How to hire an advertising specialist

How to hire an advertising specialist, step by step

Here's a step-by-step advertising specialist hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write an advertising specialist job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new advertising specialist
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does an advertising specialist do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   First, determine the employments status of the advertising specialist you need to hire. Certain advertising specialist roles might require a full-time employee, whereas others can be done by part-time workers or contractors.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   You should also consider the ideal background you'd like them an advertising specialist to have before you start to hire. For example, what industry or field would you like them to have experience in, what level of seniority or education does the job require, and how much it'll cost to hire an advertising specialist that fits the bill.

   Here's a comparison of advertising specialist salaries for various roles:

   Type of Advertising Specialist	Description	Hourly rate
   Advertising Specialist	Advertising sales agents sell advertising space to businesses and individuals. They contact potential clients, make sales presentations, and maintain client accounts.	$17-33
   Sales/Marketing	Among the responsibilities of working in sales and marketing is to reach out to clients to achieve sales targets and secure customer satisfaction. It is also essential to come up and develop strategies to obtain sales and find new opportunities that will strengthen the client base and improve the company's brand and image... Show more	$11-33
   Marketing Consultant	A marketing consultant is responsible for utilizing their extensive retail expertise to develop strategies on how to strengthen client base and achieve better sales. Furthermore, a marketing consultant must perform research and analysis to determine opportunities for financial gains, devise plans to improve client satisfaction, assess the competition, look out for any risks, and develop its brand and image... Show more	$21-53

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Digital Marketing
   • Google Analytics
   • Google Adwords
   • Facebook
   • SEO
   • Marketing Campaigns
   • SEM
   • YouTube
   • PPC
   • Twitter
   • ROI
   • Linkedin
   • Search Engine
   • KPIs

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Manage accounts to ensure an increase in campaign performance and ROI.
   • Implement, manage NPRP s LinkedIn account, successfully create content and run advertising campaigns.
   • Generate, launch and manage performance of dynamic web advertising campaigns, develop and manage web content format with HTML.
   • Design and produce catalogs, brochures, technical and training manuals, presentations, business cards, and in-house forms.
   • Create and implement strategic SEM advertising plans and launch campaigns.
   • Analyze ROI to identify trends and opportunities for future campaigns.

   More advertising specialist duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your advertising specialist job description is one of the best ways to attract top talent. An advertising specialist can vary based on:

   • Location. For example, advertising specialists' average salary in texas is 57% less than in new york.
   • Seniority. Entry-level advertising specialists 48% less than senior-level advertising specialists.
   • Certifications. An advertising specialist with certifications usually earns a higher salary.
   • Company. Working for an established firm or a new start-up company can make a big difference in an advertising specialist's salary.

   Average advertising specialist salary

   $50,237yearly

   $24.15 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level advertising specialist salary

   $36,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 17, 2025

   Average advertising specialist salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	New York	$77,712	$37
   2	California	$55,207	$27
   3	Illinois	$53,457	$26
   4	Michigan	$52,241	$25
   5	District of Columbia	$52,144	$25
   6	Virginia	$50,316	$24
   7	Maryland	$49,528	$24
   8	Nevada	$48,906	$24
   9	Massachusetts	$48,846	$23
   10	Oregon	$47,835	$23
   11	North Carolina	$46,669	$22
   12	Washington	$46,487	$22
   13	Colorado	$45,756	$22
   14	Minnesota	$45,599	$22
   15	Arizona	$43,560	$21
   16	Utah	$42,232	$20
   17	Missouri	$42,013	$20
   18	Pennsylvania	$41,422	$20
   19	Florida	$38,183	$18
   20	Texas	$33,546	$16

   Average advertising specialist salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Chegg	$116,865	$56.19
   2	The New York Times Company	$87,457	$42.05
   3	Esri	$67,224	$32.32
   4	Thermo Fisher Scientific	$64,936	$31.22	6
   5	Discover	$61,560	$29.60
   6	Cook Children's Medical Center	$60,583	$29.13	1
   7	Social Driver	$58,152	$27.96
   8	Adpearance	$57,830	$27.80
   9	Remote	$56,235	$27.04
   10	CHS	$55,998	$26.92
   11	BioFire Diagnostics	$55,577	$26.72
   12	Madwire	$55,388	$26.63
   13	PopSockets	$55,315	$26.59
   14	RevLocal	$55,308	$26.59
   15	WebFX	$55,249	$26.56	10
   16	Digital International Corp	$55,249	$26.56
   17	Electro-Mec, Inc.	$55,200	$26.54
   18	JohnHart Real Estate	$55,190	$26.53
   19	Closed Loop	$54,902	$26.40
   20	IVY	$54,313	$26.11

