An advertising sales manager is in charge of selling advertising space or campaigns for the publication or agency for which they work. For example, if the advertising sales manager works for a magazine, then their job is to sell ad space in the magazine to businesses that relate to the topic or genre of the magazine and appeal to the interests of the publication’s readers.
The advertising sales manager is required to share a lot of information with the client on the publication and the people who read the publication. Generally, the manager provides the client with an advertising sales kit. This kit may include a copy of the publication, if it is a print publication. The kit would also include the demographics on the people who read, use or listen to the media outlet that the advertising manager is trying to sell ad space.
All of this information allows potential advertisers to determine if their target market is the same market as the publication. The marketing kit the sales manager provides may also include an advertising rate sheet, which lists out all of the different advertising options the client can choose from and pricing. The advertising sales manager can discuss these different options with the client to match the client’s purpose or goal for placing the advertisement with their budget, etc.
In addition to selling the advertising space to clients, and advertising sales manager also works with the client to put their ad together. The advertising sales manager may help the client come up with a campaign idea and even work with a graphic designer to lay the ad out.
Advertising sales managers may also help clients to track the success of the marketing campaign the client is running. If the ad campaign is successful, then it helps the advertising sales manager to get the client to renew their advertising contract. Otherwise, the sales manager can make suggestions on how to tweak the ad for better results.
Some advertising sales managers do not work for specific media publications, but instead work for advertising agencies. In this case, the manager acts as a liaison between the client and the variety of media options where the client’s campaign runs. These types of advertising sales managers may also be called account executives, but their primary focus is to help their clients make advertising decisions.