Example Career: Advertising and Promotions Managers

Career Description

Plan, direct, or coordinate advertising policies and programs or produce collateral materials, such as posters, contests, coupons, or give-aways, to create extra interest in the purchase of a product or service for a department, an entire organization, or on an account basis.

What Job Titles Advertising and Promotions Managers Might Have

• Advertising Director
• Advertising Manager
• Classified Advertising Manager
• Promotions Director

What Advertising and Promotions Managers Do

• Inspect layouts and advertising copy and edit scripts, audio and video tapes, and other promotional material for adherence to specifications.
• Plan and prepare advertising and promotional material to increase sales of products or services, working with customers, company officials, sales departments, and advertising agencies.
• Gather and organize information to plan advertising campaigns.
• Confer with clients to provide marketing or technical advice.
• Direct, motivate, and monitor the mobilization of a campaign team to advance campaign goals.
• Confer with department heads or staff to discuss topics such as contracts, selection of advertising media, or product to be advertised.
• Prepare budgets and submit estimates for program costs as part of campaign plan development.
• Prepare and negotiate advertising and sales contracts.
• Plan and execute advertising policies and strategies for organizations.
• Assist with annual budget development.
• Provide presentation and product demonstration support during the introduction of new products and services to field staff and customers.
• Formulate plans to extend business with established accounts and to transact business as agent for advertising accounts.
• Direct and coordinate product research and development.
• Identify and develop contacts for promotional campaigns and industry programs that meet identified buyer targets, such as dealers, distributors, or consumers.
• Represent company at trade association meetings to promote products.
• Read trade journals and professional literature to stay informed on trends, innovations, and changes that affect media planning.
• Consult publications to learn about conventions and social functions and to organize prospect files for promotional purposes.
• Coordinate activities of departments, such as sales, graphic arts, media, finance, and research.
• Train and direct workers engaged in developing and producing advertisements.
• Track program budgets and expenses and campaign response rates to evaluate each campaign based on program objectives and industry norms.
• Monitor and analyze sales promotion results to determine cost effectiveness of promotion campaigns.
• Coordinate with the media to disseminate advertising.
• Contact organizations to explain services and facilities offered.
• Manage sales team including setting goals, providing incentives, and evaluating employee performance.
• Assemble and communicate with a strong, diverse coalition of organizations or public figures, securing their cooperation, support and action, to further campaign goals.

What Advertising and Promotions Managers Should Be Good At

• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
• Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
• Written Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
• Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
• Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
• Speech Recognition - The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
• Fluency of Ideas - The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
• Near Vision - The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
• Inductive Reasoning - The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).

What Advertising and Promotions Managers Need to Learn

• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Communications and Media - Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.
• Administration and Management - Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
• Sales and Marketing - Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
• Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
• Computers and Electronics - Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
• Clerical - Knowledge of administrative and clerical procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and other office procedures and terminology.
• Production and Processing - Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
• Telecommunications - Knowledge of transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.