Millions of viewers were by turns fascinated and appalled by the world of creative work on display in the TV series Mad Men. Doubtless many were persuaded to pursue advertising as a career path regardless. The traits of successful (real-world) advertising executives are easy to spot but oftentimes difficult to emulate consistently. Here are six you’ll want to hang onto.
1. They keep up with trends.
An advertising campaign that’s irrelevant to its target audience deems it essentially useless.
In today’s day of social media and news overflow, the trends and fads of what interests the world come and go like that. A campaign today based around yesterday’s fad or yesterday’s style makes it old, boring, and ineffective.
A good advertising executive knows that the only way to make a difference and catch your audience’s eye is to stay up to date on what people care about right now.
There are many avenues available for advertising your products. Therefore, it can be extremely easy to lose your target audience. Perhaps you’re simply not advertising in the right place or in the right way.
In order to truly appeal to your audience and learn the trends, good executives get their hands dirty. They dive deep into conducting the necessary research. They take the time for secondary and primary research. This includes conducting interviews with your target profile, which allows you to really understand them.
2. They lead and listen.
In order to be an effective advertising executive, strong leadership skills are an essential trait.
A good leader knows how to communicate their expectations and needs in a way that motivates and inspires their team. But being a strong leader means nothing if an executive doesn’t have the listening skills to collaborate and learn from their team.
Allowing other voices to be heard and legitimately considered makes employees feel valued. This motivates them to do their job as best as they possibly can. And if the team is doing the best job they can, it makes the executive’s job that much easier.
3. They stay inspired.
An account executive is only as good as their vision.
Without a creative mind that can transform customer desires into a strong, influential campaign, the team will be misled and unable to please the client.
However, good ideas take time. If an account executive is rushing to meet a deadline but has no inspiration or passion behind the project, audiences will feel that. The campaign is destined to fail.
That’s why account executives must be approachable and open. They must hear new perspectives, try new things, and accept new ideas.
Account executives must be ready to dive into a new genre. Yes, even if it’s outside their comfort zone. The only way to reach an audience is to appeal to their senses. However, if they feel that you’re pandering or have no passion for what you’re advertising, there’s little chance you’ll succeed.
4. They keep the client top of mind.
A client’s values and demands are vital to a successful campaign.
As an advertising executive, effectively communicating the client’s needs to the team is the top priority. This means making sure that you, as the executive, fully understand your client’s needs.
Ask questions and stay in direct communication with prospective customers. Keep it clear and simple when you direct your team according to what the client has asked. That way, you will meet your client’s needs because your team is up to speed. They know what you expect of them.
Checking in with your client along the way as you lead your team is essential. Consequently, you avoid any miscommunication and allow for the smooth completion of a job.
5. They keep the objective clear.
Just as staying in communication with the client, throughout every step of the process, is crucial, so too is it important to maintain communication with your team.
As you communicate to them what their job is and what the client wants, being clear and concise should always be the goal. If you give your team too much information, the essence of what the client wants will be lost. As a result, you will confuse your team throughout the entire process.
Therefore, an executive that knows how to narrow down and relay the most important information to their team is an executive that thrives. As a result, making sure the primary message is not forgotten along the way is the key to a successful advertising campaign.
6. They balance their creativity with the budget.
As mentioned, vision and creativity are crucial traits for any advertising executive to have. However, these traits require balance.
If an executive gets too unrealistic with their vision and forgets the budgetary concerns, a crisis can ensue. Therefore, figuring out creative ways to produce an effective campaign on a limited budget is what sets apart a good executive from a not-so-good one.
An executive who applies their creativity to make a campaign on a limited budget ends up resulting in some of the best, most original advertising concepts. As a result, figuring out how to use your creative ideas as an asset allows you to work with any budget. Consequently, you won’t want to be extravagant.
