What does a Advertising and Promotions Manager do?

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. Day to day that includes work like plan and prepare advertising and promotional material to increase sales of products or services, working with customers, company officials, sales departments, and advertising agencies and Inspect layouts and advertising copy, and edit scripts, audio, video, and other promotional material for adherence to specifications.

What skills should a Advertising and Promotions Manager put on a resume?

O*NET rates Active Listening, Critical Thinking, Social Perceptiveness, Speaking, and Judgment and Decision Making among the most important skills for this occupation. Name the ones that are genuinely yours and show where you used them. A resume that lists skills you do not have is weaker than one that lists fewer.

What software should a Advertising and Promotions Manager list?

Software recorded for this occupation includes Actuate BIRT, Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Acrobat Reader, Adobe After Effects, and Adobe Creative Cloud software. Applicant tracking systems match on the exact product name, so write the tool as the posting writes it rather than describing it in general terms.

What other job titles cover Advertising and Promotions Manager work?

O*NET records 40 titles for this occupation, including Advertising Manager, Ad Manager, Communications Manager, and Promotions Director. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.

What qualifications does a Advertising and Promotions Manager need?

In O*NET's survey of people doing this job, 60% reported their level of education as "Bachelor's Degree". That is what current postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.

Will this resume pass an ATS for a Advertising and Promotions Manager role?

No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer's system is configured, including ours. What you can control is that the resume parses cleanly, names the work in the words the posting uses, and does not claim anything you cannot back up.

Advertising and Promotions Manager resume example

A resume for a Advertising and Promotions Manager needs to show the work itself: 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. Day to day that means work like this: 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. Recruiters and applicant tracking systems both read for the tasks and tools this role actually involves, so the strongest resume names them in your own experience rather than describing the job in the abstract. Below are the tasks O*NET records for this occupation, the software and tools it uses, the titles it is advertised under, and the skills worth naming if they are genuinely yours.

Also advertised as

The same job is posted under many titles. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.

Advertising Manager
Ad Manager
Communications Manager
Promotions Director
Promotions Manager
Account Executive
Advertising Sales Manager
Ad Sales Manager
Classified Advertising Manager
Classified Ad Manager
Communications Director
Creative Services Director
Marketing and Promotions Manager
Ad Account Executive
Ad Account Manager
Ad Agency Manager
Ad Campaign Manager
Ad Coordinator

O*NET records 40 titles for this occupation in total.

What people in this job call themselves

Titles reported by people actually doing this work, which is often not the title on the job posting.

Advertising Manager (Ad Manager)
Advertising Sales Manager (Ad Sales Manager)
Classified Advertising Manager (Classified Ad Manager)

What this work actually involves

Tasks recorded for this occupation, in O*NET's words. If your experience covers one of these, it belongs on your resume in your own words.

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.
Confer with department heads or staff to discuss topics such as contracts, selection of advertising media, or product to be advertised.
Coordinate with the media to disseminate advertising.
Coordinate activities of departments, such as sales, graphic arts, media, finance, and research.
Plan and execute advertising policies and strategies for organizations.
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.
Contact organizations to explain services and facilities offered.
Monitor and analyze sales promotion results to determine cost effectiveness of promotion campaigns.
Identify and develop contacts for promotional campaigns and industry programs that meet identified buyer targets, such as dealers, distributors, or consumers.
Track program budgets, expenses, and campaign response rates to evaluate each campaign, based on program objectives and industry norms.

30 tasks are recorded in total; these are the most central.

Example bullets for this role

Built from this occupation's own tasks. The brackets stay empty on purpose: we will not invent a number for you, and a fabricated metric is the fastest way to lose an interview you had already won.

Plan and prepare advertising and promotional material to increase sales of products or services, working with customers, company officials, sales departments, and advertising agencies, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Inspect layouts and advertising copy, and edit scripts, audio, video, and other promotional material for adherence to specifications, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Confer with department heads or staff to discuss topics such as contracts, selection of advertising media, or product to be advertised, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Coordinate with the media to disseminate advertising, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].

