The online Master of Communication Management can ignite the careers of a wide variety of professionals. Designed for students at various professional levels across many communication-related disciplines, this immersive online degree helps graduates advance their communication careers in everything from corporate and strategic communications to marketing and public relations. The program cultivates dynamic communication management skills — including critical thinking, writing, presentation and oral advocacy — which can significantly expand your career opportunities in the communications field. What can you do with a master’s in communication? Consider the array of communication degree career options.
Master's in Communication Management Careers
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Communication Management Career Opportunities
MCM graduates have parlayed their degrees into key roles at various professional levels. Examples include:
Administrator
Analyst
Director / Associate Director
C-suite: CEO / CIO / COO / CFO
Supervisor/Manager
Vice President
Alumni of the USC online MCM program are change-makers at dynamic organizations of all sorts, including:
- Brown and Caldwell
- Canon Solutions America
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- The City of Las Vegas
- DISYS
- General Electric
- GP Strategies
- Integrity Public Relations, Inc.
- Kaiser Permanente
- Keurig Green Mountain
- Merck
- Outfront Media
- Roots of Peace
- Signet Maritime Corporation
- State Farm
- Teacher Created Materials
- Tesoro Refining and Marketing
- The University of Southern California
- WSS
- YWCA
Click here for additional Master's in Communication Management career resources.
Communication Manager Graduate Salary Range
While communication manager salaries vary, the median annual income for those holding a master’s in communication was about $65,000 as of June 2021, according to PayScale. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports that in May 2020, communication managers, categorized as advertising, promotions and marketing managers, earned salaries ranging from $68,940 to $208,000. Take a look at the salaries our graduates earn.
$100k+
33% of grads
$76k - $100k
26% of grads
$51k - $75k
40% of grads
$0 - $50k
2% of grads
*Data from 52 respondents surveyed in March 2016
6 Career Opportunities in the Field of Communication
Analyst
Job Description and Salary
Analysts in communication roles perform research that helps organizations better understand their consumers and employees. When focused on consumer research, analysts collect and interpret data about customer satisfaction and sales trends. They also examine consumer buying habits and preferences, making use of public opinion polls, focus groups and interviews. This allows them to uncover insights that improve sales and marketing strategies, as well as strengthen product development tactics. Some analysts focus on employee insights, gathering feedback and survey data to help company leaders make data-driven decisions regarding employee hiring, training and management. Analysts may design processes for collecting and conducting research, in addition to creating and delivering reports to stakeholders. According to the BLS, insight analysts earned a median annual salary of $65,810 in May 2020.
Administrator
Job Description and Salary
Communication administrators help implement and monitor an organization’s communication strategies — the communication tactics used to support an organization’s business objectives. Communication administrators create marketing materials, including press releases, newsletters and social media posts, and contribute to their organizations’ websites. They also track the success of communication campaigns and help plan promotional events, press conferences and meetings to improve the image and brand of an organization. The BLS reports that public relations specialists, whose job duties align closely with those of communication administrators, earned a median annual income of $62,810 in May 2020.
C-Suite Positions
Job Description and Salary
Top executives in communications may be referred to as chief communication officers, or they may have executive titles with the phrases public relations or internal and external communications attached. These organizational leaders communicate a company’s business strategy across many audiences, including investors, employees, the public and the media. This role involves handling corporate communications, internal communications and reputation management. It also entails consulting with and serving as a strategic adviser to other organizational leaders about transparent and consistent messaging. Overall, communication C-suite positions have the responsibility of making sure their departments leverage digital communications and other innovative forms of communication to advance their organizations’ performance. The BLS reports that top communication executives earned a median annual income of $185,950 in May 2020.
Supervisor/Manager
Job Description and Salary
Communication managers handle the internal and external communication of organizations. This involves organizing and overseeing the design and content of marketing materials and devising communication strategies that grow brand awareness and customer loyalty programs. It also involves preparing media activity reports and generating fresh ideas with marketing departments to promote a company's services and products. Communication managers often collaborate with writers, designers and marketers. They earned a median annual salary of about $66,000 as of June 2021, according to PayScale.
