Advertising research and promotion positions

The major source of revenue for a web and print publication is the sale of advertising space.

Career opportunities

The following are careers in advertising research and promotion.

Advertising sales representatives

Those who like to sell may find their niche as advertising sales representatives, the people who sell advertising for consumer and trade publications, such as Glamour, Women’s Wear Daily, or Lucky. Other positions in fashion publications include those in advertising research and promotion. Many publications offer positions for those who prefer research.

Advertising research assistant

An advertising research assistant helps sell advertising space in a publication by supplying facts that advertisers will want to know, such as the number of issues sold, the top locations in terms of sales volume, and the profile and buying power of the publication’s readers. These facts indicate the publication’s ability to reach potential customers for the advertiser.

Advertising promotion staff

The advertising promotion staff, yet another source of job opportunities, develops presentations to help sell advertising space to new and existing accounts. These people often have skills in persuasive writing and creative projects.

Media planner

A related job option in advertising is that of a media planner. Media planning is a statistical and mathematical process through which planners determine prices, including quantity discounts, for a media buy that may include several venues, such as radio, television, Internet, and newspaper. They determine how advertising budgets are best spent to generate the most exposure and sales.

Qualifications

Following is a list of qualifications for a career in advertising research and promotion:

Education

A bachelor’s degree in advertising, journalism, business administration, marketing, fashion merchandising, or a related field is required.

Experience

Working in retail sales is a great way to get started while still in school. Selling is selling, whether it is for an apparel retailer or a newspaper publisher. Some students gain direct sales experience selling advertisements for college publications, such as the yearbook and programs for athletic events and theatrical performances. Some enter the advertising industry through copywriting and/or research jobs with newspapers or publishing firms and then move into the advertising sales representative position.

Others gain experience at the retail level through a position in a store’s advertising department, writing copy for advertised items, or laying out the actual advertisement.

Personal characteristics

The ability to sell one’s ideas is key to success in advertising. An understanding of budgets and accounting is necessary. With a high level of attention to detail, successful advertising professionals are focused on accuracy and fact-checking.

Career challenges

Advertising research and promotion personnel must gather data from all types of sources and then compile this research to tell a story—why their media vehicle is the best choice for advertisers to spend their promotional dollars. This job is not an easy one, because it combines the ability to acquire and interpret data with strong writing skills.

Advertising is a creative, numbers-based, and fast-paced field. Advertising research and promotion staff members need to stay up to date on all facets of the competition: their target markets, companies that advertise in their publications, and their advertising rates. As competition in this industry is constantly evolving, this is a time-consuming task.

In the next step, you will have the opportunity to examine the career of the social media director.