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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Advertising Sales Executive

💰 $ - $

🎯 Role Definition

An Advertising Sales Executive is a revenue-focused sales professional responsible for driving advertising revenue across digital, OTT, social, and/or traditional media platforms. This role combines consultative selling, media planning knowledge and ad-operations coordination to develop tailored advertising solutions, close new business, grow existing accounts, and meet or exceed assigned quota. The ideal candidate is data-driven, client-facing, fluent in ad technology and formats (programmatic, direct-sold, native, video), and experienced at translating advertiser objectives into measurable campaigns that deliver ROI.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Junior Sales Representative / Sales Development Representative (SDR)
  • Account Coordinator / Media Coordinator
  • Inside Sales or Business Development in media, marketing, or technology

Advancement To:

  • Senior Advertising Sales Executive / Account Director
  • Regional Sales Manager / Team Lead
  • National Account Director or Head of Sales
  • Vice President of Sales / Commercial Director

Lateral Moves:

  • Client Success / Account Management Lead
  • Partnerships or Programmatic Product Manager
  • Marketing or Brand Partnerships Manager

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Prospect, qualify, and pursue new advertiser and agency relationships across digital and/or broadcast platforms by executing targeted outreach, leveraging industry networks, and using sales intelligence tools to build a robust sales pipeline.
  • Develop and present customized media proposals and campaign plans that align client KPIs (brand awareness, lead generation, conversions) with appropriate ad formats, placements, and pricing models.
  • Negotiate rates, packages, and contract terms with advertisers and agencies to maximize revenue while protecting margin and inventory value for the publisher or media owner.
  • Manage the full sales cycle from lead generation through contract execution, ensuring timely approvals, signed insertion orders, and handoffs to ad operations for trafficking and delivery.
  • Consistently achieve and exceed monthly, quarterly, and annual sales quotas and revenue targets through new business sales and expansion of existing accounts.
  • Maintain accurate and up-to-date sales pipeline and opportunity records in CRM (e.g., Salesforce, HubSpot), including forecasting, stage updates, and deal close probabilities.
  • Collaborate with ad operations, programmatic teams, and creative services to ensure campaigns are trafficked correctly, meet technical specs, and deliver on agreed KPIs.
  • Monitor campaign performance and provide advertisers with regular performance reporting, optimization recommendations, and post-campaign analyses that drive renewals and upsells.
  • Identify upsell and cross-sell opportunities (sponsorships, premium placements, native content, video, OTT) within existing accounts and craft value-based pitches to increase share of wallet.
  • Respond to RFPs and pitch opportunities from agencies and direct advertisers, leading the pitch process and coordinating internal subject-matter experts to win business.
  • Build long-term strategic relationships with agency buyers and brand marketers by acting as a consultative media partner who understands marketing objectives, budgets, and timelines.
  • Stay informed on industry trends, ad tech innovations (DSPs, SSPs, header bidding), and competitor offerings to position the media product effectively and advise clients on best practices.
  • Prepare and deliver persuasive sales presentations and product demos to senior client stakeholders, C-suite marketers, and agency decision-makers.
  • Collaborate with pricing, yield, and inventory management teams to recommend optimal pricing structures, discounted packages, and strategic inventory allocation to maximize revenue.
  • Lead contract negotiation and IO (Insertion Order) management, ensuring compliance with legal and brand safety requirements, cancellation policies, and payment terms.
  • Develop strategic account plans for high-value advertisers, outlining growth opportunities, campaign roadmaps, and long-term partnership objectives.
  • Coordinate cross-functional internal resources (marketing, editorial, data science) to create bespoke sponsorships, branded content and integrated campaigns that meet client goals.
  • Attend industry conferences, seminars, and client events to represent the company, generate leads, and stay connected to market needs and buyer behavior.
  • Prepare weekly and monthly sales reports and forecasts for senior leadership, highlighting pipeline health, deal progress, risks, and competitive intelligence.
  • Train and mentor junior sales staff, sharing best practices for consultative selling, proposal creation, and CRM hygiene to scale team performance.
  • Engage in pricing negotiations for complex, large-scale or multi-market campaigns and develop mutually beneficial revenue models (CPM, CPC, CPA, flat-fee sponsorships).
  • Ensure accurate invoicing and support collections teams by resolving client billing questions, contractual disputes, and delivery discrepancies.
  • Leverage audience data, targeting capabilities and first-/third-party data integrations to craft campaigns that maximize reach, relevance and measurable outcomes.
  • Drive retention and renewal strategies by conducting regular business reviews, aligning campaign learnings to future objectives, and securing multi-quarter or annual commitments.

