Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Advertising Sales Manager

🎯 Role Definition

The Advertising Sales Manager is responsible for leading revenue generation and client relationships across assigned markets and product lines (digital display, video, native, programmatic, OTT/CTV, audio and sponsorships). This role manages the full sales cycle — prospecting, pitch development, negotiation, contract execution, campaign onboarding and performance optimization — while working cross-functionally with ad operations, product, analytics and marketing to deliver measurable ROI for advertisers. The Advertising Sales Manager is a strategic seller, data-informed analyst, and relationship builder who consistently exceeds sales targets and scales repeatable revenue programs.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Senior Account Executive (Digital/Media Sales)
Media Sales Representative / Outside Sales Rep
Agency Account Manager (media/advertising)

Advancement To:

Senior Advertising Sales Manager
Director of Advertising Sales / Head of Revenue
VP, Sales or Chief Revenue Officer (for larger publishers/platforms)

Lateral Moves:

Account Director / Client Services Director
Programmatic/RTB Specialist
Strategic Partnerships / Business Development Manager

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Develop, own and execute a territory and vertical sales plan to achieve monthly, quarterly and annual revenue targets across display, video, native, programmatic and sponsorship inventory; forecast pipeline and report on progress to senior leadership.
Prospect and generate new business by identifying decision-makers, cold/outbound calling, email campaigns, networking, and leveraging agency and publisher relationships to expand advertiser footprint.
Manage the full sales cycle from lead qualification to contract negotiation and closure, ensuring pricing, inventory allocation and commercial terms align with company goals and client needs.
Build customized, data-driven media proposals and pitch decks that articulate audience reach, targeting strategies, expected KPIs, ROI estimates and measurement approaches specific to each advertiser.
Negotiate deal economics, terms and value-adds (sponsorships, custom content, audience extensions) to maximize yield while maintaining strong long-term client relationships.
Maintain and update CRM (Salesforce or equivalent) with accurate pipeline, deal stages, activity logs and revenue commitments; produce weekly and monthly forecasts.
Collaborate with Ad Operations and Trafficking teams to ensure seamless campaign setup, ad tag implementation, QA, trafficking, and timely launch of campaigns.
Work with Analytics and Insights teams to develop post-campaign performance reports, extract learnings, and present optimization recommendations to clients and internal stakeholders.
Identify and develop upsell / cross-sell opportunities across product lines (native, video, programmatic, email, events) to grow existing accounts.
Respond to RFPs and lead creation of agency-facing proposals, ensuring pricing accuracy, inventory availability and compliance with agreed SOWs.
Manage client billing validation and address invoicing or payment issues in coordination with Finance to minimize revenue leakage.
Monitor market trends, competitor activity and industry measurement standards (MRC, IAB) to ensure competitive product positioning and pricing strategies.
Partner with Product and Marketing to inform ad product roadmap, beta test new ad formats, and help develop packages that address advertiser needs.
Execute programmatic deals and PMP setups in collaboration with programmatic operations, including setting targeting parameters, deal IDs and priority lanes.
Train and mentor junior sales and account team members on sales best practices, negotiation tactics, and product knowledge; contribute to hiring and performance evaluations.
Manage and grow agency relationships, ensuring that agency partners have the materials, training and support needed to sell your inventory effectively.
Attend industry events, trade shows, and client meetings to network, maintain market presence and secure high-value opportunities.
Provide frequent competitive intel to revenue leadership and propose pricing promotions or seasonal programs to accelerate demand.
Oversee creative briefs and collaborate with internal creative or client creative teams to ensure ad assets meet spec and are optimized for performance.
Ensure compliance with legal and privacy requirements (GDPR, CCPA), editorial standards, and platform policies when negotiating campaigns and collecting audience data.
Create and manage customized measurement and verification strategies (viewability, fraud prevention, brand lift, attribution) in partnership with measurement partners.
Lead negotiations for long-term strategic partnerships, sponsorships, or bundled deals that include events, newsletters, and premium placements.

Secondary Functions

Support ad-hoc reporting requests, build custom dashboards and perform exploratory analysis to answer prospect and client questions about audience, performance and targeting.
Contribute insights to the organization’s commercial strategy, pricing matrix and product roadmap based on customer feedback and market demand.
Collaborate with business units (sales, product, ad ops, analytics, marketing) to translate client objectives into operational requirements and measurable campaign plans.
Participate in sprint planning and agile product development sessions to prioritize features that enable sales and improve campaign delivery.
Develop and maintain sales collateral, case studies, rate cards, and one-pagers for quick response to agency and client inquiries.
Set up and optimize CRM automations and email nurture sequences to accelerate lead conversion and standardize prospect follow-up.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Proven expertise with CRM systems (Salesforce strongly preferred) for pipeline management, forecasting, and reporting.
Deep understanding of digital ad tech: programmatic ecosystem (DSPs, SSPs, CMPs), header bidding, PMP, ad servers (e.g., Google Ad Manager) and tracking pixels.
Experience with programmatic buying platforms (DV360, The Trade Desk, Xandr) and programmatic deal structuring.
Strong analytical skills with experience using analytics tools (Google Analytics, Adobe Analytics) and data visualization tools (Looker, Tableau) to translate campaign performance into insights.
Competence in building ROI and budget models, pricing proposals and financial forecasts; comfort with Excel (advanced functions, pivot tables).
Familiarity with measurement, attribution, viewability and fraud prevention partners (Moat, IAS, DoubleVerify).
Knowledge of digital ad formats (display, video, native, CTV/OTT, audio) and technical creative requirements.
Experience drafting and negotiating commercial contracts, insertion orders (IOs), and statements of work (SOWs).
Ability to set up and interpret campaign tracking tags, UTM structure, and post-click/post-view attribution.
Comfortable using proposal and presentation tools (PowerPoint, Keynote, Google Slides) to build compelling sales decks.

Soft Skills

Strong consultative sales approach with exceptional client-facing communication and presentation skills.
Excellent negotiation and persuasive skills to close complex, multi-line deals.
Strategic thinking and commercial acumen to prioritize opportunities that maximize long-term revenue.
Results-oriented, self-motivated and driven to meet and exceed KPIs and quota.
Collaborative mindset with proven ability to work cross-functionally and influence without direct authority.
Problem-solving agility to troubleshoot campaign issues and propose fast, practical solutions.
Time management and organizational skills to manage multiple accounts and deadlines concurrently.
Coaching and mentoring capability to develop junior team members and build high-performing sales teams.
Resilience and adaptability in a fast-changing media and ad-tech environment.
Attention to detail, especially in contracts, billing and campaign specs to avoid revenue and delivery errors.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Bachelor's degree in Marketing, Business Administration, Communications, Advertising, or related field.

Preferred Education:

MBA or advanced degree in Marketing/Business or relevant professional certifications (IAB, Google Ads certification, programmatic certifications).

Relevant Fields of Study:

Marketing
Business Administration
Communications
Media/Journalism
Economics
Data Analytics

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

3–7 years in media sales, digital advertising sales, or agency-side account management for a mid-level Advertising Sales Manager role.
For senior manager-level roles, 5–10+ years with demonstrated leadership and quota responsibility.

Preferred:

Proven track record of consistently exceeding sales targets and closing six- to seven-figure deals.
Experience selling programmatic, video/CTV, native, and cross-platform campaigns.
Background working with agencies and direct brands, familiarity with RFP processes and agency commission structures.
Prior experience managing or mentoring junior sellers and coordinating multi-disciplinary teams (ad ops, analytics, product).
Demonstrated ability to use data to drive sales strategies and present measurable business outcomes to senior client stakeholders.