Advertising Sales Agents

Advertising sales agents, also called advertising sales representatives, sell advertising space to businesses and individuals. They contact potential clients, make sales presentations, and maintain client accounts.

Duties

Advertising sales agents typically do the following:

• Locate and contact potential clients to offer their firm’s advertising services
• Explain to clients how specific types of advertising will help promote their products or services effectively
• Provide clients with estimates of the costs of advertising products or services
• Process all correspondence and paperwork related to accounts
• Prepare and deliver sales presentations to new and existing clients
• Inform clients of available options for advertising art, formats, or features and provide samples of previous work for other clients
• Deliver advertising or illustration proofs to clients for approval
• Prepare promotional plans, sales literature, media kits, and sales contracts
• Recommend appropriate sizes and formats for advertising

Advertising sales agents connect clients with promotional services across various media platforms, including print, radio, television, online, and social media. They meet with clients to discuss available options. They also identify and target new clients, such as by calling prospects and attempting to sell a media firm’s advertising space or time.

A critical part of building relationships with clients is learning about their needs. Before the first meeting with a client, a sales agent gathers background information on the client, their products or services, and the geographic area of the target market.

The sales agent then meets with the client to explain how specific types of advertising will help promote the client’s products or services effectively. If the client wishes to proceed, the agent prepares and presents a proposal that includes an overview of advertising media, sample advertisements, and cost estimates.

In addition to maintaining sales and overseeing their accounts, advertising sales agents analyze sales statistics and prepare reports about clients’ accounts. They keep up to date on industry trends by reading about both current and new products, and they monitor the sales, prices, and products of their competitors.

In many firms, the advertising sales agent drafts contracts, which specify the cost and the advertising work to be done. Agents also may continue to help the client, answering questions or addressing problems the client may have with the proposal.

Sometimes, these workers are responsible for developing sales tools, promotional plans, and media kits, all of which they use to help make a sale. In other cases, firms may have a marketing team that sales agents work with to develop these sales tools.

Advertising sales agents held about 103,700 jobs in 2024. The largest employers of advertising sales agents were as follows:

Selling can be stressful because income and job security depend directly on agents’ ability to keep and expand their client base. Companies generally set monthly sales quotas and place considerable pressure on advertising sales agents to meet those quotas.

Getting new accounts is an important part of the job, and agents may spend much of their time traveling to and visiting prospective advertisers and maintaining relationships with current clients.

Work Schedules

Most advertising sales agents work full time. 

Advertising sales agents typically need at least a high school diploma to enter the occupation, although some employers require or prefer that candidates have a bachelor’s degree. Once hired, these workers typically receive training on the job. Sales and communication skills are essential.

The median annual wage for advertising sales agents was $61,460 in May 2024.

Employment of advertising sales agents is projected to grow 6 percent from 2024 to 2034, decline.

About 9,300 openings for advertising sales agents are projected each year, on average, over the decade. Many of those openings are expected to result from the need to replace workers who transfer to different occupations or exit the labor force, such as to retire.