How to become an Advertising Manager

Advertising Managers are the professionals whose efforts are geared towards designing and directing unique and creative advertising campaigns for the company to promote interest in its product/service. They oversee all the promotional and advertising efforts of the company geared towards piquing the interest of the potential buyers to ultimately drive purchase intent. They collaborate with art directors, the sales team, as well as the finance and marketing departments to develop advertisements.

From the medium of advertising to the purchasing incentives that advertisements include, each detail is supervised by the advertising manager.The company`s revenue is directly affected by the work of its advertising manager. Using their insights about the market trends and the needs of the consumers, they ensure that the advertisements rolled out by the company conveys an accurate image of the brand, raises awareness about the brand/product/service, and entices the clients to purchase the product/service.

An advertising manager is responsible for the way in which the customers view the company. They interact with sponsors and media/advertising/promotion agencies for this effect. Advertising managers are common in advertising agencies and large newspapers such as the "Houston Chronicle," where they direct overall sales and creative functions.Newspapers and magazines frequently hire retail advertising managers to oversee business-generated advertising operations, as well as classified advertising managers to direct classified advertising revenue and staff.

A corporate advertising manager frequently collaborates with an outside agency to plan and execute advertising campaigns. An advertising manager may plan a sales staff incentive contest, work on the budget, and meet with a large potential advertiser in a given week. A candidate for advertising manager frequently has experience in advertising sales, marketing, or communications. She may also be creative in her design and be familiar with spreadsheets and other budgeting tools. Another valuable asset is strong computer skills, including familiarity with Internet advertising parameters. Although there is no single career path for an advertising manager, a bachelor`s or master`s degree in a business-related field helps prepare her for the position`s diverse demands.

The specific duties of the advertising manager may differ with regards to the organization. However, below are the typical responsibilities that most advertising managers are tasked with;

• Supervise and coordinate the development of sales and communications materials
• Identify the needs of the company/client to establish objectives and devise advertising plans in accordance with the same
• Inspect layouts, examine the presentation and content of all advertising materials, review the same for approval to publish
• Conduct market research studies, analyze sales trends, customer needs, evaluate the effectiveness of various marketing tactics and use the insights gathered to develop effective advertisement strategies
• Make decisions regarding the selection of appropriate advertising media (such as print, billboards, television, social media platforms etc) and campaign duration
• Hire, train, and supervise the activities of the advertising department 
• Monitor the progress of the advertising activities and evaluate the response rates against the established objectives, assess the cost-benefit ratio of the same
• Collaborate with the finance department to develop pricing strategies for the product/service, advertising contracts, as well as discuss purchasing incentives to be used (such as discounts, coupons, contests)
• Prepare budgets for advertising/promotional campaigns, submit cost estimates, and track expenses
• Negotiate contracts with advertising media agencies and other external parties, coordinate schedules for placement of advertisements

Marketing Advertising management is a critical component of marketing. As a result, you must be able to comprehend your organization's marketing objectives as well as the role advertising plays in achieving those objectives. You use your marketing knowledge to develop the strategy and goals for an advertising campaign, which may include increasing product awareness, generating leads for the sales force, or developing a strong brand. Media To make the best use of your advertising budget, you must be able to identify the target audience for your campaign and choose the media that will provide the most cost-effective coverage of the audience. With a variety of print, television, radio, and outdoor media options, as well as a growing range of digital media, you'll need strong analytical skills to review and assess statistics and research from media owners.

Creativity You must be able to collaborate with designers and copywriters to generate strong creative ideas in order to create advertising campaigns that have an impact and persuade the target audience. Although you may have to come up with the creative ideas yourself, you must provide the creative team with the information and direction they need to come up with ideas that are relevant to the audience. Your job is to write a brief that outlines the campaign's objectives, as well as a detailed profile of the target audience and the reasons for purchasing your product. The brief also summarises the key campaign messages and provides technical information about the medium on which the advertisement will appear.

Communication To deal with a diverse range of specialists both inside and outside your organisation, you must have strong communication and presentation skills. You work with sales, marketing, and product development colleagues to gather background information for your campaign and present your proposals. You must also work with board members and senior financial executives to obtain programme approval and budgets. In advertising agencies and media companies, you collaborate with creative teams or account managers to create campaigns. Management of Projects General management skills are required for advertising managers. You are in charge of allocating and monitoring a budget in order to meet advertising goals.

To plan and monitor the various stages of campaign development so that advertising content is ready for publication, you must have strong project management skills. Increasing Your Contacts Interpersonal communication creates stages in a relationship: time and energy investment, commitment, trust, and comfort level. You are investing in the relationship when you initiate and promptly return media phone calls. This, in turn, persuades the media to commit to a relationship; they see opportunities in the relationship that make it worthwhile to put in the effort. Trust develops as a result of your relationship. One example is a reporter withholding a storey until you give him permission to print it. As you progress through this process, you and the media become more at ease with one another, resulting in a strong media relations programme.