Secondary Functions

  • Provide market feedback to product and ad tech teams to inform roadmap decisions, packaging of new inventory, and feature prioritization based on advertiser demand.
  • Support go-to-market launches for new ad products, contributing sales collateral, case studies, and training materials to accelerate adoption.
  • Assist in competitive analysis and pricing strategy reviews to refine positioning and maintain market competitiveness.
  • Participate in cross-functional initiatives such as brand safety, privacy compliance (GDPR/CCPA), and measurement partnerships to protect advertiser trust.
  • Help design and execute pilot campaigns or proof-of-concept buys with key clients to validate new formats and justify scale.
  • Contribute case studies, testimonials and success stories for the marketing team to use in demand-generation and thought leadership content.
  • Monitor ad delivery issues, troubleshoot with ad ops and technical teams, and provide timely communication to clients when remediation is required.
  • Support renewals and retention campaigns by identifying churn risks and proposing incentive or value-add programs to retain clients.
  • Mentor interns and participate in recruitment interviews to build a high-performing sales organization.
  • Maintain CRM and sales collateral hygiene, ensuring all customer interactions, contracts and creative briefs are documented for cross-team visibility.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Consultative B2B media sales and account management experience with a track record of meeting quota.
  • Proficiency with CRM platforms (e.g., Salesforce, HubSpot) for pipeline management, forecast reporting and activity tracking.
  • Strong understanding of digital advertising ecosystems: programmatic (DSP/SSP), Google Ad Manager (DFP), header bidding, and ad servers.
  • Experience building media plans and pricing models across formats (display, video, native, OTT/CTV, social).
  • Ability to analyze campaign performance with analytics tools (Google Analytics, Datorama, Tableau) and translate data into optimization recommendations.
  • Familiarity with targeting solutions and audience segments (first-, second-, third-party data) and how they impact campaign outcomes.
  • Competence creating persuasive proposals, IOs, SOWs, and responding to RFPs with clear ROI-based messaging.
  • Negotiation skills for closing complex deals, multi-market buys and long-term contracts.
  • Basic financial literacy to manage revenue forecasting, margin considerations, discounts, and rebate structures.
  • Experience with presentation and productivity tools (PowerPoint/Google Slides, Excel/Sheets) to build decks and ROI models.
  • Knowledge of ad verification, viewability, brand safety tools and privacy regulations affecting campaigns (GDPR, CCPA).

Soft Skills

  • Exceptional verbal and written communication with the ability to present confidently to senior client stakeholders.
  • Consultative problem-solving mindset focused on client objectives, value creation and long-term relationships.
  • Strong relationship-building skills and emotional intelligence for managing agency and brand partnerships.
  • Resilience and persistence in a quota-driven environment; able to manage rejection and maintain pipeline momentum.
  • Time management and organizational skills to prioritize multiple active deals and deliverables simultaneously.
  • Strategic thinker who can align client marketing goals with media capabilities and business outcomes.
  • Collaborative team player who works cross-functionally with ad ops, product, marketing and legal to deliver campaigns.
  • High attention to detail for contract terms, campaign specs and billing accuracy.
  • Adaptability to rapidly evolving ad tech, product offerings and buyer preferences.
  • Leadership and mentoring aptitude for coaching junior colleagues and influencing internal stakeholders.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • Bachelor's degree or equivalent practical sales experience; degree in business, marketing, communications, or related field preferred.

Preferred Education:

  • Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Business Administration, Advertising, Communications, Media Studies, or related discipline; MBA or advanced coursework in sales/marketing is a plus.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Marketing
  • Business Administration
  • Advertising
  • Communications
  • Media Studies
  • Data Analytics / Digital Media

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

  • 2–7 years of progressive experience in media sales, advertising sales, digital sales, or agency-side account management. (Entry-level roles may accept 1–2 years with strong internships.)

Preferred:

  • 5+ years of direct advertising sales experience with demonstrated success selling digital and programmatic solutions, managing large agency relationships, and exceeding revenue targets. Experience with OTT/CTV, video sponsorships, and cross-platform campaigns is highly desirable.
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