CareerCast recently published their annual list of the most stressful jobs in America. While the study appears to be unscientific, the results are surprising. It appears that you stressed-out ad folks are in good company. The position of Advertising Account Executive made the top 10 as the number 6 most stressful job. I have been an account executive in a previous life and can remember the stress of endless cold calls, pitches in front of prospects that were splitting their time between me and a game of Bubbles on their Blackberries, and the monthly grind to make my numbers. But that was radio, which is a tough sale because it’s so hard to prove ROI.
I don’t want to take anything away from my colleagues in the advertising industry, but I do question the accuracy of the list. For example, the number one most stressful job on the list is an airline pilot. I get it – they have hundreds of lives in their hands on any given day, but what about the flight attendants? They have to deal with people who like to carry on three large bags then get an attitude when there is no overhead space. They’re on the frontlines when they have to enforce the airline’s ridiculous policies. That’s got to be stressful, yet they don’t appear on the list. Just in front of ad execs they gave newscasters the number five spot. The stress there is competing for the news story in a highly competitive field. But tell an ER nurse in a city hospital about being a newscaster and your likely to get an earful. Just like flight attendants, nurses didn’t make the list.
I suppose the reality is that all stress is relative. For me, I’d love to sit in the corner office instead of the center cubical, but according to the list, a corporate executive is the third most stressful job. That being said, I don’t like to judge other people’s stresses because I find most of the time they are self-inflicted.
So what is a stressed out account executive to do? You have clients that expect creativity from you and your firm. You have deadlines to meet, ROI targets to hit. Well, I don’t like to talk about problems without having solutions. Let me tell you how Structural Graphics helps to relieve some of the stress.
If you have ever worked with Structural Graphics, you know that we offer a complete turnkey solution. We take your direct marketing project from conception to delivery and even campaign reporting after that. Though we often work directly with companies, we also have many great relationships with agencies. We’ll make you look like a hero to your clients by offering high-impact print solutions, as well as digital assets like personalized landing pages, QR codes and real time campaign reporting.
Give us a call to find out how we can make your job a little less stressful. Your number one goal as account executive should be to prove a positive ROI for your clients. Let us help.
Though it was a great package I think they could have made it even more impactful. The tabbed guide was really helpful but it was also too flimsy. When I ripped the guide out with the intention of hanging it on the fridge, all of the individual tabs separated, so it just became a pile of papers on our already cluttered appliance. I thought of our 
Our friend Trish Witkowski is the self proclaimed “Chief Folding Fanatic” at 
QR Codes offer an opportunity that your sales team is craving. Deliver actionable sales leads in real-time, directly to the sales person and you become a marketing super hero. In combination with a well designed landing page, QR Codes can quickly and efficiently direct your prospects exactly where you want them to go. Last year, an innovative financial planning company, TIAA-CREF added a QR code to a printed piece, which directed recipients to a simple landing page with a click-to-call button on it. When the user clicked it, they were connected to a sales rep right on their cell phone.
highly exclusive brand of meats. Their ads were entirely focused on creating a brand image of exclusive, high quality, and different from what you get at your grocery store. “If I want Boar’s Head ham now, I can just go to the convenience store down the road”, she said. “It used to be a brand that you could only find at high-end delis.” Being in the food industry, she knew what she was talking about. She also pointed out that Green Mountain Coffee has a similar story. The brand used to be associated with specialty brands sold at exclusive coffee shops. Now you can find Green Mountain in your local Mobile on the Run, or McDonald’s (recently, McDonalds switched to Newman’s Own and stopped carrying Green Mountain).
While working for a large magazine, whose audience was primarily senior citizens, my job was to constantly challenge the control package. I can remember our meetings where we discussed different content and offers. If I had recordings of the hundreds of meetings I attended, these would be among the most common statements:
Here at Structural Graphics we challenge clients every day to let us beat their control package. They are working with us because they know that the standard outer envelope doesn’t always work. This is not to say that testing your offer and content is insufficient, not at all. These are important variables that need to be taken into consideration and tested. But, my point is, don’t be afraid to change the standard format that is safe and familiar.