people you meet can be valuable when you're looking for full-time employment after you graduate. They also provide you with an excellent opportunity to understand what area of fashion marketing you enjoy most to help you specialise.

To organise an internship, consider contacting some organisations you're interested in working for and ask them about any potential work experience opportunities that exist. Also, share with them the reason you're interested in interning with them. For example, offer details about what inspiration you took from the designer's latest collection. If your university provides career advice, they may be able to help arrange a placement for you.

3. Apply for marketing positions

Once you graduate, contact the network you've established via your internship. They may be able to let you know about job opportunities. Also, ask any lecturers or professors at your university and anyone you worked closely with if they can provide a reference for you.

Depending on where you live, roles in the fashion industry may be competitive, so you may wish to consider looking for marketing or sales experience in other sectors to gain experience if you have trouble finding something in fashion. For instance, working in a retail sales role may provide valuable contacts, knowledge and transferable skills. Additionally, securing a junior marketing role within an agency that services a range of clients can be helpful and you may get the opportunity to work with a retail or fashion client.

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Tips for working as a fashion marketer

These tips can be helpful if you're considering a career in fashion marketing:

Ask questions. Being curious about how the industry operates, new trends, upcoming designers, campaigns and advertising can be helpful to increase your knowledge of the fashion industry. These insights can help you create effective marketing strategies.
Discover your niche. The fashion industry is vast, so if you're interested in specialising, work out what area of fashion you're most passionate about. You may consider women's fashion, jewellery, shoes, children's fashion, cosmetics and fragrances.
Stay relevant. The fashion industry is constantly changing, and staying up to date with the latest fashion trends can help you be successful as a fashion marketer. Monitoring the latest marketing trends, including technology, can also help to improve your marketing strategies.

Salary figures reflect data listed on Indeed Salaries at time of writing. Salaries may vary depending on the hiring organisation and a candidate's experience, academic background and location.