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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Advertising Executive

💰 $45,000 - $90,000

MarketingAdvertisingMediaSalesCommunications

🎯 Role Definition

An Advertising Executive is a client- and performance-focused marketing professional who develops, sells, executes and optimizes advertising campaigns across digital and traditional channels. The role involves media planning and buying, campaign trafficking and ad operations, budget management, creative coordination, vendor negotiations, and data-driven performance optimization. The Advertising Executive partners with clients, internal creative and analytics teams, and external publishers to deliver measurable brand and business outcomes, maintaining high-quality campaign delivery and strategic insight for future growth.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Account Coordinator or Junior Account Executive (advertising/marketing agency)
  • Media Planner / Media Assistant
  • Sales Executive or Business Development Representative with advertising experience

Advancement To:

  • Senior Advertising Executive / Senior Media Buyer
  • Account Manager / Account Director (agency)
  • Media Director / Head of Media or Programmatic Lead

Lateral Moves:

  • Performance Marketing Manager
  • Brand Marketing Manager
  • Programmatic Trading Desk Specialist

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Develop and present comprehensive media plans that align with client objectives, target audience insights, brand positioning and campaign KPIs, recommending the optimal mix of digital, social, programmatic, display, video, audio and traditional channels to maximize reach and ROI.
  • Lead the end-to-end campaign lifecycle: brief creative, set targeting parameters, negotiate rates and placements, manage trafficking instructions, launch campaigns and monitor delivery to ensure budgets, pacing and goals are met.
  • Manage client relationships through regular status calls, performance reviews and strategic planning sessions; translate business goals into measurable advertising strategies and communicate complex media concepts in clear, actionable terms.
  • Negotiate media buys and inventory access with publishers, networks, platforms and exchanges to secure competitive pricing, value-added placements and premium creative opportunities that enhance campaign performance.
  • Configure and manage programmatic campaigns using DSPs and ad exchange platforms; set up audience segments, bidding strategies, frequency caps, viewability targets and brand safety controls.
  • Oversee campaign targeting strategies, including audience segmentation, retargeting, contextual targeting and geo-targeting, to improve efficiency and deliver conversion-oriented results.
  • Execute ad trafficking tasks: creative ingestion, QA, tag placement, verification, and troubleshooting across ad servers (e.g., Google Ad Manager, Sizmek) and social platforms to ensure accurate reporting and creative rendering.
  • Monitor and optimize live campaigns using A/B testing, bid adjustments, creative rotation, placement exclusions and audience refinements to improve click-through rates (CTR), conversion rates and cost-per-acquisition (CPA).
  • Build and maintain campaign dashboards and customized reports in Google Analytics, Ads Manager, Data Studio, Tableau or other reporting tools to provide timely insights and actionable recommendations to clients and internal stakeholders.
  • Analyze campaign performance data to identify trends, anomalies and opportunities for optimization; translate data into concise recommendations that improve campaign effectiveness and client ROI.
  • Collaborate with creative teams to brief ad creatives, ensure messaging consistency across channels, and test creative formats (video, static, carousel, native) to maximize engagement and lift.
  • Manage campaign budgets and pacing forecasts, reconcile invoices, and ensure campaigns deliver within agreed financial parameters while meeting performance goals.
  • Ensure compliance with brand safety, privacy (e.g., GDPR, CCPA) and ad platform policies; implement tracking governance and consent-first measurement practices.
  • Lead post-campaign performance analyses and deliverables, including insights, learnings, competitive benchmarking and strategic recommendations for subsequent media plans that reinforce growth.
  • Drive cross-sell and upsell opportunities by identifying additional media solutions or value-enhancing integrations that align to client business objectives and revenue targets.
  • Maintain up-to-date knowledge of industry trends, platform updates (Google, Meta, TikTok, programmatic ecosystems), and emerging ad formats to advise clients on innovative strategies and keep campaigns cutting-edge.
  • Coordinate with production, creative, legal and compliance teams to manage timelines, asset specifications and approvals, ensuring smooth execution from concept to live campaign.
  • Implement attribution models and measurement frameworks (e.g., last-click, multi-touch, incrementality testing) to more accurately measure advertising impact and advise on media mix adjustments.
  • Prepare and present persuasive pitch materials, media proposals and RFP responses that demonstrate strategic thinking, expected outcomes and value to prospective and existing clients.
  • Manage and mentor junior staff or agency partners on campaign execution, reporting best practices and media operations to build team capability and deliver consistent service quality.

