If you’re passionate about closing deals and about reaching out to the widest audiences imaginable, being a digital media sales executive might be the right role for you. Due to an exponential increase in the amount of ad revenue in Internet properties, digital media sales jobs are currently going through the roof!
You might be wondering: To be a digital media sales executive, skills are necessary—but which kind? What’s a general digital media sales executive job description? If digital media sales executive jobs are on the rise, that’s great—but what exactly are the media sales executive responsibilities?
On this page we’ll delve into all things digital media sales, so that you can make an informed decision about whether this field is right for you.
Media Sales Executive Job Description - Qualifications, Requirements & Salary Data
What is a media sales executive? As the name might imply, a media sales executive is in charge of selling online or digital space to advertisers in the hope to reach the right audiences to make the clients very happy (due to higher audience conversion rates). Because of this, the job does require a lot of studied knowledge about digital media platforms, the way the Internet is growing, the field of advertising and how to implement it well, and the nitty gritty of negotiating well for your client.
However, that’s just a general description. In the following sections, we’ll do a deep dive into the differing expectations and qualifications generally asked of a media sales executive, as well as provide you a day-by-day and salary expectations so you can get a clear idea of what you’re heading into when you become a media sales executive.
Media Sales Executive Description
What does a media sales executive do? If you have a background in advertising or in any kind of sales profession, you may be well slated to make the jump over to media sales. As a great bridge to a number of other professions as well as being a good job in itself, being a media sales executive is definitely something that you should look into! But before you send that application or show up to that interview, show that you know what you’re talking about by making sure you know exactly what it is that a media sales executive does.
What Do Media Sales Executives Do?
If you’ve ever seen an ad in any kind of media, including magazines, newspapers, their online equivalents, television and radio, or even outdoor digitized billboards — you’ve seen the work of a media sales executive. By acting as the go-between between companies needing to advertise their products and the people owning the digitized space, you’ll be ensuring that everyone is happy with the investment that they’re making as well as the quality they receive.
Media sales executives also often work in commercial event planning, such as product launches or fundraisers. Initiative is the name of the game when it comes to what they do, as a media sales executive is usually the one in charge of cold-pitching an idea to a client as well as putting together and defending sales reports to each of their clients.
What Does a Typical Day Look Like?
While the specific day-to-day for a media sales executive does vary wildly, here are a handful of activities that a media sales executive will perform on a day to day basis:
- A successful media sales executive will spend a lot of time cold-calling potential clients to makes sure that everyone is aware of their services (or their firm’s advertising opportunities). This can happen over the phone, but could also be limited to something as simple as email or as extravagant as coordinating face to face meetings, presentations, and dinners out with potential clients.
- Media sales executives will also mediate and participate in training about how to do all of these things well, from upping their cold calling game to the perfect way to have successful business dinner.
- After this, a typical day for a media sales executive could include managing the relationships he or she has with existing clients, making sure that the arrangement, design, and placement of previously agreed-upon advertisements meets the brief given by the client. In short, one goal of a media sales executive is to maintain an ongoing, flourishing relationship with their clientele.
- One way a sales media executive could do this is to take the brief that a client gave them regarding an upcoming advertisement and research all of the needs and aims relating to it, so as to prepare themselves to pitch or present the details to the client before going forward with the process.
- As the main liaison helping tender an advertising relationship, the media sales executive will need to be an expert on the differing pricing costs that may be associated with placing a specific ad. The skills necessary to help negotiate a better deal for the client will definitely come in handy at this juncture!
- During a typical day, the media sales executive may also meet with the production or creative or programming team to ensure that the advertisement itself meets the specifications of the client as well as the requirements of the advertising space; the media sales executive will likely work with both of these teams to ensure that everyone is happy.
- As a media sales executive, you’ll be managing several campaigns at one time, so having strong organizational skills as well as metal compartmentalization techniques will be key!
- To do this, a media sales executive will spend a large part of each day keeping record of the various purchases and sales that have been made and assigning them to the proper contacts, as well as keeping an eye out for deals that he or she can take advantage of to keep a client’s expenditures low.
- Networking is a huge part of this job! The successful media sales executive might end his or her day by attending a party or an industry event; by going to a conference, whether it be local or out of town; or exhibitions in the industry which you write and coordinate for.
