Have you been offered a job that you really want, but the salary isn’t quite high enough? Or is it missing that hybrid working that’s make or break for you? Well then you might be wondering how to negotiate your salary offer. And you’ve come to the right place.

Because a job offer is just that, an offer. And this gives you the room to negotiate the salary offer. Salary negotiation is no easy task and can be scary, especially if you really want the job. But the offer shows that the company thinks you’re the best candidate for the job, and this gives you room to negotiate. 

It’s a strong job market for digital marketers at the moment. With more open job vacancies than digital marketers to fill them, you have more options for your next role and more bargaining power when it comes to job-offers. 

As recruitment consultants we regularly negotiate with our clients on behalf of the digital marketers we work with. So we’re no strangers to the negotiating table.

So whether it’s better benefits, more flexible working options or a higher salary you’re after, we’ve got you covered. We’ve put together the best tips on how to negotiate a salary after the job offer.

10 Steps To Negotiate a Salary After A Job Offer

1. Do your research to make sure you’re being offered the market average.
2. Use your individual skills and experience to create an argument for why you should be paid more than the market average.
3. Find similar job adverts for remote roles, and use those as a basis for your salary negotiation.
4. Use statistics and real life examples to support your case.
5. Establish realistic expectations and set them once – Let them know that if they meet your offer, then you will accept it.
6. Give the interviewer a salary expectation – Or don’t, so you don’t lowball yourself out of an even higher offer.
7. Negotiate salary and any other benefits all at once. Not one after the other.
8. Is salary the only solution? Or would you consider other benefits?
9. Be prepared for rejection – Consider your other options.
10. Work with a recruiter in your industry who can help you negotiate.

1. Do Your Research To Make Sure You’re Being Offered The Market Average

The first step to negotiate a salary after the offer, is to make sure you’ jbiw how much you can realistically expect. Which means understanding the market average for your position. You can use independent salary comparison websites such as Glassdoor or Reed to research the average salary for your job in your location. 

Additionally, look at active job adverts online to gain an understanding of the salaries that are available at the time of your negotiation. You can use popular job boards like indeed for a general idea, but you’re best off using a more specialised job board for your industry for the highest and most accurate salaries. For example, if you’re working in digital marketing, you can use the jobs being advertised here at Herd Digital.

2. Create an Argument For Why You Should Be Paid More Than This

If you are being offered the market salary but feel you deserve more, it’s time to create a case for that. Here’s a few examples of the different reasons you can use to argue your higher worth than other candidates:

Your Years of Experience

If you have more than the minimum years of experience they are asking for, you’ll likely have more experience than a lot of the other candidates they have interviewed. Hence why you have been offered the role.

Location

Location can often have a huge effect on pay, depending on the cost-of-living in your area. For example, if you’re working in London, then you should be paid more than the national average for the UK. 

Your Individual Experience – What Makes You Unique

If you have a specific skill set or experience that is valuable in your industry or in this position, this makes you worth more to the business. For example, maybe you’re an SEO Content Manager who has experience with technical SEO. While the job you’re applying for may not ask for any technical SEO experience, in a salary negotiation you can argue how your understanding of and experience with technical SEO makes you better as a content writer who can offer better insight to the agency’s clients.

3. Remote Work Can Mean Higher Pay For Everyone

The increase in remote work has opened jobs to larger talent pools than they’ve ever had before, especially in industries that aren’t as reliant on a physical location, like digital marketing. Which means that you’ve never had more options for your next role.

This also means that remote roles based in higher cost-of-living areas are now accessible by those who live in lower cost-of-living areas. And if you can demonstrate that there are remote jobs out there paying more for the exact same role, you have yourself a strong case for salary negotiating

4. Use Statistics and Real Life Examples To Support Your Case

If there’s anything digital marketing managers love, it’s facts, figures, and data analysis. So being able to prove just how impactful you were in your last role with statistics that support your argument is a great way to start your salary negotiation.

So use examples of your past impact on client accounts to demonstrate what you can do for your new employer’s clients. Did you improve your businesses lead conversion rate by 50%? Or did you win a new client that became a long-lasting partnership for your company? Because examples like this are easy to use to argue why you’re worth the extra £5,000 a year.

5. Establish Realistic Expectations and Set Them Once

So you’ve created a solid and well researched argument for why you deserve a higher salary than the initial offer. You’re all ready to negotiate your salary for your new job.

But you also want to make it clear to the interviewer that if they can meet you where you want, then you will accept the offer. That if they can meet you at your desired and established salary expectations, you’re on board. 

With how in-demand skilled digital marketers are, you could have multiple companies vying for you. But no company wants to feel like they’re being played off against another. It’s not the greatest way to start a new work partnership.

6. Give The Interviewer a Salary Expectation – Or Don’t

Using your market research you should be able to set a realistic expected salary, factoring in your years of experience and skills etc.

Which means you can give the interviewer an exact figure or salary range of what they need to offer. But should you? While some would argue it as one of the biggest mistakes you can make in a salary negotiation (see below), we would argue it’s dependent on your situation.

If you’ve done the proper research you should know how much your role with your level of experience will pay. So there’s a lot less guesswork of “seeing how much they can offer”. But if you’re in a role that has a much larger range in salary, then it can be better to not give an exact figure.

7. Negotiate a Salary after a Job Offer At The Same Time as Any Other Benefits You Need.

If salary isn’t the only issue with the offer you’ve been made, it can be tempting to address the problems one by one in order of significance to you. It seems logical. But what you really want to do is present all your issues at once. 

This helps prevent the employer from losing interest by feeling that you’re moving the goalpost, or just trying to squeeze them for all you can get.

8. Is Salary The Only Solution? Or Would You Consider Other Benefits?

You’re here to negotiate salary after the job offer, but is salary everything? Or would you consider other benefits instead of a strict increase in salary? More flexible/ hybrid working? An increased pension contribution? Or more holidays?

It’s worth taking the time to better prepare yourself for the negotiation by considering the alternatives. For some businesses it’s simply not a possibility to offer a higher salary. It could be against company policy, financially impossible, or outside of the capabilities of the hiring manager. But what they might be able to offer are extra incentives and benefits like those above.

9. Be Prepared For Rejection

Despite your best efforts and following these tips to the letter, you still may not be given the salary increase you’re arguing for. While it may feel like the value doesn’t think you’re worth the extra money, as we mentioned sometimes it’s just not a possibility for the business. So try not to take it too personally.

You should decide beforehand if you would accept the job if you aren’t given the salary increase you are looking for. This way, whatever the outcome, you’ll be ready to either accept the job offer or thank them for their time and start your search anew.

10. Work With a Recruiter In Your Industry

But the very best advice on salary negotiation, is to have an expert who does it for a living, negotiate your salary for you. If you work with a recruiter, you can have them fighting your corner for you. And the recruiter has a working relationship with the client as well. They can offer you advice on how to approach the conversation, what’s most important to the client, or if you’ll be wasting your time with the conversation.

And don’t forget, the more you get paid, the more the recruiter gets paid. So they’ll always be trying to get you the highest salary they can.

Here at Herd Digital, we work with our candidates to find them a salary that works for them. Because we’re only interested in building long-term relationships with digital marketers and finding them jobs where they will be happy.

If this sounds like something you’d be interested in, you can reach out to us here, to be put into contact with the recruitment consultant that’s most relevant to you.