Advertising Sales Rep

Career Overview

Advertising sales representatives are most often called "account executives" in the media businesses where they work. Their job is to present sales proposals to new or existing clients, and to sell advertising to their client base on an ongoing basis.

Advertising sales representatives work for newspapers, magazines, direct mail firms, radio stations; TV broadcast stations and cable TV firms. Their work includes presenting an analysis of their market, their ratings against the competition, and a pricing structure based on the client's request. Many media companies have differing rate structures for clients based on advertising frequency- it is the advertising representative's responsibility to have those price break structures committed to memory.

Education

Employers with businesses that require extended and frequent meetings with clients often prefer an advertising sales representative with a bachelors degree, including some course work in business or advertising or communications. Over half of all advertising representatives have bachelors degrees according to U.S. Department of Labor data from 2006.

Current Employment

Advertising sales agents held over 170,000 jobs in 2006, according to the Department of Labor. A third of the jobs were in newspaper, periodical, book, and directory publishers; another third in advertising and related services; and nearly twenty percent in radio and television broadcasting.

Job Outlook

Job opportunities for advertising sales representatives are projected to grow by 20% over the decade from 2006 to 2016; almost twice as fast as the overall growth rate for all job categories.

Median Salary Range

Motion picture and video industries     $55,340
Cable and other subscription programming    $50,260
Advertising and related services     $47,640
Radio and television broadcasting     $41,110
Newspaper, periodical, book, and directory publishers  $36,880

Source: U.S. Department of Labor