Software used in this role

Recorded for this occupation by O*NET. An applicant tracking system matches the exact product name, so write the tool the way the posting writes it.

Actuate BIRT
Adobe Acrobat
Adobe Acrobat Reader
Adobe After Effects
Adobe Creative Cloud software
Adobe Dreamweaver
Adobe Experience Manager (AEM)
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe InDesign
Adobe PageMaker
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Premiere Pro
AdRelevance
Apple Final Cut Pro

73 software entries are recorded in total.

Tools and equipment

The physical equipment this occupation is recorded as using. Worth naming when a posting asks for it by name.

Computer data input scanners
Desktop computers
Handheld computers
Laptop computers
Laser facsimile machines
Multi-line telephone systems
Notebook computers
Personal computers
Personal digital assistants PDA
Photocopying equipment
Scanners
Tablet computers

Skills an ATS reads for

Worth naming only if they are genuinely yours. Keyword overlap is one input to a resume's score, not a verdict.

supervise employees

What this job rates as most important

O*NET rates every skill for importance to this occupation. These are the highest rated, in order.

01Active Listening
02Critical Thinking
03Social Perceptiveness
04Speaking
05Judgment and Decision Making
06Reading Comprehension
07Writing
08Complex Problem Solving
09Coordination
10Time Management

Knowledge areas

The subject knowledge this occupation draws on, rated by importance.

Sales and Marketing
English Language
Communications and Media
Customer and Personal Service
Administration and Management
Computers and Electronics
Administrative
Mathematics

What qualifications people in this job have

From O*NET's survey of people doing this work. This is what postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.

60%Bachelor's Degree
10%High School Diploma, or the equivalent
8%Associate's Degree

What level this role is pitched at

O*NET places this occupation in “Considerable Preparation Needed”. Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.

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.

Common questions

What does a Advertising and Promotions Manager do?: 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. Day to day that includes work like plan and prepare advertising and promotional material to increase sales of products or services, working with customers, company officials, sales departments, and advertising agencies and Inspect layouts and advertising copy, and edit scripts, audio, video, and other promotional material for adherence to specifications.
What skills should a Advertising and Promotions Manager put on a resume?: O*NET rates Active Listening, Critical Thinking, Social Perceptiveness, Speaking, and Judgment and Decision Making among the most important skills for this occupation. Name the ones that are genuinely yours and show where you used them. A resume that lists skills you do not have is weaker than one that lists fewer.
What software should a Advertising and Promotions Manager list?: Software recorded for this occupation includes Actuate BIRT, Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Acrobat Reader, Adobe After Effects, and Adobe Creative Cloud software. Applicant tracking systems match on the exact product name, so write the tool as the posting writes it rather than describing it in general terms.
What other job titles cover Advertising and Promotions Manager work?: O*NET records 40 titles for this occupation, including Advertising Manager, Ad Manager, Communications Manager, and Promotions Director. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.
What qualifications does a Advertising and Promotions Manager need?: In O*NET's survey of people doing this job, 60% reported their level of education as "Bachelor's Degree". That is what current postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.
Will this resume pass an ATS for a Advertising and Promotions Manager role?: No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer's system is configured, including ours. What you can control is that the resume parses cleanly, names the work in the words the posting uses, and does not claim anything you cannot back up.

Related roles

Occupations O*NET records as closest to this one, and worth looking at if this search is not moving.

What this page cannot tell you

No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer’s ATS is configured, including ours.
This page makes no claim about pay, demand or how many people hold this job. O*NET does not publish that here and we will not estimate it.
Keyword overlap is one input to a resume’s score, not a verdict on you. A resume that names skills you do not have is worse than one that names fewer.

If this is the job you are aiming at, the guide to tailoring a resume covers how to aim one posting properly, and building and exporting a resume here is free.

Occupation data from the O*NET 29.1 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under CC BY 4.0. O*NET is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. SpartanResume is not endorsed by USDOL/ETA.