What is An Advertising Account Executive?

An advertising account executive, also known as an AE or ad exec, is someone who oversees a company’s advertising efforts—that may include developing creative concepts, planning ad placement, budgeting, and more. These professionals might work for a brand, media outlet, or an agency and be responsible for deciding where to advertise and coordinating the creative marketing materials with the client.

They must collaborate well with others while working closely with clients and remaining confident enough to make their own decisions and recommendations when necessary. So, let’s dive into a few more things to think about if you’re thinking about hiring one for your company.

What is an Advertising Account Executive?

An advertising account executive often oversees the day-to-day operations of an ad campaign including things like online promotions or activations plus more traditional outlets like print, radio, and television ads as well as social media marketing, out of home, and others.

The person in this role typically must be able to think strategically while at the same time meeting deadlines and making sure that everything is done on a budget. In addition, these professionals are often responsible for communicating creative ideas with the marketing director and working with clients so they can stay updated on their company’s progress throughout each project.

They also serve as a liaison between the client team members, so everyone is aware of what needs to happen next during production, such as writing copy or coordinating graphic design work with freelance artists or designers.

Responsibilities of an Advertising Account Executive

An advertising account executive might manage a company’s internal and external advertising and marketing communications. They need to have a strong understanding of how different types of advertising work so they can effectively market a product or service to the right audience.

They could oversee creating, implementing, and planning all of the advertising and marketing communications for their organization. Their job description might include supervising staff members, managing various projects, generating ideas for new campaigns, and more.

Some of the main responsibilities of an advertising account executive are:

• Serve as the primary point of contact and direct liaison to client and creative team
• Work with clients and team members to develop strategies for each project or campaign
• Oversee all aspects of the advertising campaign
• Helping the creative team to design creative campaigns
• Meet with clients to discuss their needs and budget restrictions
• Decide where to advertise and what marketing materials to produce
• Organize promotional events for new clients
• Coordinate with internal team members, ensuring everyone is aware of plans, upcoming deadlines, and related tasks
• Establish deadlines, track progress, and make sure everything is being done on a budget
• Coordinate with freelancers or outsourced workers
• Develop campaign briefs or reporting for any campaign
• Preparing and presenting proposals for clients

In addition, some AEs may also attend trade shows on behalf of their company or client to stay connected on industry trends or meet potential customers.

Sought-After Skills for an Advertising Account Executive

If you want to work as an advertising account executive, you must have a few key personality traits. These include:

Strong communication skills: You need to effectively communicate with clients, team members, and freelancers to get your work done on time and within budget. Client relationship management in a central part of this job.

Organization and detail-orientation: Organizational skills are extremely important for this profession. There are a lot of moving parts when coordinating any campaign.

Creative thinking: When developing advertising and marketing strategies, you need to be inventive and come up with ideas that haven’t been used before.

Ability to work under pressure: Many clients will want their creative work completed in time for an event, campaign launch, or some other type of milestone. You’ll need to be able to handle meeting deadlines and still make sure that everything looks good!

Advertising Account Executive Job Description

A successful advertising account executive often needs to be creative, an excellent communicator, comfortable leading meetings or presentations, and have excellent negotiation skills at their disposal. They will need to work under pressure with strict deadlines in many situations.

Advertising Account Executive Salaries

The average salary for an advertising account executive ranges from $80,000 to $120,000 per year. This amount can vary depending on a number of factors such as experience, location, and company size.

What Are Some Typical Advertising Account Executive Duties?

They will vary depending on if you are working with an agency providing ad services to clients, or selling advertising from a media outlets to clients, or are in-house at a company providing services. Each one will be very different day to day.

Some common job duties might include creating campaign proposals, working with clients to understand their needs and goals, overseeing production of creative assets, implementation of campaigns, managing budgets and invoices, and analyzing data to assess campaign effectiveness. These would all be great to ask about in your interviews for advertising account executives if you are hiring for this role.

Advertising account executives have a variety of responsibilities that can help them grow professionally and learn about how marketing campaigns operate from beginning to end.

 

Need to hire an AE for your team? Insight Global can help! We have access to incredible leaders and creatives across the marketing industry.