Boston-based Aquent and the American Marketing Association (AMA) today announced the launch of this year’s Compensation Survey of Marketing Professionals. And the news seems mostly good....

The survey—details of which are available here www.marketingsalaries.com—says companies are placing more emphasis on strategic marketing within their organizations and hiring more top-level marketers. In fact, there are more positions available than there are top-tier candidates. Consequently, there’s more opportunity trickling down to mid-level and entry-level marketing positions.

At the same time, there’s been a slight decline in aggregate salaries vs. 2005, across several levels, says Jenny Norwood, Aquent director of brand communications.

Aquent says its survey is the largest and most inclusive free survey of its kind, drawing on data from over 225,000 marketing and creative professionals. Results of the permanent marketers’ portion of the survey, as well as a real-time salary calculator that’s fun to play with, are available now at www.marketingsalaries.com.