The major aim for which a business is established is to make profits. All measures and efforts are geared to ensure that the business thrives by incurring low costs on production thus making great profits. For a business to run well and consequently achieve its goals of making profits, there are several departments that are created. Some of these departments include marketing, public and customer relations, human resource and advertising. Advertising by definition is creating awareness of the products or goods and or services which a business deals with and in addition, persuading the customers to buy the products and or the services of the business.
Nature of the Job
As already mentioned earlier, account executives are concerned with advertisement, ensuring that the advertisements are not only appealing but also persuasive. They must always have a target group in mind while coming up with any particular advertisement. Similarly the advertisement must also have an intended effect or result which should be felt by the company. Usually, the obvious intended effect is to create awareness of the products and or services of the company or organization thus boosting the sales. The modes that account executives use to advertise are the mass media which is the radio, television, newspapers, periodicals and magazines. As a matter of fact, advertising plays a significant and key role in the success of these mass media outlets since they generate a lot of income from advertisements. Depending on different companies, an advertisement could be done by individual employees who are assigned to do that particular work, or by big companies that specialize in advertising.
Advertising is a social career. It is therefore of utmost importance that one is well able to relate with people and be able to create social relations. Relationships are a vital component and a great determining factor on whether or not the advertisement department will be effective. In addition, excellent communication skills must be demonstrated. The ability to interpret information correctly, especially to the clients and the audience on the grounds that may at times not be familiar with the terms of an advertisement used, may be of the essence. Patience must also be exercised, since the results of some of the activities undertaken in the field of advertisement may not be immediate. Ability to gather as much information regarding a particular client without necessarily being a bother is also an attribute that an accounts executive must possess.
Work Environment
The advertisement industry is quite involving and engaging. Again, some of the activities included can be somewhat stressing. For instance, one may encounter bad comments from clients and this can be very demoralizing and frustrating as well. It is for this reason that virtues like patience and courtesy must be exercised at all times. This job also entails working for long hours and sometimes having to work over the weekend. Irregularity of working schedules is also very common in the advertising field as work must be done when it must be done, notwithstanding the time. The reasoning behind this argument is that if the products and or the services of a company are not appealing to the client, it means this particular business is at a risk of being thrown out of the market as it shall not make any profits. On average, most accounts executives work for more than forty hours a week. However, with the introduction of information technology, the working conditions of accounts executives have drastically changed since much of the work can be done through the internet. There is also the advantage of fixing one’s schedules. Most accounts executives fix their own working schedules, and quite a number of them work on a part time basis. They thus have the opportunity to accomplish other engagements, an advantage that is not common with most other occupations.
The first requirement that one must have is excellent communication skills. One must be fluent with the main language, normally English, and they must be able to exude confidence when communicating with the clients. Secondly, a holder of a college degree or from any other institution of higher learning in a marketing course or any business related course is most preferable. Experience in a similar capacity previously is also preferred. Honesty and professionalism are also virtues that most employers look for.
Employment
As mentioned earlier, advertisement is quite a vast field and thus has numerous job opportunities at any given time. Statistics indicate that at least 170,000 people are employed in this industry annually.
Job Outlook and Prospects
There has been rapid growth in the advertisement industry over the years. This growth is expected to continue taking an upward trend if the current growth in the industry is anything to go by. Analysts have attributed the current growth to the introduction of technology in the advertisement field. This has made things a lot easier thus the rapid growth. There are great opportunities that await those desirous of venturing into this particular field. However, qualifications especially academic and pleasant personal attributes must be demonstrated.
Earnings
Unlike most other career fields, earnings in the filed of advertisement vary greatly. There is a basic salary that an accounts executive is entitled to by virtue of him or her being an employee of the company. In addition, there are commissions that are given on top of the basic salary which vary depending on one’s performance. These commissions are meant to motivate the accounts executive to work extra hard.
Conclusion
The advertisement field therefore is not only fun but also gives one an opportunity to learn new ideas.
