Businesses both large and small have been voicing their opinions on a minimum wage increase since early in 2014 when the topic sparked the interest of President Obama. The President is largely for a federal minimum wage increase. Even a slight increase in pay would help to off-set growing cost of living expenses and provide financial relief to millions of workers across the United States. 

Marketers, however, feel that an increase to the federal minimum wage would hamper their ability to carry through marketing campaigns. As a recent Forbes article discusses, 

"They worry that the higher labor costs they face as a result of these changes may dramatically impact the true costs of implementing their marketing strategies, in turn negatively impacting their efforts to facilitate corporate growth effectively."  

Are these fears warranted? 

Salary.com reports that the average yearly pay for a Chief Marketing Officer in Orlando, FL is $190,000, while a Marketing Director could expect to make roughly $110,000 a year. With top personnel in marketing making six figures a year should lower level employees be sentenced to a deficient minimum wage? Salary.com says no. Even an entry-level marketing assistant with 0-1 year experience averages over $35,000 a year in Orlando – nearly double the states minimum wage of $7.93 an hour. 

To hire competent help for a marketing campaign, CMOs should not be looking to minimum wage employees. Although, it is true that a minimum wage increase would likely have a direct impact on warehouse operations, manufacturing or basic administrative payroll spend, the fear that a federal increase in minimum wage would impact marketing results is simple unrealistic.