Women are top dogs in marketing at design firms

FAYETTEVILLE, ARK. — Women are calling the shots in marketing departments at design firms all across the continent. Gender equality isn’t a problem here, since women have a firm stronghold on managerial positions, according to ZweigWhite’s new 2013 Marketing Survey of Architecture, Engineering, Planning & Environmental Consulting Firms. Sixty eight percent of marketing managers are female and 57 percent of marketing directors are also women. Marketing coordinators at A/E/P and environmental firms are almost entirely female (90 percent).

The domination doesn’t extend to the business development side, where only 32 percent of BD reps are female.

Base salaries are similar among marketing directors and business development reps ($95,000 and $100,000 respectively) and almost all have at least a bachelor’s degree. Master’s degrees are more common among the predominately female marketing director position than they are in the male-dominated business development representative position (30 percent versus 15 percent). Both positions are more likely to have earned an advanced degree than marketing managers (13 percent) and marketing coordinators (8 percent).

Overall, marketing departments comprise a relatively small percentage of total staff at design firms (median of 2.9 percent, with a median ratio of total staff to marketing staff of 26:1).
Close to three-quarters of firms report having a designated marketing department consisting of at least one full-time, dedicated marketer, though firms with an average annual growth of 20 percent or more are more likely to have a marketing department than slow growth or stable firms.

The survey found that on average marketing staff labor accounts for a mean of 31.8 percent of total marketing expenses.

The survey was completed by over 100 A/E/P or environmental consulting firms of varied sizes and types, from every region of the country. For more information, visit https://zweiggroup.com/surveys.