Ultimately, this is a job that asks a lot of its people—every day can be a new and different surprise!
Media Sales Executive Qualifications
Now that you have a general idea for what a media sales executive does, you probably have a good feeling for whether or not the job is right for you, or something that you’d enjoy doing on a day to day basis. However, as you’re well aware, the hiring process does not end with what you think! In the next section we’ll delve into what a typical employer is looking for when looking to hire a media sales executive.
Typical Education Requirements
As far as education goes, a company looking for a good media sales executive will be expecting to see a significant amount of education — typically at least a bachelor’s degree, though a master’s or a doctorate would be given preferential status — in marketing, sales, or at least in an English, math, or technology concentration.
Any certificates you have studied to these effects or ongoing education courses you have completed will be good to have as well.
In addition to education, most employers do like to see a good amount of experience when they’re looking for a media sales executive, as it is a job that is performed mostly in the moment. Therefore, having at least one year of experience in sales, media, programming, or even customer service would be a good plus to have.
However, that said, media sales is a good entry-level job to come into from a variety of other professions. If you think you have what it takes, feel free to apply anyway! Just be sure to keep your expectations managed, in case you don’t get many acceptances off the bat. When you are called in for an interview, make sure that you’re ready to back up your case for employment with as much proof as you have.
Preferred Skills
When a prospective employer is looking to hire a media sales executive, there are a handful of skills he or she will be looking for to be able to project that you will do well in this field. Some of these skills are:
- Being naturally social and outgoing. A large part of this job is networking and speaking with prospective or current clients. The other part is working naturally on a team. Either way, you’ll want to demonstrate great people skills: reliability, empathy, and a sense of humor will get you far.
- Excellent communication techniques, whether they be on the phone or in person or over email, are definitely a must. You’ll want to be an expert at not only getting your objective point across but utilizing your tone and voice to make sure that you make friends even while you’re negotiating a hard deal.
- The ability to take objections, understand them for what they are, and be able to go out and seek a calm and helpful resolution to any issues is very important. On a high level, you’ll be dealing with client preferences and expectations, so any way that you can mitigate that professionally will be a good skillset to showcase.
- Being able to stick to a schedule, be self-managed and have a lot of discipline, self-control, and attention to details are a must. As a media sales executive you’ll be working as part of a team on a lot of projects. There won’t be a lot of oversight regarding someone else checking your work, but a lot of people will depend upon your deliverables to be error-free and helpful, every time.
Media Sales Executive Career Outlook
Now’s a great time to be going into media sales! As discussed above, becoming a media sales executive is a fantastic entry point into the burgeoning world of digital media ad sales. The entry criteria are often low, at least in terms of experience relative to other positions within the world of digital media ad relations. Because the number of internet properties and digital media platforms is only going to increase exponentially over the next several years, any job which you get into now is sure to be safe for a while — and the ability to climb up the ranks should be innate for a long time to come. In other words, if you can ensure that you will be competitive within the world of digital media sales and get your foot in the door now, you should be in a good profession for a very long time.
Media Sales Executive Salary Expectations
While the specific distribution of salaries given to media sales executives depends upon a whole host of things, including your experience and education, the industry the firm that you’re interviewing with caters to, and the reputation of that firm, there is a ballpark range of salaries that we have observed to give you an idea for planning. People on the lower end of the percentile rankings make about $32,000 per annum; however, if you’re able to prove your worth, you could be looking at around $66,000 per year.
Find Your Media Sales Executive Job
You’ve completed an excellent first step in doing your due diligence to make sure that the media sales executive job is right for you! Think critically and carefully about everything in this guide, as it’ll be helpful during the job interview and onboarding process.
Use the job boards here at Digital Media Jobs to find an opening that would be good for you! We offer quick, easy ways to find out if there is anything open in your area, and also an easy way for you to submit an application very quickly on our site.
Good luck!
References
https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/job-description-media-sales-executive/1399851
https://gothinkbig.co.uk/features/media-sales-what-is-it-and-why-should-you-consider-a-career-in-it
https://www.prospects.ac.uk/job-profiles/sales-executive