Job Descriptions: Account Manager (Advertising)

An Advertising Account Manager is responsible for the sourcing clients, satisfying their advertising requirements and executing a successful advertising campaign.

Working as an Account Manager in Advertising can be an extremely rewarding position and a great starting point for graduates. The main focus of the role is to help clients with their advertising plans, monitor the success of the campaign and compile reports about the campaign. It might be that an Account Manager facilitates designs and promotional material and the distribution of the material, while developing other strategies for the client.

The true art of being an advertising Account Executive or Manager is being able to model the perfect campaign for that individual client and making sure they get the most out of their budget. This is a role that has developed in a new direction with the growth of the internet, making it a more analytical and statistical role.

To be a successful Account Manager graduates need great communication skills so that they get the information they need from the client and approach designers or other creative departments to get exactly what the client needs and wants. Other key skills that are required to be a success in this role are such things as problem solving skills, customer service skills, analytical skills and confidence when it comes to winning client contracts.

Account Manager (Advertising) Salaries

The average starting salary for a graduate Advertising Account Manager is £19,552. This is a fantastic sum to receive, especially in such a hyper competitive field like Advertising and Public Relations. As many of the Account Manager positions are also very junior in the hierarchy at Advertising Agencies and departments, graduates can expect to see increased salaries in their early years at a firm.

It is also interesting to note that the average starting salary that our research has found is also very comparable to similar entry level positions in similar sectors.

The Daily Duties of a Account Manager (Advertising)

As the role of an Account Manager is almost completely client focused, graduates who start their careers in these positions can expect to undertake a variety of tasks in accordance to make their client satisfied. While no two days will be the same and graduate Account Managers will be trusted to come up with a creative and inventive ways to ensure their clients and accounts are as happy as they can be. Here are a few of the tasks that graduate Account Managers can expect to be doing:

• Approaching and pitching to clients - A large part of the Account Manager's duties is approaching or being approached by prospective and previous clients and pitching to get the work. This could involve preparing and delivering presentations to companies and having the confidence to articulate why their agency or organisation is the best and can deliver on its promises.
• Liaising with creative departments - Account Managers can often act as a go-between for clients and the designers. This means they will be responsible for orchestrating creative designs and themes then delivering them to clients, hoping to get their approval to proceed, whether this is for online, print or outside types of advertising.
• Monitoring campaigns - Now the internet plays such a dominant part in people's lives, the growth in digital marketing and advertising has allowed Account Managers to successfully track and monitor a client's approach to advertising. Account Managers will keep a close eye on how this is performing and tailor where appropriate.
• Negotiating costs and campaign budgets - A much more difficult part of the job, is negotiating prices with clients and the costs of services the agency is able to provide. While obviously a flair for figures is needed for this, but also a sense of salesmanship and confidence helps too.
• Writing reports and giving feedback - Account Managers are also relied upon to provide feedback for clients on the success of their advertising campaign. This could be recommendations for future campaigns, particular aspects of the campaign that did well and areas that didn't. This can sometimes be statistics heavy and require deep analytical processes be applied.

Starting a career as a graduate Account Manager can be a wonderful start to anyone's career. This is as long as they have the innovative drive to succeed in managing and satisfying the demands of the clients they deal with. Would-be graduate Account Managers also need to be able to handle the pressure and the multitasking demands of what it takes to be successful in this role.