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 giveaways, 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 Manager (Ad Manager)
• Communications Manager
• Promotions Director
• Promotions Manager

What Advertising and Promotions Managers Do

• Plan and prepare advertising and promotional material to increase sales of products or services, working with customers, company officials, sales departments, and advertising agencies.
• Inspect layouts and advertising copy, and edit scripts, audio, video, and other promotional material for adherence to specifications.
• Confer with department heads or staff to discuss topics such as contracts, selection of advertising media, or product to be advertised.
• Coordinate with the media to disseminate advertising.
• Coordinate activities of departments, such as sales, graphic arts, media, finance, and research.
• Plan and execute advertising policies and strategies for organizations.
• Direct, motivate, and monitor the mobilization of a campaign team to advance campaign goals.
• Prepare budgets and submit estimates for program costs as part of campaign plan development.
• Contact organizations to explain services and facilities offered.
• Monitor and analyze sales promotion results to determine cost effectiveness of promotion campaigns.
• Identify and develop contacts for promotional campaigns and industry programs that meet identified buyer targets, such as dealers, distributors, or consumers.
• Track program budgets, expenses, and campaign response rates to evaluate each campaign, based on program objectives and industry norms.
• Read trade journals and professional literature to stay informed on trends, innovations, and changes that affect media planning.
• Manage sales team, including setting goals, providing incentives, and evaluating employee performance.
• Prepare and negotiate advertising and sales contracts.
• Formulate plans to extend business with established accounts and to transact business as agent for advertising accounts.
• Train and direct workers engaged in developing and producing advertisements.
• Assemble and communicate with a strong, diverse coalition of organizations or public figures, securing their cooperation, support, and action, to further campaign goals.
• Provide presentation and product demonstration support during the introduction of new products and services to field staff and customers.
• Represent company at trade association meetings to promote products.
• Direct and coordinate product research and development.
• Analyze marketing or sales trends to forecast future conditions.
• Analyze the effectiveness of marketing tactics or channels.
• Attend or participate in conferences, community events, and promotional events related to products or technologies.
• Conduct research on consumer opinions and buying habits, and identify target audiences for products, services, or technologies.
• Coordinate with marketing team members, graphic artists, and other workers to develop and implement marketing programs.
• Develop communications materials, advertisements, presentations, or public relations initiatives to promote awareness of products and services.
• Develop comprehensive marketing strategies, using knowledge of products and technologies, markets, and regulations.
• Devise or evaluate methods and procedures for collecting data, such as surveys, opinion polls, and questionnaires.
• Maintain portfolios of marketing campaigns, strategies, and other marketing products or ideas.

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).
• Inductive Reasoning - The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
• Near Vision - The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).

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.