Career Girls

Overview:

In general, advertising, promotions, and marketing managers plan programs to generate interest in a product or service. They work with art directors, sales agents, and financial staff members.

Sports marketing specialists, focus on sports atheletes, teams, leagues, and events. They often work for sports teams or leagues such as the NFL or the WNBA.

Advertising, promotions, and marketing managers typically do the following:

• Work with department heads or staff to discuss topics such as contracts, selection of advertising media, or products to be advertised
• Gather and organize information to plan advertising campaigns
• Plan the advertising, including which media to advertise in, such as radio, television, print, online, and billboards
• Negotiate advertising contracts
• Inspect layouts, which are sketches or plans for an advertisement
• Initiate market research studies and analyze their findings
• Develop pricing strategies for products to be marketed, balancing the goals of a firm with customer satisfaction
• Meet with clients to provide marketing or technical advice
• Direct the hiring of advertising, promotions, and marketing staff and oversee their daily activities

Advertising managers create interest among potential buyers of a product or service for a department, for an entire organization, or on a project basis (account). They work in advertising agencies that put together advertising campaigns for clients, in media firms that sell advertising space or time, and in organizations that advertise heavily.

Advertising managers work with sales staff and others to generate ideas for an advertising campaign. They oversee the staff that develops the advertising. They work with the finance department to prepare a budget and cost estimates for the advertising campaign.

Often, advertising managers serve as liaisons between the client requiring the advertising and an advertising or promotion agency that develops and places the ads. In larger organizations with an extensive advertising department, different advertising managers may oversee in-house accounts and creative and media services departments.

In addition, some advertising managers specialize in a particular field or type of advertising. For example, media directors determine the way in which an advertising campaign reaches customers. They can use any or all of various media, including radio, television, newspapers, magazines, the Internet, and outdoor signs. 

Advertising managers known as account executives manage clients' accounts, but they don't develop or supervise the creation or presentation of the advertising. That becomes the work of the creative services department.

Promotions managers direct programs that combine advertising with purchasing incentives to increase sales. Often, the programs use direct mail, inserts in newspapers, Internet advertisements, in-store displays, product endorsements, or special events to target customers. Purchasing incentives may include discounts, samples, gifts, rebates, coupons, sweepstakes, and contests.

Marketing managers estimate the demand for products and services that an organization and its competitors offer. They identify potential markets for the organization’s products.

Marketing managers also develop pricing strategies to help organizations maximize profits and market share while ensuring that the organizations' customers are satisfied. They work with sales, public relations, and product development staff.

For example, a marketing manager may monitor trends that indicate the need for new products and services. Then they oversee the development of that new product.

Work Environment:

Advertising and promotions managers held about 31,000 jobs in 2014. Thirty-one percent of them worked for advertising agencies or public relations companies.

Marketing managers held about 194,300 jobs in 2014. 

Because the work of advertising, promotions, and marketing managers directly affects a firm’s revenue, they typically work closely with top executives. The jobs of advertising, promotions, and marketing managers are usually stressful, particularly near deadlines. They may travel to meet with clients or representatives of communications media.

Most advertising, promotions, and marketing managers work full-time. About 2 in 5 advertising and promotions managers worked more than 40 hours per week in 2012.

Education and Training:

A bachelor’s degree is required for most advertising, promotions, and marketing management positions. For advertising management positions, some employers prefer a bachelor's degree in advertising or journalism. A relevant course of study might include classes in marketing, consumer behavior, market research, sales, communication methods and technology, visual arts, art history, and photography.

Courses in business law, management, economics, finance, computer science, mathematics, and statistics are advantageous. For example, courses in computer science are helpful in developing an approach to maximize traffic through online search results, which is critical for digital advertisements and promotions. In addition, completing an internship while in school is highly recommended.

Advertising, promotional, and marketing managers typically have work experience in advertising, marketing, promotions, or sales. For example, many managers are former sales representatives; purchasing agents; buyers; or product, advertising, promotions, or public relations specialists.

Skills to Develop:

Analytical skills: As the advertising industry changes with the rise of digital media, advertising, promotions, and marketing managers must be able to analyze industry trends to determine the most promising strategies for their organization. 

Creativity: Advertising, promotions, and marketing managers must be able to generate new and imaginative ideas.

Decision-making skills: Managers often must choose between competing advertising and marketing strategies put forward by staff.

Interpersonal skills: These managers must deal with a range of people in different roles, both inside and outside the organization.

Management skills: Advertising, promotions, and marketing managers must manage their time and budget efficiently while directing and motivating staff members.

Job Outlook:

The median annual wage for marketing managers was $131,180 in May 2016. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $67,490, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $208,000.

The median annual wage for advertising and promotions managers was $100,810 in May 2016. The median wage is the wage at which half the workers in an occupation earned more than that amount and half earned less. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $44,950, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $208,000.