Advertising Director

POSITION DESCRIPTION:

The Advertising Director is a sales leader charged with driving retail advertising revenue growth for The Post and Courier. The Advertising Director should be highly customer-facing including both client meetings and time in the field with account executives. The Advertising Director will manage the full retail advertising department daily and will serve as the direct supervisor for a team of P&C retail account executives plus other sales management, providing continued coaching, support and sales strategy to this team of sellers. The Advertising Director should place a focus on driving new business through new client acquisition and the creation of sales initiatives and gap fillers as needed. This position is charged with exceeding advertising revenue budgets through thoughtful sales leadership, conceptualization, and execution of revenue/sales initiatives, coaching and performance management of account executives and account relationship specialists (ARS), and developing deep relationships with key advertising clients.

Responsibilities will include, but not be limited to:

• Achievement of monthly and annual departmental revenue goals, growing total revenue as creatively and rapidly as possible.
• Emphasis on new business development and incremental account growth in the Charleston DMA, driving account executives in consistent cold calling, cold emails, client needs assessments and long-term partnership presentations.
• Foster a sales culture that is professional, aggressive, and creative with a key focus on developing new business.
• Continually evaluate The Post and Courier's advertising department's go-to-market strategy and internal operations to ensure its competitiveness and identify needs for growth or transformation.
• Partner with Chief Revenue Officer and Chief Opportunity and Marketing Officer to create new revenue-driving projects, products and initiatives, and manage sales team to monetize these efforts achieving special project revenue goals.
• Develop agendas, trainings, and lead The Post and Courier advertising department's weekly sales meetings.
• Conduct 1x1s weekly with all direct reports.
• Work with account executives to develop gap fillers as needed to achieve individual or team revenue budgets
• Maintain 50% or more of time client-facing- 'in the field' prospecting with account executives, coaching account executives, joining client discovery calls and proposal pitches, virtual sales calls, reporting meetings, etc.
• Planning and executing creative ideas and sales strategies for events, promotions, and digital advertising campaigns.
• Exhibit strong desire to drive new business acquisition for the department.
• Exhibit strong understanding of digital marketing offerings, including but not limited to PPC, social, streaming TV, streaming audio, SEO, website development, etc.
• Partner with the President/CRO of King & Columbus, The Post and Courier's internal full service marketing agency to identify and secure agency clients.
• Continual learning of digital advertising capabilities and the digital landscape.
• Participate in internal white-boarding discussions, build sales proposals for strategic-level clients, and deliver client presentations.
• Build relationships with P&C clients/partners and provide strategic oversight and guidance to our strategic level accounts.
• Maintain a thorough understanding of competitive media, market research and market share growth opportunities.
• Monitoring and analyzing competitors and competitive advertising rates. Evaluate and adjust P&C's pricing as needed.
• Input all client/prospect information and sales activity into Hubspot CRM and manage team to do the same - utilize Hubspot for pipeline management and sales activity/SOP management
• Onboard new hires in direct report roles and participate in onboarding for newly hired account executives.
• Participate in advertising department budgeting cycle for The Post and Courier
• Conduct weekly revenue flashing for The Post and Courier
• Participate in Evening Post Publishing advertising management meetings.
• Represent The Post and Courier at community and business meetings and events to meet and engage with key stakeholders and decision makers.
• Perform other duties as assigned by management

Education/Experience:

• Bachelor's degree or higher in business, marketing, journalism, communications or related field preferred.
• 6-8 years of marketing or media sales experience required .
• Minimum of four years' media sales management experience .
• Proven ability to meet revenue goals .
• Experience securing, managing and growing medium-to-large clients .
• Ability to relate well with clients and business leaders and collaborate with co-workers .
• Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to present research and proposals clearly .
• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal.
• Excellent digital skills, including but not limited to social media, digital analytics and understanding of digital market trends.
• Hands-on media sales training experience .
• History of consultative selling approach across print and digital platforms .
• Candidate should be proficient with Microsoft office suite (Word, Excel, Powerpoint)
• Must reside in Charleston DMA .

Knowledge/Skills/ Abilities:

• Ability to work in a team environment is essential.
• The ability and skill to effectively communicate and interact personally or electronically with team members, customers, clients and other employees of the organization in a professional and courteous manner is essential.
• Ability to read, write, analyze, and interpret specific marketing and advertising material, market data, general business periodicals, applicable regulations and procedures.
• Knowledge of general financial accounting, budget expenditures and forecasting is critical in determining rates and calculating figures.
• Ability to apply logical thinking in solving practical problems, collecting data, and establishing facts while drawing valid conclusions in situations where only limited standardization exists.

Physical Requirement, Work Environment and Travel:

Close eye work on computer, continuous sitting, constant walking, standing, light to moderate lifting 15-20 pounds. Local travel is required.