Task 5: Job Roles

Task 5: Job Roles

Learning Outcome 2 (U24): Understand the behaviours, skills and attributes necessary within the advertising industry.

1.Explain the behaviours and attributes required for a specific job role: P4 (U24)

Account executive 

An account executive has different responsibilities to fulfil their job role. They must meet up with clients and communicate with them to discuss and identify their different advertising requirements.  They must also work with agency colleagues to plan an advertising campaign that meets both the client’s brief and budget. Furthermore, the account executive must then present the ideas and budget to the client, along with any agency colleagues needed. For example, the account manager. The account manager is then needed there to work with the account executive, to brief media, creative and research staff and to also help with the forming of marketing strategies. The account executive will then communicate with the client and advertising agency by having regular contact with both of them. Furthermore, the account executive must ensure communication flows effectively and that they negotiate with clients and agency staff about the details within the campaign. Creative work must then be presented to clients to then be approved and modified, budgets must be handled to manage campaign costs and invoices for clients. Client reports must then be written and the account executive will then monitor the effectiveness of the campaigns. The account manager will undertake the administrative tasks and they will then attend and arrange meetings between other workers. They finally make pitches along with other staff members with the aim of securing new businesses for the agency.

The role of an account executive is to be the link for their companies as well as their clients and they must have a large understanding of the clients and their requirements, products and objectives. Furthermore, an account executive must have be able to provide their clients with advice that will be effective, in order for them to be able to create successful promotional activities and strategies. Account executives also manage the day-to-day meetings as well as being responsible for the satisfaction of clients. They are also expected to bring new clients into the business to make an increase in the money coming in.

Behaviours and attributes

Being an exemplary role model and leader. - This provides the model for success for the whole team as well as showing your potential clients you are capable of successfully delivering the project with the backing of your team.  If you show that you are behaving in the right way, your team will follow suit.

Documenting your successes can also be a behaviour you need to help with your future.  Making notes of the clients goal, how you implemented them and next steps are all good ways to show you are organised and help you and your team anticipate any future challenges.

Showing professionalism at all times -  presents themselves  the company and solutions in a respectful way and shows respect for others as a matter of everyday life practices.  With clients especially it is important to show respect for what they are trying to achieve.  If you do not do this, it can show that you are not putting the clients needs first

Customer - centric - places the customer first, listens to their needs and always puts them first.  It is good to show the team you work with that the customer is your priority, as they will be able to learn from you and understand that it is a big part of being a successful manager

Networking within your company and industry gains you visibility. Visibility is a great way to get promoted because it helps you make all important connections connections. When positions arise and people know you are interested in the position, they’ll be the ones referring you or reaching out to you.  It is equally important to recognise your team members as well for promotions and career changes.

Measures and rewards progress from their staff by keeping up to date records of all activity within the team.  This is also good for morale especially if you recognise certain achievements and reward them.

Willing to take chances and make changes - offer alternatives as solutions to challenges. Always thinking how to improve and to resolve issues so they never happen again. Respects the inputs / ideas of others (customers and their own organisation) when they may differ from their perspective.

Always takes action to work towards timelines, goals and expectation of the client.

Motivational and Excellent communication skills - Attributes

– One of the main roles of an account executive is to give efficient advice so they can come up with successful promotional material. Communication skills are therefore extremely important as the account executive usually faces the company when working with clients and must therefore be able to communicate properly as this protects both the company’s reputation and also the professionalism of the company itself. This will also help the message to be passed on to the client properly and will motivate the clients to come up with the best promotional material that they can.

Having the ability to prioritize tasks as well as multitasking - Account executives are given plenty of tasks they must complete for many different clients. It is highly important for them to know how to prioritize so everything can be completed on time and in the most effective way. This will also consist of the account executive needing to multi task meaning more then one task will need to be completed at a time giving them a reasonable amount of time to work on the larger tasks.

Have a good understanding of Business processes - An account executive must have full understanding of business process, as they are the link between the business and their clients, they therefore must be aware of the businesses process in order to give valid advice and information out to individuals requiring it.

·      Being organized - Account executives are given an extremely large amount of tasks that need to be completed each day meaning organization is highly important. This usually consists of more then one client is being taken care of so therefore ensuing no work is mixed up is part of being organized. 

·      Taking on task independently- Account executives handle the day to day conversation and meets with clients regularly, therefore they must be able to handle tasks independently because they would have the most knowledge on the clients and their tasks.

·      Working well as a team.

Companies also look for attributes such as:

·      Having a keen eye for detail and an understanding of budgets restraints.

