Head of Advertising Sales
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The Head of Advertising Sales has the primary responsibility of leading and overseeing the activities of the Advertising Sales department. He will be responsible for the preparation of promotional plans, media kits, ad sales contracts, and advertising sales collateral. The Head of Advertising Sales identifies new markets and also designs and delivers special programs, marketing incentives, partnerships as well as other innovative, ad sales enabling and ad revenue generating opportunities for the business.
He additionally plays a role in the management of the departmental budget in conjunction with senior sales management. The Head of Advertising Sales reports directly to the Director of Advertising.
Objectives and Responsibilities of the Head of Advertising Sales
Leadership/Supervisory Role: The most prominent role of the Head of Advertising Sales is his leadership over the advertising sales department. He oversees the day-to-day leadership of the department inclusive of goal setting, staffing, tracking against departmental and business goals, and team motivation.
In his leadership position, the Head of Advertising Sales is accountable for meeting the business’s weekly/monthly/quarterly, annual ad sales goals. He also tracks and manages the advertiser pipeline for the purpose of informing and exceeding sales department goals as well as the overall goals of the business goals.
The Head of Advertising Sales reviews the business’s sales advertising staff performance in addition to playing a crucial role in their recruitment and hiring. In this position he plays a mentorship role to key advertising sales personnel, assisting in the execution of their tasks when needed, promoting their professional growth, and readying them for the assumption of his role in his absence or retirement.
Strategy: The Head of Advertising Sales also plays a major strategic role in the advertising sales department where he defines the advertising sales strategies. In this position, the Head of Advertising Sales maintains a clear understanding of the business’s full portfolio of products in print/publication and digital form in order to determine the form of strategies most suited to the business.
He is in charge of seeing through the execution of these strategies, proof checking, and overseeing the positioning of all advertising initiatives/campaigns. The Head of Advertising Sales also makes efforts towards the evolution of strategies upon identification of new opportunities for capitalizing on sales.
In this capacity, it is also the role of the Head of Advertising Sales to review and approve, in conjunction with senior sales management, proposed advertisement campaigns prior to their launch.
Research and Analytics: The Head of Advertising Sales is tasked with an analytical role where he conducts the business’s ad sales forecasts for business products and markets in order to aid strategic advertising positioning that will guarantee sales results. Here the Head of Advertising Sales directs the advertising sales department in research in an effort to gather information and compile insights pertinent to the planning and execution of advertising programs.
The Head of Advertising Sales also performs advertising program performance analyses in order to determine areas for improvement with a vision for enabling sales more effectively. He also takes part in conducting advertising financial analyses for the purpose of tracking and reporting overall sales progress and financial position.
Relationships: The Head of Advertising Sales represents the business with a high-level knowledge and integrity and act as a resource for the business’s consumers and agencies. He maintains strong relationships with the existent and prospective consumer base in order to determine their needs and formulate advertisement sales solutions that will address those needs.
The Head of Advertising Sales also maintains relationships with external advertising agencies, dealing in print, broadcast, and digital/online media in negotiating advertisement contracts. He also manages some of the highest-value consumers in order to drive retention, growth, and subsequently enable the achievement of sales objectives and targets.
Collaboration: The Head of Advertising Sales is a highly collaborative role, which involves liaison with the sales department’s heads and the marketing department in order to outline sales advertisements and campaigns. He also develops and manages the department’s budget.
The Head of Advertising Sales works closely with the human resources department in determining the criteria of hiring and recruiting key advertising sales personnel in order to guarantee the efficient execution of functions in the department. The Head of Advertising Sales also works closely with the senior sales management in strategy formulation and decision making for the advertising sales department.
Knowledge and Opportunity: The Head of Advertising Sales is tasked with maintaining knowledge in the advertising sales department, keeping up with the industry’s latest trends and advertisement best practices, which will guarantee that the business does not lag behind of its competition, giving it a competitive edge in the market. In this capacity, he sources for and identifies prospective advertisers and agencies while creating collateral such as advertisement publication and digital materials.
Other Duties: The Head of Advertising Sales also performs similar functions as he deems necessary for the effective execution of his duties or duties as assigned by the Director of Advertising, the Chief Sakes Officer, or the Employer.
Required Qualifications of the Head of Advertising Sales
Education: The Head of Advertising Sales has to have a bachelor’s degree in business, marketing, or any other related field. An equivalent of the same in working experience is also acceptable for the position.
Experience: A candidate for the position must have had at least 7 years of working experience in an advertising sales position within a fast paced and dynamic business environment, preferably working as a senior advertising sales manager. The candidate must have proven and successful experience leading a team through a sales advertising campaign that resulted in the increase of the business’s sales volume and the achievement of sales goals and targets.
A suitable candidate will also demonstrate a clear understanding of not only print but online advertising channels and techniques and will have already established extensive industry and agency connections. He will have a keen understanding of the agency and consumer landscape as well as a high-level of comfort driving sales opportunities in all contexts.
Communication Skills: Communication skills are a must have for this position, where the Head of Advertising Sales’ communication clarity will be a determinant for the efficiency and performance levels of the junior advertising sales personnel. Communication skills will also be necessary in his representative position of the business in sales events, seminars etc., and to consumers.
The Head of Advertising Sales will be a direct reflection of the business’s image and must be able to articulate the business’s messages clearly and in a manner that attracts prospective consumers and encourages the retention of the existent consumers.
These skills will also be necessary in drafting reports and presentations for senior sales management and in drawing advertising materials. He must be capable of tailoring messages for the audience at hand in a clear, concise, creative, and convincing manner.
Technological Savvy/Analytical Skills: Most people in today’s world have adopted technological appliances and technological communication channels into their day-to-day lives. As such, it has become vital that for any advertising managers to have a clear understanding of these technologies and channels if they are to effectively reach consumers and prospects.
The Head of Advertising Sales will also need to have strong analytical skills and a demonstrated passion of drawing useful insights form raw information and data, insights that lead to the improvement of existing advertising campaigns and the creation of new ones, enhancing the performance and effectiveness of the business’s sales efforts.
A candidate for the position must be capable of conducting market, competitive, and performance analyses for the advertising sales department and determine the approaches best suited for the intrusive nature of advertising and further driving the sales agenda.
Interpersonal Skills: A candidate for the position must be consumer-oriented, have a high level of integrity, be self-motivated and enthusiastic, have an ability to work and adapt to cross-functional settings, and have excellent organizational skills with an ability to handle multiple projects.
He must be detail-oriented, have an ability to readily embrace change, be a creative and strategic thinker, have excellent problem-solving skills, have an ability to multi-task and meet tight deadlines, and demonstrate composure under pressure and in times of uncertainty, inspiring the same in his team.
Leadership/People Skills: A candidate for this position must demonstrate an ability to inspire, motivate, and lead a cross-functional team towards a common direction and with a common vision. He will be a likeable and approachable individual, which will make it easy to attract consumers into the business and retain existing consumers.
This will also earn him the trust of junior advertising sales personnel who will readily follow his directives and that of senior sales management who will give credit to his insights and judgments.