Name: Sarah Kahl
Age: 24
Qualifications: Bachelor of Arts (media studies) (RMIT);
Graduate Certificate in Media Sales (Monash University)
Position: Account manager
Employer: ACP Magazines
My role is to represent ACP Magazines to agencies and clients; to build and maintain effective relationships to maximise advertising revenue and market share. My position is a mixture of actively searching for new business and taking creative briefs from established clients.
What do you like about your job?
I love that you get to be so creative in this role, and that I get to work with magazines every day. I have so many fantastic clients, and it is so rewarding building relationships with them, learning about their business and developing the best strategies to help their business grow. Also, the media industry is so fast paced, there are new developments and changes every day so there is definitely no time to get bored. We compete against all other media, not just magazines, so you have to stay on the pulse, keeping updated with what is happening in the media market and within each client’s business.
What do you dislike about your job?
The media industry is a very competitive and cutthroat market. I enjoy the competition, it is part of the challenge, but sometimes the pressure can be quite intense when our competitors offer packages that are difficult to match. It can be very frustrating to work so hard on a proposal and lose out on the business at the last minute, but that is the nature of the industry.
In your opinion, are jobs in your field easy/difficult to come by?
There is a lot of opportunity in this business. The media industry is an enormous one but you have to be committed and work hard for it. There are a lot of different elements to the industry, from editorial to advertising and marketing, PR, production, finance, circulation and distribution—it is quite diverse. It is usually an industry where you start out at the bottom and work your way up the ladder, but it is definitely worth it.
What are your longer term career goals? Where do you see yourself in five, and ten years?
I’m still establishing myself in this role at the moment, but after a few years I would like to experience other areas of the market, whether that be overseas or within a different area like editorial or art direction. There are so many opportunities and I still haven’t determined exactly where I want to go from here just yet.
Day in the life
9am
Morning meeting and conference call with the Sydney advertising and editorial team for a brief on what features will be appearing in coming issues, and what relevant prospects can be approached in the market. We also go over monthly and quarter budgets and forecasts.
10am
Respond to client emails and prepare my schedule for the day; plan appointments for the week and scour the internet and prospector for potential business.
11am
Call prospect lists and if there are opportunities or interest make appointments to meet with the marketing manager. Each week I am to make five new appointments. Call my established client list and touch base with these clients—basically I ask for updates on the company, how the business is going, and I keep them informed about any changes to the magazine.
Midday
Complete prop for an appointment later in the afternoon. Contact research for figures on a brief that has come through, and organise an appointment time to brainstorm with the creative department later that day.
1pm
Lunch!
2pm
Visit client and present three of our magazines. Determine the client’s advertising budget and timing, and what they are looking at achieving from their campaign (i.e. creating brand awareness, longevity, impact, running a media first, positioning their business as market leader etc.). Arrange a time to meet with them the following week to present a submission from the information they have given.
3pm
Brainstorm with research on creative concepts and ideas for a furniture client that has a massive budget and is looking for a media first within the homemaker category, and get a quote from creative. Organise the research department to run relevant figures to support the use of our titles for the campaign. Speak with production and send through a quote request form detailing the elements of the creative execution (i.e. inside front cover gatefold) to determine how much it will cost the client to run from a print and paper perspective.
4pm
Begin putting the proposal together including title justifications, the purpose of the execution, the costs involved, added value etc. Get mock-ups of the concept prepared downstairs and make a time to meet with the client.
5pm
Boardroom meeting with Women’s Lifestyle Group Publisher detailing where the company is moving from a PBL perspective, covering both the Nine Network, online and magazine categories and how we can lead the market with integration opportunities and begin taking these ideas out to the market.
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