Salary guide year
Roles benchmarked
U.S. national ranges
Scope-led agency start
Select a Role to Compare
National U.S. starting-salary ranges from Robert Half 2026 Salary Guide. Select a role to see the benchmark and planning assumptions.
Selected benchmark: Robert Half 2026 national starting-compensation benchmark for Demand Generation Manager. These are national U.S. starting-salary ranges, not guaranteed offers. Geography, industry, company size, skills, certifications, and scope can materially change compensation.
Illustrative Average Compensation Plan
The average uses the published midpoint for the selected role. Every card below shows a numeric amount, formula, and source or planning assumption. The ±5% band applies to the calculated subtotal; it is a budgeting range, not a prediction or quote. U.S. benefit percentages use BLS private-industry median cost relationships; recruiting, equipment, and ramp-up are explicit planning assumptions.
Itemized subtotal: US$170,614. Planning band: US$162,083–US$179,144 (±5%). This total includes salary plus each line item shown above. It is a planning model, not a quote.
Full-Time vs. Apricot Agency
| Category | Full-Time Employee | Apricot Agency |
|---|---|---|
| Paid leave / PTO | US$9,762 · Salary × 9.28% | No client-side employee cost; engagement fee is quoted separately |
| Employer insurance benefits | US$15,297 · Salary × 14.53% | No client-side employee cost; engagement fee is quoted separately |
| Retirement and savings | US$3,574 · Salary × 3.40% | No client-side employee cost; engagement fee is quoted separately |
| Employer FICA (Social Security + Medicare) | US$8,052 · Salary × 7.65% (all benchmark salaries are below the Social Security wage base) | No client-side employee cost; engagement fee is quoted separately |
| Other legally required (unemployment insurance, workers’ compensation, etc.) | US$3,933 · Salary × 3.74% (BLS legally-required total of 11.39% minus FICA) | No client-side employee cost; engagement fee is quoted separately |
| Supplemental pay | US$5,709 · Salary × 5.42% | No client-side employee cost; engagement fee is quoted separately |
| Recruiting and setup | US$4,700 · $4,700 planning reference per hire | No client-side employee cost; engagement fee is quoted separately |
| Equipment, software and overhead | US$6,240 · $3/hour × 2080 hours | No client-side employee cost; engagement fee is quoted separately |
| Ramp-up productivity | US$8,096 · Salary × 8/52 weeks × 50% productivity gap | No client-side employee cost; engagement fee is quoted separately |
Why Consider Apricot Agency?
No employee recruitment process
Avoid creating a new employee requisition and hiring workflow for an urgent capability gap.
No client-side payroll taxes
Apricot is not added to your employee payroll; engagement terms and applicable tax rules still govern the relationship.
No separate benefits administration
Employee benefits are not separately administered by your company for an agency engagement.
Faster access to expertise
Start with an agreed scope, onboarding plan, and measurement approach instead of assuming a fixed ramp period.
Clear engagement boundaries
Use a written scope, deliverables, reporting cadence, and renewal terms to manage risk.
Flexible capacity
Adjust the engagement as priorities, campaign needs, and internal capacity change.
Senior-led delivery
Work directly with experienced strategy and paid-media leadership.
Research before spend
Connect audience, offer, tracking, and campaign decisions to qualified-pipeline goals.
Salary benchmarks. U.S. ranges (US$) are national starting-compensation benchmarks from Robert Half’s 2026 Salary Guide pages for Marketing Manager, Demand Generation Manager, Paid Search Specialist, and Digital Strategist. Canadian ranges (CA$) are Canada-wide hourly low/median/high wages from the Government of Canada Job Bank for NOC 10022 and NOC 11202, annualized at 2,080 hours. For Canada, the three non-manager roles share one official professional-occupation proxy, so their salary figures are identical; treat them as a rough reference, not a role-specific market rate.
Employer-cost method. Each role starts at the benchmark midpoint (the “average”). U.S. mode adds employer FICA (7.65%), other legally required costs, paid leave, insurance, retirement, and supplemental pay using BLS private-industry cost relationships, plus recruiting, equipment/software, and ramp-up assumptions. Canada mode adds employer CPP, CPP2, and EI using CRA rate and cap schedules, plus health benefits, paid leave, retirement, recruiting, equipment/software, and ramp-up planning assumptions. Recruiting, equipment/software, ramp-up, and Canadian health/leave/retirement figures are illustrative assumptions, not measured data. The ±5% band is applied to the calculated total as an approximate planning range, not a statistical confidence interval.
Not modeled. Bonuses, commissions, equity, relocation, severance, provincial payroll taxes and workers’ compensation premiums (for example Ontario EHT and WSIB), state-specific unemployment rates, and management time. The U.S. and Canadian figures are in different currencies and are not converted or directly comparable.
Disclaimer. Actual costs vary by state or province, role, company, and benefits plan. These are planning estimates only, not a quote, offer, or employment, tax, legal, or compensation advice. Rates and benchmark values change; verify current figures with the linked sources before budgeting.
[2] Robert Half, Demand Generation Manager salary benchmark
[3] Robert Half, Paid Search Specialist salary benchmark
[4] Robert Half, Digital Strategist salary benchmark
[5] U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Marketing Managers, May 2025 median
[6] KFF, 2025 Employer Health Benefits Survey (background reference)
[11] U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employer Costs for Employee Compensation
[12] Canada Revenue Agency, payroll deductions and contributions (CPP, CPP2, EI)
[7] IRS, Social Security and Medicare withholding rates
[8] SHRM, The Real Costs of Recruitment
[9] Government of Canada Job Bank, NOC 10022 manager wages
[10] Government of Canada Job Bank, NOC 11202 professional marketing wages