Advertising and Promotions Managers
11-2011.00
Updated 2026

Plan, direct, or coordinate advertising policies and programs or produce collateral materials, such as posters, contests, coupons, or giveaways, to create extra interest in the purchase of a product or service for a department, an entire organization, or on an account basis.

Sample of reported job titles: Account Executive, Ad Accounts Executive (Advertising Accounts Executive), Ad Director (Advertising Director), Ad Manager (Advertising Manager), Ad Sales Director (Advertising Sales Director), Ad Sales Manager (Advertising Sales Manager), Classified Ad Manager (Classified Advertising Manager), Creative Services Director, Promotions Director, Promotions Manager

Occupation-Specific Information

Tasks

  • Plan and prepare advertising and promotional material to increase sales of products or services, working with customers, company officials, sales departments, and advertising agencies.
  • Inspect layouts and advertising copy, and edit scripts, audio, video, and other promotional material for adherence to specifications.
  • Coordinate activities of departments, such as sales, graphic arts, media, finance, and research.
  • Develop communications materials, advertisements, presentations, or public relations initiatives to promote awareness of products and services.
  • Develop comprehensive marketing strategies, using knowledge of products and technologies, markets, and regulations.
  • Direct, motivate, and monitor the mobilization of a campaign team to advance campaign goals.
  • Prepare budgets and submit estimates for program costs as part of campaign plan development.
  • Maintain portfolios of marketing campaigns, strategies, and other marketing products or ideas.
  • Analyze the effectiveness of marketing tactics or channels.
  • Coordinate with marketing team members, graphic artists, and other workers to develop and implement marketing programs.
  • Conduct research on consumer opinions and buying habits, and identify target audiences for products, services, or technologies.
  • Track program budgets, expenses, and campaign response rates to evaluate each campaign, based on program objectives and industry norms.
  • Coordinate with the media to disseminate advertising.
  • Confer with department heads or staff to discuss topics such as contracts, selection of advertising media, or product to be advertised.
  • Analyze marketing or sales trends to forecast future conditions.
  • Prepare and negotiate advertising and sales contracts.
  • Monitor and analyze sales promotion results to determine cost effectiveness of promotion campaigns.
  • Represent company at trade association meetings to promote products.
  • Devise or evaluate methods and procedures for collecting data, such as surveys, opinion polls, and questionnaires.
  • Contact organizations to explain services and facilities offered.
  • Read trade journals and professional literature to stay informed on trends, innovations, and changes that affect media planning.
  • Attend or participate in conferences, community events, and promotional events related to products or technologies.
  • Manage sales team, including setting goals, providing incentives, and evaluating employee performance.
  • Formulate plans to extend business with established accounts and to transact business as agent for advertising accounts.
  • Plan and execute advertising policies and strategies for organizations.
  • Identify and develop contacts for promotional campaigns and industry programs that meet identified buyer targets, such as dealers, distributors, or consumers.
  • Train and direct workers engaged in developing and producing advertisements.
  • Provide presentation and product demonstration support during the introduction of new products and services to field staff and customers.
  • Assemble and communicate with a strong, diverse coalition of organizations or public figures, securing their cooperation, support, and action, to further campaign goals.
  • Direct and coordinate product research and development.
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Occupational Requirements

