Advertising Sales Agents
Also called Advertising Account Executive, Advertising Representative, Advertising Sales Representative (Ad Sales Representative), or Media Consultant
Updated · Source: O*NET 31.0
What Advertising Sales Agents do
You help businesses decide where to put their ads, and you earn a living by selling that space or airtime.
Advertising sales agents sell the space and time where ads appear: pages in a magazine, spots on the radio or TV, billboards, and places online. Your customers are businesses that want more people to notice them. You learn what they sell, what they have tried before, and what they can spend, then you recommend a size, a format, and a price.
The work swings between two modes. Some of it is people work: calls, meetings, presentations, negotiating, reading the room. The rest is quiet desk work: research on a client's business, cost estimates, contracts, sending clients draft versions of their ads to approve, email, and paperwork for every account, meaning each client you are responsible for. You keep existing customers happy while hunting for new ones, usually against deadlines.
A day in the life
You start with email and your list of accounts, the clients you look after. One needs to approve a proof, a draft version of their ad, before it runs, so you send it and follow up. Then you read up on a business you hope to sell ad space to: what they sell, who buys it, what ads they ran last year. You meet the client in person and present, listen more than you talk, and leave with questions to answer. Back at your desk you build a cost estimate, draw up a contract for a client who said yes, and chase a payment that is late. You phone people who have never heard of you, and several say no. Before you leave, you check what is due tomorrow.
This could fit you if you…
- ✓Enjoy talking with new people and can handle hearing no
- ✓Like learning how different businesses actually make money
- ✓Stay organized with contracts, paperwork, and deadlines for many clients at once
- ✓Have an eye for what makes an ad work
- ✓Want a field you can enter with a high school diploma and learn on the job
You might not like it if you…
- –Dread cold calls, meaning phoning people who have never heard of you, plus rejection and deadline pressure
- –Want steady, predictable pay, since pay varies a lot: the lowest paid tenth earn around $35,240 a year and the highest paid tenth around $146,010, with a middle point near $64,820
- –Prefer a growing field, since this one is projected to shrink 7.2% from 2025 to 2035 while all jobs grow 3.5%
- –Would rather focus on one task at a time instead of juggling email, meetings, and follow-ups
How people get in
- 1Finish high school or an equivalent, which is the typical entry education for this job.
- 2Get comfortable speaking and persuading: retail, food service, fundraising, or a school club that asks local businesses for sponsorship all build the same muscles.
- 3Learn the basics of how ads are sold and priced, through a program such as Selling Skills and Sales Operations or through free reading about marketing and media.
- 4Apply to local radio and TV stations, newspapers, magazines, billboard companies, and digital publishers, where roles are often titled advertising representative or media consultant.
- 5Expect moderate-term on-the-job training: you often shadow experienced sellers, learn the rate card, the price list that shows what each ad size or time slot costs, and the paperwork, then take over your own clients.
- 6Keep records of what you sell and which clients stay with you, since that track record is what employers look at next.
Who tends to enjoy it
Leading
People who like persuading, selling, starting things, and taking charge.
Organizing
People who like keeping things accurate, orderly, and running on schedule.
Creative
People who like making things, design, writing, music, and self-expression.
Official task list
Advertising Sales Agents sell or solicit advertising space, time, or media in publications, signage, TV, radio, or Internet establishments or public spaces. (O*NET)
- Explain to customers how specific types of advertising will help promote their products or services in the most effective way possible.
- Prepare and deliver sales presentations to new and existing customers to sell new advertising programs and to protect and increase existing advertising.
- Obtain and study information about clients' products, needs, problems, advertising history, and business practices to offer effective sales presentations and appropriate product assistance.
- Provide clients with estimates of the costs of advertising products or services.
- Maintain assigned account bases while developing new accounts.
- Recommend appropriate sizes and formats for advertising, depending on medium used.
- Locate and contact potential clients to offer advertising services.
- Draw up contracts for advertising work, and collect payments due.
A typical day involves
Skills that matter most
- Speaking
- Persuasion
- Active Listening
- Social Perceptiveness
- Negotiation
- Reading Comprehension
What you'll need to know
- Sales and Marketing
- English Language
- Customer and Personal Service
- Communications and Media
- Computers and Electronics
How much Advertising Sales Agents make
The median pay for Advertising Sales Agents in the U.S. is $64,820 a year ($31.16 an hour). Most earn between $35,240 and $146,010. (Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025)
Pay depends a lot on where you live: the median is highest in Washington ($101,320) and lowest in Tennessee ($40,910).
Pay by state and territory
| State | Median pay | Jobs |
|---|---|---|
| Alabama | $50,870 | 910 |
| Alaska | $43,840 | 230 |
| Arizona | $62,050 | 1,160 |
| Arkansas | $49,120 | 900 |
| California | $80,360 | 9,620 |
| Colorado | $73,420 | 1,110 |
| Connecticut | $61,820 | 740 |
| Delaware | $52,480 | 140 |
| District of Columbia | $75,030 | 320 |
| Florida | $58,420 | 6,420 |
| Georgia | $58,140 | 3,150 |
| Hawaii | $61,290 | 310 |
| Idaho | $53,460 | 220 |
| Illinois | $66,290 | 3,790 |
| Indiana | $57,030 | 1,410 |
| Iowa | $58,480 | 900 |
| Kansas | $48,660 | 920 |
| Kentucky | $51,580 | 620 |
| Louisiana | $48,810 | 860 |
| Maine | $48,780 | 400 |
| Maryland | $59,830 | 880 |
| Massachusetts | $80,500 | 1,480 |
| Michigan | $64,800 | 2,040 |
| Minnesota | $62,660 | 1,750 |
| Mississippi | $46,810 | 490 |
| Missouri | $61,440 | 1,640 |
| Montana | $46,040 | 240 |
| Nebraska | $62,890 | 1,190 |
| New Hampshire | $54,870 | 290 |
| New Jersey | $69,620 | 2,110 |
| New Mexico | $45,620 | 300 |
| New York | $98,360 | 13,570 |
| North Dakota | $50,110 | 260 |
| Ohio | $50,410 | 3,220 |
| Oklahoma | $57,670 | 700 |
| Oregon | $62,810 | 960 |
| Pennsylvania | $58,350 | 4,260 |
| Puerto Rico | $44,160 | 520 |
| Rhode Island | $48,040 | 340 |
| South Carolina | $68,200 | 1,770 |
| South Dakota | $60,190 | 390 |
| Tennessee | $40,910 | 1,820 |
| Texas | $60,280 | 6,230 |
| Utah | $74,260 | 1,110 |
| Vermont | $58,750 | 160 |
| Washington | $101,320 | 3,510 |
| West Virginia | $44,700 | 290 |
| Wisconsin | $63,270 | 1,290 |
| Wyoming | $47,290 | 150 |
Where to study for this
College programs that commonly lead to this career, and how many US colleges offer each.
- Selling Skills and Sales Operations 117 colleges
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Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA), occupation 41-3011.00, used under CC BY 4.0 and modified by Whittle. Pay: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (May 2025), SOC 41-3011. Outlook and entry education: BLS Employment Projections 2025–35. Program links: NCES CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk. How we build these pages.