·      The confidence in themselves and give the client trusts in the work.

·      Having the ability to use digital platforms to create processes with technology.

·      Be able to work under pressure without showing the workload.

2.Explain how personal behaviours and attributes affect career development opportunities within the media industry: M2 (U24)

How personal behaviours and attributes affect career development opportunities within the media industry - explore current opportunities that exist, and impact on being successful in this role.

Chosen Career to talk about: Account Executive

An account executive is the bridge between the agency and the client, and they are responsible for ensuring the smooth running of client accounts and the timely completion of the project. Furthermore, they also have to develop a good working relationship with the client, so that the client will want to stay with the agency. They need to prove to them that they are worthy of managing their accounts. 

When becoming an Account Executive, it is important to have some personal attributes that will affect the development within their career in the media industry.  This means that they can progress onto bigger things. Employees will look for certain skills such as problem-solving and communication. This is because you need these attributes when single-handedly dealing with customer accounts, as they are relying on you to help them, making it your responsibility. 

As an example, when working with a new client there is a lot to prove in order to win the contract as well as keep it.  If you are able to demonstrate certain behaviours such as professionalism, ensuring that an upcoming pitch is completed on time and especially being able to behave in a way that instills confidence in the company and in you, it will help your own progression in the future.  The client needs to believe that you have put them and their ideas first.  You must show them they come first.

Communication is important because clients expect to be satisfied that they trust the word of the account executive when they provide them with information on their funds. For example, if the client is paying £10,000 for an advert to be created for them, they will want proof and confirmation from the account exec that this will be possible or feasible, as well as proof that they only have used that much. Being loyal to the client will help the account exec develop further in their career because they will be able to get promoted to a higher position such as an account manager once they are able to show how well they have worked on all of their projects.

This opportunity exists to those account executives that have worked well in their role and proven that they can take the step up to obtain more important job in which they need to make sure that the agency as a whole is meeting the needs of the client. The reason that all of this needs to be completed is because you should want to keep your customers happy in that sense otherwise they might decide to switch to a different agency, which could give the one that you work for a bad reputation, and you specifically. This is why all work needs to be completed on time otherwise it will affect your ability to progress in the industry. 

When working as an account exec or in any role within this industry your attitude and behaviour can affect your chances of developing your career. For example, if you can show that you are dedicated towards what your job role is, and you complete tasks to the best of your ability then it is more likely that your career will develop a lot quicker due to anyone who is superior to you in the agency being happy with your work. 

On a more personal level, your mood and feelings can impact your ability to make effective decisions at work and can also impact the ability to work well with others 

Inconsiderate behaviours such as gossiping about others at work and being abrupt with colleagues can also create a bad atmosphere. This kind of  behaviour even may affect whether you keep your job. If you are seen to be a trouble make or not a team player.

Another behaviour that is important with this job role is being able to be discreet.  If you have a client that is launching a product which must be kept secret, for example, a new product on the market they do not want their competitors to find out about, it is important to respect this.  Not telling other colleagues who are not in the project management team and certainly not telling outside friends and colleagues. 

Education, completed courses and training programs are a factor with direct influence for career and for promotion.  It is good to take the opportunity of attending courses or up-skilling yourself to help with future career development. It shows you have stamina to continue with your studies and shows you are willing to learn and climb the ladder.

In general all of this applies to any role in the media industry because every job role has the option of progressing to a higher responsibility,  and so many of these attributes that account executive needs to have for their work and the ones they need to progress in their career, will be needed by lots of people in this industry and other industries. However, the qualities and skills will vary but everyone has the opportunity to develop.

There are current job roles available for an account executive. Examples can be seen below:

The first job role that an Account executive could possible take up would be a digital account executive. The skills that this job role requires is being well organised, have a hard working nature as well as being highly numerate. They have lots of responsibilities such as being able to support the whole account management team to ensure that all campaigns are delivered precisely. The job also includes setting up, delivering and reporting paid digital media. Campaigns will be delivered through different social media accounts such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. 

One of the other job roles that an account executive can undertake is by becoming an advertising account executive. This job role involves meeting with clients to get a good understanding of their advertising and promotional needs, the budgets for these activities, as well as target audience and other demographics. Someone wanting to go into this job role needs to have good verbal and communication skills, creative and innovative thought processes, an outgoing personality, and the ability to connect and interact with a wide range of people. 

