Top Skills for This Career
BLS identifies these as the three highest-rated skills for this detailed occupation. TrustInEd adds the plain-language explanations so visitors understand what each skill means.
Understanding customer needs and providing helpful, professional service.
Communicating clearly through speech while listening carefully to understand others.
Adjusting effectively when priorities, conditions, tools, or expectations change.
How Do You Prepare for This Career?
BLS describes the typical preparation for this occupation. Requirements can vary by employer, state, licensing rules and individual circumstances.
How to Become One
How to Become an Advertising Sales Agent Advertising sales agents must actively seek new clients and initiate communication with current clients in order to meet sales quotas. Advertising sales agents typically need at least a high school diploma to enter the occupation, although some employers require or prefer that candidates have a bachelor’s degree. Once hired, these workers typically receive
Education
A high school diploma is typically required for entry-level advertising sales positions. However, some employers prefer or require a college degree. Courses in marketing, communications, business, and advertising are helpful. Training Advertising sales agents usually receive training on the job. For example, a newly hired sales agent might work alongside an experienced sales agent who coaches and observes them as they make sales calls and contact clients. Employers also may provide formal training sessions, such as for agents who sell to a specialized market segment. Advancement Agents with leadership experience and a strong sales record may advance to supervisory and managerial positions, such as sales manager, account executive, and vice president of sales. Successful advertising sales agents also may advance to positions in other areas, such as corporate sales.
Training
on the job. Sales and communication skills are essential.
Your Next Step
Review training, certifications, apprenticeships, or employer-based preparation that may support entry into this career.
Pay
the median annual wage for all workers was $50,980.
Job Outlook
Job Outlook Employment of advertising sales agents is projected to grow 7 percent from 2025 to 2035, decline. About 7,800 openings for advertising sales agents are projected each year, on average, over the decade. Many of those openings are expected to result from the need to replace workers who transfer to different occupations or exit the labor force, such as to retire. Employment Newspapers and magazines are expected to continue to experience circulation declines. With the shift towards digital advertising and the decline in the number of consumers viewing advertisements in print media, fewer advertising sales agents are expected to be needed. Advertising will continue to grow in digital media, including online video ads, search engine ads, and other digital ads intended for cell phones or tablet-style computers. Although advertising sales agents are still needed in digital media, the ability to automate digital ad placement and the use of ad blockers by digital users may limit employment demand for advertising sales agents along these channels. Advertising Sales Agents Percent change in employment, projected 2025–35 Total, all occupations 3% Sales representatives, services 2% Advertising sales agents -7% Note: All Occupations includes all occupations in the U.S. Economy.
What They Do
What Advertising Sales Agents Do
Advertising sales agents, also called advertising sales representatives, sell advertising space to businesses and individuals. They contact potential clients, make sales presentations, and maintain client accounts.
Duties
Advertising sales agents typically do the following:
- Locate and contact potential clients to offer their firm’s advertising services
- Explain to clients how specific types of advertising will help promote their products or services effectively
- Provide clients with estimates of the costs of advertising products or services
- Process all correspondence and paperwork related to accounts
- Prepare and deliver sales presentations to new and existing clients
- Inform clients of available options for advertising art, formats, or features and provide samples of previous work for other clients
- Deliver advertising or illustration proofs to clients for approval
- Prepare promotional plans, sales literature, media kits, and sales contracts
- Recommend appropriate sizes and formats for advertising
Advertising sales agents connect clients with promotional services across various media platforms, including print, radio, television, online, and social media. They meet with clients to discuss available options. They also identify and target new clients, such as by calling prospects and attempting to sell a media firm’s advertising space or time.
A critical part of building relationships with clients is learning about their needs. Before the first meeting with a client, a sales agent gathers background information on the client, their products or services, and the geographic area of the target market.
The sales agent then meets with the client to explain how specific types of advertising will help promote the client’s products or services effectively. If the client wishes to proceed, the agent prepares and presents a proposal that includes an overview of advertising media, sample advertisements, and cost estimates.
In addition to maintaining sales and overseeing their accounts, advertising sales agents analyze sales statistics and prepare reports about clients’ accounts. They keep up to date on industry trends by reading about both current and new products, and they monitor the sales, prices, and products of their competitors.
In many firms, the advertising sales agent drafts contracts, which specify the cost and the advertising work to be done. Agents also may continue to help the client, answering questions or addressing problems the client may have with the proposal.
Sometimes, these workers are responsible for developing sales tools, promotional plans, and media kits, all of which they use to help make a sale. In other cases, firms may have a marketing team that sales agents work with to develop these sales tools.
Work Environment
Work Environment
Advertising sales agents held about 99,300 jobs in 2025. The largest employers of advertising sales agents were as follows:
| Advertising, public relations, and related services | 44% |
| Newspaper publishers | 8 |
| Radio broadcasting stations | 7 |
| Media streaming distribution services, social networks, and other media networks and content providers | 7 |
| Television broadcasting stations | 4 |
Selling can be stressful because income and job security depend directly on agents’ ability to keep and expand their client base. Companies generally set monthly sales quotas and place considerable pressure on advertising sales agents to meet those quotas.
Getting new accounts is an important part of the job, and agents may spend much of their time traveling to and visiting prospective advertisers and maintaining relationships with current clients.
Work Schedules
Most advertising sales agents work full time.
Important Qualities
The following are examples of qualities that are important for these workers to perform their duties. For more information, visit the Employment Projections (EP) skills data page. Communication skills. Advertising sales agents must be persuasive during sales calls. In addition, they should listen to the client’s desires and concerns so they are able to recommend an appropriate advertising package. Customer-service skills. Advertising sales agents must be responsive to clients’ needs and concerns. Initiative. Advertising sales agents must actively seek new clients, keep in touch with current clients, and expand their client base, in order to meet sales quotas. Interpersonal skills. Advertising sales agents must be able to establish a good rapport with both prospective and existing clients. Organizational skills. Agents work with many clients, each of whom may be at a different stage in the sales process. Agents must be well organized to keep track of their clients and potential clients. Self-confidence. Advertising sales agents should be confident when calling potential clients (making cold calls). Because potential clients are often unwilling to commit on a first call, agents frequently must continue making sales calls, even if rejected at first.
More Information
More Information, Including Links to O*NET
Learn more about advertising sales agents by visiting additional resources, including O*NET, a source on key characteristics of workers and occupations.
Take the Next Step
Explore Training Options
Review training, certifications, apprenticeships, or employer-based preparation that may support entry into this career.
Explore pathway →Hear From ED
Use the guided career counseling experience to connect this career to your goals, skills and education preferences.
Start with ED →Career data and occupational profile text are sourced from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook and Employment Projections program. Education requirements are typical entry-level requirements and may vary by employer, state, occupation or individual circumstance. View the official BLS profile.