Work Activities

  • Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates — Providing information to supervisors, co-workers, and subordinates by telephone, in written form, e-mail, or in person.
  • Making Decisions and Solving Problems — Analyzing information and evaluating results to choose the best solution and solve problems.
  • Getting Information — Observing, receiving, and otherwise obtaining information from all relevant sources.
  • Working with Computers — Using computers and computer systems (including hardware and software) to program, write software, set up functions, enter data, or process information.
  • Thinking Creatively — Developing, designing, or creating new applications, ideas, relationships, systems, or products, including artistic contributions.
  • Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships — Developing constructive and cooperative working relationships with others, and maintaining them over time.
  • Organizing, Planning, and Prioritizing Work — Developing specific goals and plans to prioritize, organize, and accomplish your work.
  • Scheduling Work and Activities — Scheduling events, programs, and activities, as well as the work of others.
  • Judging the Qualities of Objects, Services, or People — Assessing the value, importance, or quality of things or people.
  • Communicating with People Outside the Organization — Communicating with people outside the organization, representing the organization to customers, the public, government, and other external sources. This information can be exchanged in person, in writing, or by telephone or e-mail.
  • Coordinating the Work and Activities of Others — Getting members of a group to work together to accomplish tasks.
  • Updating and Using Relevant Knowledge — Keeping up-to-date technically and applying new knowledge to your job.
  • Developing Objectives and Strategies — Establishing long-range objectives and specifying the strategies and actions to achieve them.
  • Resolving Conflicts and Negotiating with Others — Handling complaints, settling disputes, and resolving grievances and conflicts, or otherwise negotiating with others.
  • Developing and Building Teams — Encouraging and building mutual trust, respect, and cooperation among team members.
  • Monitoring and Controlling Resources — Monitoring and controlling resources and overseeing the spending of money.
  • Monitoring Processes, Materials, or Surroundings — Monitoring and reviewing information from materials, events, or the environment, to detect or assess problems.
  • Coaching and Developing Others — Identifying the developmental needs of others and coaching, mentoring, or otherwise helping others to improve their knowledge or skills.
  • Guiding, Directing, and Motivating Subordinates — Providing guidance and direction to subordinates, including setting performance standards and monitoring performance.
  • Performing for or Working Directly with the Public — Performing for people or dealing directly with the public. This includes serving customers in restaurants and stores, and receiving clients or guests.
  • Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events — Identifying information by categorizing, estimating, recognizing differences or similarities, and detecting changes in circumstances or events.
  • Performing Administrative Activities — Performing day-to-day administrative tasks such as maintaining information files and processing paperwork.
  • Documenting/Recording Information — Entering, transcribing, recording, storing, or maintaining information in written or electronic/magnetic form.
  • Processing Information — Compiling, coding, categorizing, calculating, tabulating, auditing, or verifying information or data.
  • Training and Teaching Others — Identifying the educational needs of others, developing formal educational or training programs or classes, and teaching or instructing others.
  • Interpreting the Meaning of Information for Others — Translating or explaining what information means and how it can be used.
  • Selling or Influencing Others — Convincing others to buy merchandise/goods or to otherwise change their minds or actions.

Detailed Work Activities

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Work Context

  • E-Mail — 100% responded “Every day.”
  • Determine Tasks, Priorities and Goals — 74% responded “A lot of freedom.”
  • Telephone Conversations — 74% responded “Every day.”
  • Freedom to Make Decisions — 63% responded “A lot of freedom.”
  • Indoors, Environmentally Controlled — 70% responded “Every day.”
  • Work With or Contribute to a Work Group or Team — 64% responded “Extremely important.”
  • Duration of Typical Work Week — 80% responded “More than 40 hours.”
  • Coordinate or Lead Others in Accomplishing Work Activities — 68% responded “Extremely important.”
  • Face-to-Face Discussions with Individuals and Within Teams — 68% responded “Every day.”
  • Spend Time Sitting — 59% responded “Continually or almost continually.”
  • Time Pressure — 58% responded “Once a week or more but not every day.”
  • Contact With Others — 61% responded “Constant contact with others.”
  • Importance of Being Exact or Accurate — 51% responded “Very important.”
  • Impact of Decisions on Co-workers or Company Results — 41% responded “Very important results.”
  • Work Outcomes and Results of Other Workers — 44% responded “High responsibility.”
  • Frequency of Decision Making — 42% responded “Every day.”
  • Level of Competition — 28% responded “Extremely competitive.”
  • Deal With External Customers or the Public in General — 35% responded “Extremely important.”
  • Importance of Repeating Same Tasks — 38% responded “Extremely important.”
  • Written Letters and Memos — 40% responded “Once a week or more but not every day.”
  • Conflict Situations — 36% responded “Once a week or more but not every day.”

Experience Requirements

Job Zone

Title
Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed
Education
Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.
Related Experience
A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to be considered qualified.
Job Training
Employees in these occupations usually need several years of work-related experience, on-the-job training, and/or vocational training.
Job Zone Examples
Many of these occupations involve coordinating, supervising, managing, or training others. Examples include real estate brokers, sales managers, database administrators, graphic designers, conservation scientists, art directors, and cost estimators.
SVP Range
(7.0 to < 8.0)

Training & Credentials

State training
Local training
Certifications
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Apprenticeship Opportunities

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Worker Requirements

Software Skills

Hot Technologies are requirements most frequently included across all employer job postings.
In Demand skills are frequently included in employer job postings for this occupation.

Essential Skills

  • Active Listening — Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
  • Speaking — Talking to others to convey information effectively.
  • Critical Thinking — Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
  • Reading Comprehension — Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
  • Writing — Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
  • Monitoring — Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
  • Active Learning — Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
  • Learning Strategies — Selecting and using training/instructional methods and procedures appropriate for the situation when learning or teaching new things.