Secondary Functions

  • Support ad-hoc performance analyses and exploratory data deep-dives to answer client questions and support strategic pivots during live campaigns.
  • Liaise with third-party measurement vendors, tag management and analytics teams to implement tracking pixels, offline conversion uploads and server-side integrations for robust measurement.
  • Maintain and document standard operating procedures for campaign setup, troubleshooting, creative QA and reporting to improve operational efficiency and reduce errors.
  • Collaborate with sales and business development to inform pricing strategies, inventory packaging and promotional offers based on historical campaign performance and market demand.
  • Participate in process improvement initiatives, tooling evaluations and adoption of automation (scripts, API integrations) to accelerate campaign optimization and reporting cadence.
  • Monitor competitive advertising activity and industry benchmarks to provide clients with context and defensible recommendations for strategy adjustments and creative testing.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Media planning and buying across digital, social, programmatic, video and traditional channels.
  • Programmatic advertising and DSP operation (e.g., The Trade Desk, DV360, MediaMath).
  • Hands-on experience with Google Ads, Microsoft Advertising, Meta Ads Manager and TikTok Ads.
  • Ad trafficking and ad server experience (e.g., Google Ad Manager, AdButler, Sizmek).
  • Campaign measurement and analytics (Google Analytics 4, Adobe Analytics, attribution modeling).
  • Reporting and visualization tools (Data Studio / Looker Studio, Tableau, Excel / Google Sheets advanced).
  • Tag management and tracking implementation (Google Tag Manager, pixel troubleshooting).
  • Familiarity with ad verification, viewability, brand safety tools (e.g., IAS, DoubleVerify) and privacy/compliance requirements (GDPR, CCPA).
  • Budget management, pacing forecasts and media reconciliation/invoicing.
  • Creative briefing and A/B testing methodologies for copy, creative formats and landing pages.
  • CRM and marketing automation basics (Salesforce, HubSpot) to coordinate lead flows and performance measurement.
  • Basic SQL or familiarity with data querying for performance deep-dives (preferred).
  • Knowledge of SEO/SEM fundamentals to align paid and organic strategies (preferred).

Soft Skills

  • Client-facing communication with the ability to translate technical performance metrics into business outcomes.
  • Strong negotiation skills for media buying and vendor management.
  • Analytical mindset with strong attention to detail and data-driven troubleshooting.
  • Strategic thinking to connect campaign tactics to broader brand and growth objectives.
  • Project and time management; ability to juggle multiple campaigns and deadlines.
  • Collaborative team player who can work cross-functionally with creative, analytics and sales teams.
  • Presentation and storytelling skills to create persuasive pitches and client reports.
  • Adaptability and curiosity to stay current with fast-evolving ad tech and platform features.
  • Problem-solving orientation with initiative to propose optimizations and process improvements.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Advertising, Communications, Business, or related field; or equivalent professional experience.

Preferred Education:

  • Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Marketing, Advertising, Media Studies, Business Administration or related discipline.
  • Professional certifications (Google Ads, Meta Blueprint, The Trade Desk Edge certification) are a plus.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Marketing and Advertising
  • Communications and Media Studies
  • Business Administration
  • Data Analytics / Statistics

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

  • 2–5 years for Advertising Executive / Media Buyer roles; 5+ years for Senior levels.

Preferred:

  • Proven experience managing multi-channel campaigns for consumer or B2B brands, with documented results in performance improvement, budget management and client relationship management. Prior agency experience or in-house brand-side media experience with responsibility for strategy, buying and measurement is highly desirable.
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