How To Become An Advertising Manager

If you are creative, imaginative and love generating new ideas for advertisements, a career as an advertising manager could be right up your alley. You conceptualize advertising and promotional campaigns for print, online, television and radio placements.

You usually work with the sales staff to brainstorm ideas for the campaign and coordinate closely with people in the finance department of a company to prepare the budget and expenses related to the promotion.

Since this is a supervisory position, you are also in charge of hiring staff members and overseeing their day to day work. You can find employment in advertising agencies, media companies and corporations that advertise a lot.

Although advertising managers need to be creative and imaginative, they also need to be effective and persuasive communicators since they will be talking with managers, staff and others in the advertising industry. In addition, you also need to possess negotiation skills as you will be dealing with advertising contracts. More importantly, they must have the knack for analyzing industry trends so they can come up with persuasive and compelling advertising strategies.

Why Become An Advertising Manager

For those who love the challenge posed by the competitive world of advertising, a career as an advertising manager will prove to be fulfilling. If you want an avenue to showcase your creativity, imagination and powers of persuasion by producing different advertising products in various media, you can definitely do so by being an advertising manager. It’s a career that pays well, too.

Advertising Manager Work Environment

Advertising managers usually work full time for companies providing advertising, public relations and similar services. They often work directly with top executives of the company since the promotional materials and ads that they produce often have a direct impact on the company’s revenues.

Because the world of advertising is also quite competitive, the work environment is also stressful. When deadlines are looming, advertising managers often work more than 40 hours a week.

Advertising Manager Salary

According to the May 2012 data of the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, advertising and promotions managers receive a median annual wage of $88,590. The lowest 10 percent got no more than $43,270 while the highest paid belonging to the upper 10 percent got more than $187,200.

Average Advertising Manager Annual Salary

$123,880

The average annual salary for advertising managers is $123,880 a year. Salaries start at $48,150 a year and go up to $208,000 a year.

Average Advertising Manager Hourly Wage

$59.56

The average hourly wage for a advertising manager is $59.56. Hourly wages are between $23.15 and $100 an hour.

Stats were based out of 28,100 employed advertising managers in the United States.

Highest Paying States For Advertising Managers

1. New York $82.95 / hr $172,540 / yr
2. New Jersey $71.42 / hr $148,540 / yr
3. Arkansas $70.04 / hr $145,680 / yr
4. Massachusetts $69.36 / hr $144,260 / yr
5. Washington $65.90 / hr $137,080 / yr

Top Paying Cities For Advertising Managers

1. Boulder, CO $93.49 / hr$194,460 / yr
2. New York, NY $85.36 / hr$177,550 / yr
3. El Paso, TX $81.88 / hr$170,300 / yr
4. Trenton, NJ $74.85 / hr$155,680 / yr
5. Boston, MA $73.45 / hr$152,770 / yr

Data provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

Advertising Manager Career Outlook

For the ten-year period covering 2012 to 2022, the employment of advertising and promotions managers is expected to increase 7 percent. This is considered slower than the average of all occupations. The rise of digital media will help increase the demand for this profession as companies need advertising managers to take care of their social media and website campaigns.

This is a good thing, too, as newspaper publishers, which historically hire a lot of advertising managers, will post a decline in their need for them.

Advertising Manager Degree

Advertising managers usually hold a bachelor’s degree in advertising. In some cases, employers will consider those with a bachelor’s degree in journalism.

Those who intend to look for opportunities in the advertising field as a manager, would also do well to take up courses in consumer behavior, sales, marketing, communication methods, visual arts and communications technology. A background in photography and the visual arts will also help.