• The skills that they outline that will result in success in the job include: 
• Accurate delivery of all tasks 
• Team satisfaction and feedback 
• Accurate time management and time sheet completion 
• Consistently meeting deadlines and exceeding expectations while striving towards improvements and efficiencies 

As you can see I discussed above in a lot of detail about specific attributes and behaviours that are needed to allow account executives to grow. They need accurate time management to help them meet their deadlines, they need to meet deadlines in order to ensure that their clients are not disappointed. This will allow account executives to be successful in their roles and hopefully move up the ladder to become an account director and have more responsibility for an entire campaign.

3. Explain the importance of the etiquette when working on a media production: D2 (U24)

The workplace is expected to be a professional environment with well mannered employees and a high standard of etiquette. The employees are the face of the company, therefore etiquette is needed in this professional environment in order to maintain the company’s positive and professional image, and not being etiquette may lead to the loss of reputation to the business, as well as profits in long term effects. It is extremely important for a company to maintain a professional image in order to not have a bad reputation reflect onto their products, because customers may not trust the product or service that they company is offering they seem unprofessional and careless, as they will assume that is the same way they produce their products. The more people that start to doubt the company the less products that the company will sell, and the more sales the company will lose.

Different employees in the company have different skill sets that are suitable for different roles in the advertising process, these employees are assigned to roles that can use their skill sets to their maximum potential. For example the employee with the most professionalism and etiquette behaviour, could be given the role or an event manager, because they would be required to interact with people when organising venues and cater’s therefore having professional manners will increase the company chances of the venues and cater’s wanting to work with them. Employees with these attributes can also be used to take on roles such as an account executive who acts as a bridge between the company and their clients, therefore it is important for them to have professional manners and etiquette in order to maintain a professional and friendly relationship between the company and clients.

The employees of an advertising industry are not the only ones who are required to maintain a certain standard of etiquette and rules. The ASA (Advertising Standard Authority) is the UK’s leading advertising regulator. They set the standards and rules that adverts in the UK must comply with in order to be legal in the UK. The ASA states that adverts and promotional material is not aloud to be harmful or misleading, and if they find that an advert is in fact one of these it will be discontinued. An advert being discontinued by the ASA can lead the company who released to lose their reputation, the trust of their customers and they could even face legal trouble from customers who thought they where getting one thing but really got something els.

A creative director is a vital role in all of the arts and entertainment industries. Creative directors can be seen at many times as a leader. They have responsibilities such as leading and guiding teams of employees within creative industry fields. There are several reasons as to why its extremely important for the creative director to have a high level of etiquette. First of all, the creative director must communicate and guide a group of employees, therefore he must be able to communicate at the same level of etiquette that the rest of the employees are expected to act at.  Another reason for etiquette being a must is that at many times they are responsible for coming up with advertisement concepts and ideas, therefore the creative director must have a certain standard of etiquette that would be acceptable to present to their clients. The creative director is also the one to present their concepts to their clients to make sure that they are happy with what they have come up with for the promotional material, this requires a standard of etiquette because at this point the creative director is the face of the company, and that face must look professional and well presented in order to reflect that into the work they do at their agency. A creative director is a great asset to the agency that is suitable to the needs of these responsibilities as creative directors commonly have experience from various different skills and already have a variety of skills. The creative director can also set tasks for the group of employees that he may be guiding, in order to do this he must know what level of etiquette each employee is able to perform at in order to assign the tasks efficiently.

Employees lower down in the hierarchy of the agency are also essential to the business and it must be ensured that also them have a certain standard of etiquette to maintain the standards and reputation of the agency. For example assistants, they may not be there for the high profile meetings and the creating of concept work, however they are still partially on the front line. Taking their bosses calls with clients and any other calls they may get whether their business related or not, they must be able to communicate at a certain level of etiquette as they are speaking on behalf of their high level boss, and what ever they do will be reflected upon their boss whether its something positive or negative.

If you do not understand the importance of etiquette in business it could have a serious effect on your relationships with clients, your team and could put the entire project at risk.  

It is important to practice common courtesy.  If you set up a meeting with a potential client on a specific day and time, try not to rearrange or not attend.  Things beyond your control do come up from time to time but it is important to let the attendee know as soon as possible and re arrange.  If the meeting does go ahead it is important to greet the person with an enthusiastic and firm handshake and offer a polite and sincere greeting.  Once the meeting is finished thank the other person and ideally walk them to the door.

It is also good to do some research on the organisation with which you are meeting especially if they are from another country. It is important to research business etiquette rules in their country. Something that is acceptable hear may be regarded as an insult in another country.  If they are offended this would hinder your chances of continuing the working relationship.  For example, if you are working with someone from Japan, they talk very softly when sharing ideas.