Media Sales Explained

Media Sales explained ...

Advertising does not always sell itself. If we take a magazine as an example 60% will be taken up by advertising and 40% by editorial. If the editorial is good then, of course, it will sell well and make money from the cover price. However this simply is not enough to cover salaries, print and production - to really make money a magazine needs to carry advertising; furthermore it needs a sales team to sell it to prospective clients.

Traditionally magazines, newspapers and television have carried the majority of advertising however; everybody is in on the game now. Just about every where you go you will see some form of advertising or other, whether it is on the back of a petrol pump, on the Tube or even covering a train - virtually everything is for sale. Nevertheless, the majority of sales people still start their career by selling magazine or newspaper advertising space. Once you are a trained media sales executive you can take your sales skills into potentially any medium.

In essence, the role of a media sales executive is to account handle existing advertisers and develop new business. To do this they need to define and identify a client’s advertising needs and work out how best to sell their magazine/newspaper as an advertising solution by endorsing the benefits to the client.

It is not always easy. For a start you will have the competition snapping at your heals, perhaps undercutting you, your client may well even prefer the competition and not always for sound business reasons. Budgets are always tight making negotiation of a ‘win win’ situation tough. Then there is the rejection - people do not like parting with their money even if it does belong to their company.

Like any sales job you will be under a constant pressure to perform - this is a commercial environment after all. Sometimes you will be on an absolute high after landing a big contract and will become the star of the office (for a day or so.) Unfortunately you are only as good as your last sale!

So why do it? Well, media sales is about acquiring sound business skills and acumen, developing client relationships and ensuring clients remain clients. It is not about ‘smash and grab’ aggressive sales techniques.

All of our clients give excellent training, development and rewards. As your career develops you will have the opportunity to recruit and run your own sales team and make strategic business decisions.