Vice President
Job Description and Salary
A vice president of communications develops an organization’s communication strategy and contributes to its strategic planning process. Communication professionals in these executive positions oversee the communication activities that build and promote an organization’s reputation. They also develop and implement various public relations activities geared toward advancing an organization’s strategy and positioning goals. Additionally, a vice president of communications is responsible for ensuring communication materials align with an organization’s placement and brand. This often involves designing rules and guidelines about messaging for organization employees. According to PayScale, as of May 2021, vice presidents of communications earned a median annual income of about $149,500.
Director
Job Description and Salary
As organizational leaders, communication directors manage outreach strategy and ensure unified and compelling messaging. They oversee the communications and public relations staff, making sure the internal and external materials produced speak to a company’s values and vision, both clearly and accurately. This involves reviewing and approving marketing materials such as press releases, as well as communications such as internal memos. Communication directors may advise top executives on effective strategies for communicating an organization’s brand, and they may also train employees on how to speak to the media. Additionally, communication directors often serve as the spokespeople for their organizations. Communication directors earned a median annual income of around $84,000 as of June 2021, according to PayScale.
Communication Management Skills You Should Know
Modern Media Skills
Today’s fast-evolving digital world has changed how and where people communicate. It has shifted consumers’ expectations and influenced the ways employees interact with their employers. To keep up, communication professionals must have a firm grasp of tech alongside sharp digital and social media skills. This means knowing how to leverage the potential of social media platforms, ranging from Reddit and LinkedIn to Instagram and Facebook, and becoming knowledgeable about which strategies work best on each one. It also means putting digital tools to work, whether they be emerging software or online platforms such as Google Analytics.
Successful communication professionals know how to choose the channels and marketing tools that best deliver a brand’s message. They also have the media skills that allow them to create the personalization consumers have come to expect. Our online Master of Communication Management courses teach students to effectively maneuver online marketing, new media technologies and big data, making them tech savvy and digital ready.
Research Skills
Well-crafted communications speak to the values and beliefs of an audience. Identifying those values and beliefs requires research. By collecting key information about what an audience wants or thinks, communication professionals gain important insights. They can then design materials that not only reach but also connect with their intended audiences.
Research allows for a strategic approach in business communications. It empowers communication professionals to tailor their messaging and helps them evaluate the effectiveness of their efforts. The online Master of Communication Management curriculum gives students many opportunities to cultivate their research skills and learn methods and approaches that will help them thrive in numerous communication management jobs.
Storytelling
Compelling storytelling sits at the center of effective brand communications. Successful communication professionals harness storytelling as a tool to develop messaging that people relate to and understand. They use it to both motivate and move employees and consumers alike.
The marketing materials that communication professionals develop contain many storytelling elements. By using these elements effectively, communication professionals inspire people to share materials on social media and evoke emotions that prompt people to make a purchase or become loyal customers. Our online Master of Communication Management coursework explores the storytelling techniques and methods that communication professionals need to develop meaningful narratives.
Analytical and Problem-Solving Skills
If you aspire to be a trendsetter in the digital age, the ability to analyze and solve real-world business and communication problems is essential. Organizations rely on communication professionals to critically analyze data to make informed decisions. To help their organizations stay competitive, communication professionals need critical-thinking skills to not only interpret and glean insight from data but to also uncover ways to maximize those insights to their greatest effect.
Determining the best marketing strategies and assessing the effectiveness of communication materials and programs also calls for honed analytic and problem-solving skills. The online Master of Communication Management curriculum provides students with the chance to apply analytical skills to real-world business problems and devise actionable solutions that build the expertise they will need in the workplace.
Collaboration
Product launches, public relation campaigns, promotional events — none of these activities materialize in a bubble. They all require collaboration among many parties. To successfully work across departments coordinating projects, listening to and giving feedback, and generating new ideas, communication professionals must be excellent team players and leaders.
Our online Master of Communication Management program not only provides students with important theoretical knowledge that facilitates collaboration and teamwork but also offers students group-work experiences where they apply these skills in practice.
Frequently Asked Questions
Corporate Communications Manager Career Overview
What does a corporate communications manager do? Discover the full job description, educational requirements, salary expectations and other key details.
Media Planner: Salary and Job Description
Media planners help brands find their voices — and their most loyal customers. Learn about a media planner’s salary, job description and earning potential.
Brand Strategist Career Overview
What is a brand strategist? Learn more about the basic job description, daily duties, required education and overall salary expectations for this role.