12 Careers for Advertising Majors
So, you studied advertising. What's next?
Advertising degrees are interdisciplinary and wide-ranging. They combine lessons from disciplines like business, psychology, and design to help students master every aspect of the art of persuasion. Courses include hands-on training in tasks such as copywriting, market analysis, media relations, and digital marketing. Successful students graduate with top skills in verbal and visual communication, research, campaign management, client relations, and more.
Together, these qualities prepare advertising graduates for a variety of careers, both within and outside of the industry. Let's take a look at a few of the most common ones.
This article will be covering the following careers:
| Career | Avg Salary | Satisfaction | Your Match |
|---|---|---|---|
| Advertising Sales Agent | $38k | 2.7/5 | |
| Advertising Manager | $104k | 3.1/5 | |
| Copywriter | $60k | 3.2/5 | |
| Marketing Manager | $76k | 3.2/5 | |
| Public Relations Specialist | $57k | 3.0/5 | |
| Account Manager | $75k | 2.8/5 | |
| Digital Marketing Specialist | $63k | 3.1/5 | |
| Sales Manager | $75k | 2.8/5 | |
| Event Planner | $29k | 3.5/5 | |
| Content Manager | $71k | 3.3/5 | |
| Graphic Designer | $35k | 3.4/5 | |
| Product Manager | $132k | 3.4/5 |
Are these careers suited to you? Our comprehensive career test measures your personality traits and interests and matches you to over 800 careers.
1. Advertising Sales Agent
Advertising sales agents are talented negotiators with excellent social skills. Their primary objective is to sell advertising space—be it for magazines, websites, or podcasts. To do so, they reach out to potential clients, present sales pitches, and more.
Advertising Sales Agent
An advertising sales agent works in the field of marketing and advertising, specifically focused on selling advertising space or time to businesses and individuals.
2. Advertising Manager
Advertising managers are powerful connectors. They liaise between art directors, designers, copywriters, and other marketing staff to craft compelling promotional campaigns. They also manage relationships outside of the company, acting as the bridge between the agency and its clients.
Advertising Manager
An advertising manager is responsible for planning, implementing, and managing advertising campaigns to promote products, services, or brands.
3. Copywriter
Got a way with words? Consider becoming a copywriter. Also known as "creatives," advertising copywriters are the masterminds behind the world's top slogans—from "Got milk?" to "Just do it." They write compelling text for jingles, advertisements, websites, and more.
Copywriter
A copywriter is skilled in crafting written content, known as copy, with the primary goal of persuading, informing, or engaging a target audience.
4. Marketing Manager
Marketing manager and advertising manager are different roles, but they share some important commonalities. Just like advertisers, marketers craft promotional messaging and campaigns to sell products and services. With their skills in planning, communication, and business, advertising graduates can excel in the role.
Marketing Manager
A marketing manager is responsible for planning, implementing, and overseeing marketing strategies to promote a company's products or services.
5. Public Relations Specialist
Public relations (PR) is all about image. PR specialists help companies and individuals build and maintain their public profile. This can involve writing press releases, pitching news stories, handling crises, and more. Requiring excellent people skills and a knack for persuasion, this is an ideal fit for an advertising major.
Public Relations Specialist
A public relations specialist manages the public image and reputation of individuals, organizations, or brands.
6. Account Manager
Account managers play an essential role in maintaining a company's customer base. As the main point of contact for new and existing clients, they handle complaints, deliver product orders, oversee communications, and more. This is a social job, ideally suited to "people-people."
Account Manager
An account manager serves as the primary point of contact for clients within a company or organization.
7. Digital Marketing Specialist
Like advertising, digital marketing is all about powerful messaging. Professionals in this role collaborate with the rest of the marketing team to develop effective online promotions. They might buy digital advertising, create social media content, focus on search engine optimization, or try something else entirely.
Digital Marketing Specialist
A digital marketing specialist specializes in developing and implementing online marketing strategies to promote products, services, or brands.
8. Sales Manager
With their knowledge of customer psychology, advertising majors can excel in sales positions. In a sales manager role, they'll lead a team of sales staff to build and execute sales plans and other promotional campaigns. Their time may involve tasks like setting sales goals and budgets, analyzing profit and loss data, training and mentoring staff, and more.
Sales Manager
A sales manager is responsible for overseeing and leading a team of sales representatives to achieve revenue and sales goals for a company or organization.
9. Event Planner
Few people realize how much of an event planner's time is dedicated to promotion. Pulling off the perfect concert, party, or conference involves getting the right audience to attend. Advertising managers know how to reach people of all walks of life. They also possess the organization and time management skills needed to thrive in this role.
Event Planner
An event planner specializes in organizing and executing various types of events, ranging from small gatherings to large-scale conferences and weddings.
10. Content Manager
Content management roles involve a mix of writing, design, research, and marketing skills—all of which advertising majors possess. In this job, they'll craft compelling blog posts, social media content, and webpages to draw online audiences in, sell products, build brand awareness, and more.
Content Manager
A content manager is responsible for overseeing and managing the creation, development, and distribution of content for various platforms and channels.
11. Graphic Designer
Graphic design can seem like a major leap after advertising, but, in reality, the two fields are closely related. In this role, advertising majors can use their visual communication skills and business knowledge to design newsletters, advertisements, websites, and other graphic content. The job will require extra training, but, for the right person, the payoff will be worth it.
Graphic Designer
A graphic designer creates visual concepts, using computer software or by hand, to communicate ideas that inspire, inform, or captivate consumers.
12. Product Manager
Product managers oversee all aspects of a company's production cycle. They collaborate with staff in almost every department to plan and produce new tools, apps, or products; devise marketing and advertising campaigns to promote them; and develop systems for keeping these processes smooth and efficient. Advertising graduates, with their wide-ranging business training, are cut out for the role.
Product Manager
A product manager is responsible for the development, optimization, and overall success of a product or line of products.