Transferable Skills

  • Judgment and Decision Making — Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
  • Social Perceptiveness — Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
  • Complex Problem Solving — Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
  • Coordination — Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
  • Time Management — Managing one's own time and the time of others.
  • Negotiation — Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences.
  • Persuasion — Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
  • Systems Analysis — Determining how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect outcomes.
  • Systems Evaluation — Identifying measures or indicators of system performance and the actions needed to improve or correct performance, relative to the goals of the system.
  • Management of Personnel Resources — Motivating, developing, and directing people as they work, identifying the best people for the job.
  • Instructing — Teaching others how to do something.
  • Service Orientation — Actively looking for ways to help people.

Knowledge

  • Sales and Marketing — Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
  • English Language — Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, and rules of composition and grammar.
  • Communications and Media — Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.
  • Administration and Management — Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
  • Customer and Personal Service — Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
  • Administrative — Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.
  • Personnel and Human Resources — Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.
  • Computers and Electronics — Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
  • Mathematics — Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
  • Education and Training — Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
  • Economics and Accounting — Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking, and the analysis and reporting of financial data.
  • Telecommunications — Knowledge of transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.
  • Psychology — Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.

Education

How much education does a new hire need to perform a job in this occupation? Respondents said:

  • 73%
     
    Bachelor’s degree required
  • 26%
     
    High school diploma or equivalent required
  • 1%
     
    Some college, no degree required

Worker Characteristics

Abilities

  • Oral Expression — The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
  • Oral Comprehension — The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
  • Originality — The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
  • Written Comprehension — The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
  • Written Expression — The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
  • Speech Clarity — The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
  • Deductive Reasoning — The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
  • Fluency of Ideas — The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
  • Inductive Reasoning — The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
  • Near Vision — The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
  • Speech Recognition — The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
  • Problem Sensitivity — The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
  • Category Flexibility — The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
  • Far Vision — The ability to see details at a distance.
  • Flexibility of Closure — The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
  • Information Ordering — The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).

Interests

Interest code: ECA
Want to discover your interests? Take the O*NET Interest Profiler.
  • Enterprising — Work involves managing, negotiating, marketing, or selling, typically in a business setting, or leading or advising people in political and legal situations. Enterprising occupations are often associated with business initiatives, sales, marketing/advertising, finance, management/administration, professional advising, public speaking, politics, or law.
    • Marketing/Advertising — Work involves promoting or creating a public image for products, services, or organizations to attract interest, engagement, or sales.
    • Management/Administration — Work involves planning, directing, or coordinating the daily operations of an organization, and overseeing personnel, business, or administrative services.
    • Business Initiatives — Work involves creating strategic plans or taking actions to expand an organization's business or market share.
    • Sales — Work involves selling goods or services.
  • Conventional — Work involves following procedures and regulations to organize information or data, typically in a business setting. Conventional occupations are often associated with office work, accounting, mathematics/statistics, information technology, finance, or human resources.
  • Artistic — Work involves creating original visual artwork, performances, written works, food, or music for a variety of media, or applying artistic principles to the design of various objects and materials. Artistic occupations are often associated with visual arts, applied arts and design, performing arts, music, creative writing, media, or culinary art.
    • Marketing/Advertising — Work involves promoting or creating a public image for products, services, or organizations to attract interest, engagement, or sales.
    • Media — Work involves producing, developing, writing, directing, or presenting information through print, radio, television, or digital media.

Work Styles

  • Self-Confidence — A tendency to believe in one's work-related capabilities and ability to control one's work-related outcomes.
  • Leadership Orientation — A tendency to lead, take charge, offer opinions, and provide direction at work.
  • Innovation — A tendency to be inventive, to be imaginative, and to adopt new perspectives on ways to accomplish work.
  • Adaptability — A tendency to be open to and comfortable with change, new experiences, or ideas at work.
  • Social Orientation — A tendency to seek out, enjoy, and be energized by social interaction at work.
  • Achievement Orientation — A tendency to establish and maintain personally challenging work-related goals, set high work-related standards, and exert high effort toward meeting those goals and standards.
  • Dependability — A tendency to be reliable, responsible, and consistent in meeting work-related obligations.

Workforce Characteristics

Wages & Employment Trends

Median wages (2025)
$64.26 hourly, $133,660 annual
State wages
Local wages
Employment (2024)
27,000 employees
Projected growth (2024-2034)
Decline (-1% or lower)
Projected job openings (2024-2034)
2,100
State trends
Top industries (2024)

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics 2025 wage data and 2024-2034 employment projections . “Projected growth” represents the estimated change in total employment over the projections period (2024-2034). “Projected job openings” represent openings due to growth and replacement.

Job Openings on the Web

State job openings
Local job openings

More Information

Professional Associations

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National Associations
Accreditation, Certification, & Unions