Sales
Sales is usually considered one of the first rungs on the advertising agency ladder for a new advertising hire. The actual job title in advertising sales but is often a slight variation of the title 'advertising accounts executive'. In this position you will be required to work with the advertising agency's existing clients on new advertising campaigns as well as selling advertising services to new clients. The goal of the ad account executive is to develop an advertising product that adds value for the client and makes profit for the advertising agency.
In this role, you must be prepared to make catchy presentations to prospective clients while at the same time provide vital product development input to the technical team within the advertising agency. Someone who is comfortable working with different types of people, a good communicator and has the ability to multi task would be well suited for this type of advertising work. The educational requirements would normally be any liberal arts or marketing degree.
Media Planning and Research
The medial planning and research role can be broken down into three possible jobs. As an entry level advertising hire, you may start your career as an assistant to a senior media planner or senior researcher. Only after gaining some experience can you then advanced into a full media planner or researcher position. As the media planner, you will be charged with establishing the costs associated with the different types of advertising channels while assessing the effectiveness of each channel.
If you go into research, your role would be similar to that of the media planner but with a heavier research component. The researcher compiles market data, ties it into advertising campaigns and analyzes all the information to determine the success of advertising campaigns on different demographics. A researcher's job is best suited for someone who enjoys working with numbers and compiling data. A degree in marketing or psychology coupled with an aptitude in statistics are the qualifications that would best fit media planning and research jobs.
Design
There is advertising work that is best suited for those with a leaning into art and design. The role can be that of a graphic design artist where one designs the art work and layout for advertisements. This design will feed into the different advertising channels that the client demands; whether it is their website, billboards, posters, leaflets and television ads.
Copywriting
A tag line and script can herald the success or failure of an otherwise perfect advertisement. An advertising copywriter works with clients to develop a script that provides direction for the ad and aims to achieve the maximum possible impact from each ad campaign. To fit well into this role, you should be someone else who is adept at word plays.
There are many other roles to choose from in the advertising arena. The overall outlook of the advertising industry is often a positive one. With each new product that is introduced in any market segment comes the need to effectively make known the product to its target market. In addition, the unique demands of different industries are leading to advertising jobs that are industry specific.
This means that knowledge in a certain industry whether it is automotive, telecommunications, information technology, medicine, retail or manufacturing, will give you an advantage for advertising positions in companies in those industries or in an advertising agency where that industry comprises the largest proportion of its clientele. The most important thing is to always focus on the type of advertising career you would like then sharpening your skills to make sure you stand out among other job applicants for the same role.