4. Writing an advertising specialist job description

   A good advertising specialist job description should include a few things:

   • Summary of the role
   • List of responsibilities
   • Required skills and experience

   Including a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager is also appreciated by candidates. Here's an example of an advertising specialist job description:

   Advertising specialist job description example

   Assist in the operation of MDI advertising to meet or exceed advertising goals. Responsibilities •Initiates, develops, automates and coordinates effective design solutions for ad layouts Prepares and oversees all activities associated with final design and production
   • Exercises good judgement in recommending formats and innovate graphic options to maximize impact and
   remain competitive
   • Coordinates any necessary photography for project development
   • Responsible for generating over 100+ ad pages weekly
   • Produce ad layout so meet the guidelines given by retail customers
   • Determines the appropriate version for ads based on customer needs
   • Determines which products to include in ad based on region and information from brand directors
   • Generates proof, sends to customers, and makes appropriate changes based on feedback
   • Releases ads, grids and run list to ensure accurate print versions and distribution
   • Prepares files for email blast and accurate info for social media
   • Ensures prices, random weights, mapping and writing to build the layout and move items to appropriate space
   • Collaborates with digital group for special email promotions, create with proper formatting dependent on social
   media platforms
   • Provides support in preparing window signs, newspaper ads, bag stuffers, and digital coupons
   • Responsible for moving pdfs of ads and uploading to server shared with FreshOps thus creating the digital ad for
   additional random ads
   • May be required to perform other tasks, as necessary. Qualifications •Two-year degree or equivalent experience in commercial art, marketing, graphics, etc. Must have good time management, organizational, interpersonal, and communications skills.
   • Must be self-motivated and creative.
   • Strong knowledge of Macintosh, Microsoft Excel, Multi-ad Creator, Adobe Illustrator, and Adobe Photoshop.
   • Experience in ad layouts preferred.
   Dimensions:
   • Generates ads for 150+ customers
   Direction/Responsibility:
   • Reports to Sr Mgr, Ad, Print & Creative Services #LI-DNI

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   To find the right advertising specialist for your business, consider trying out a few different recruiting strategies:

   • Consider internal talent. One of the most important sources of talent for any company is its existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals. Reach out to friends, family members, and current employees and ask if they know or have worked with advertising specialists they would recommend.
   • Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit advertising specialists who meet your education requirements.
   • Social media platforms. LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter now have more than 3.5 billion users, and you can use social media to reach potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your advertising specialist job on Zippia to find and attract quality advertising specialist candidates.
   • Use niche websites such as salesjobs, salesheads, allretailjobs.com, sales trax.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Your first interview with advertising specialist candidates should focus on their interest in the role and background experience. As the hiring process goes on, you can learn more about how they'd fit into the company culture in later rounds of interviews.

   It's also good to ask about candidates' unique skills and talents to see if they match your ideal candidate profile. If you think a candidate is good enough for the next step, you can move on to the technical interview.

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new advertising specialist

   Once you've selected the best advertising specialist candidate for the job, it's time to write an offer letter. In addition to salary, this letter should include details about the benefits and perks you offer the candidate. Ensuring that your offer is competitive is essential, as qualified candidates may be considering other job opportunities. The candidate may wish to negotiate the terms of the offer, and you should be open to discussion. After you reach an agreement, the final step is formalizing the agreement with a contract.

   It's also good etiquette to follow up with applicants who don't get the job by sending them an email letting them know that the position has been filled.

   Once that's done, you can draft an onboarding schedule for the new advertising specialist. Human Resources should complete Employee Action Forms and ensure that onboarding paperwork is completed, including I-9s, benefits enrollment, federal and state tax forms, etc. They should also ensure that new employee files are created for internal recordkeeping.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

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How much does it cost to hire an advertising specialist?