Top 12 Advertising Manager Skills to Put on Your Resume

In today’s competitive job market, standing out as an advertising manager means pairing sharp technical chops with inventive thinking. Put the right skills front and center on your resume and doors swing open. Employers notice. Campaigns click. Teams move in sync and brands move the needle.

Advertising Manager Skills

1. Google Analytics
2. Facebook Ads
3. SEO/SEM
4. Photoshop
5. Illustrator
6. InDesign
7. CRM Software
8. Mailchimp
9. Hootsuite
10. Tableau
11. WordPress
12. Google Ads

1. Google Analytics

Google Analytics (now GA4) tracks how people find, explore, and convert on your site or app. For an advertising manager, it’s the compass and the dashboard—audiences, attribution, ROI—everything stitched together so decisions aren’t guesswork.

Why It's Important

GA4 surfaces user behavior and campaign outcomes in one place, helping you spot what’s working, where budgets should shift, and which audiences deserve more attention. It powers data-backed creative and smarter spend.

How to Improve Google Analytics Skills

1. Define conversions and events: Set up key actions (purchases, leads, sign-ups) and mark primary conversions. Name events clearly so analysis stays clean.
2. Use UTM parameters: Tag every campaign link. Source, medium, campaign. Granular tracking unlocks honest comparisons.
3. Implement ecommerce: For stores, capture item views, add-to-cart, checkout steps, and purchases. Build funnels that reveal leaks.
4. Segment audiences: Create cohorts by channel, behavior, geography, or engagement. Compare performance and tailor messaging.
5. Link ad platforms: Connect Google Ads and other channels where possible. Import conversions and audiences to tighten targeting.
6. Explore reports regularly: Acquisition, Engagement, Monetization. Build a weekly rhythm; pivot when the story changes.
7. Build custom views: Use Explorations and dashboards that highlight KPIs the team truly lives by.

How to Display Google Analytics Skills on Your Resume

2. Facebook Ads

Facebook Ads (part of Meta Ads) lets you build and optimize campaigns across Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and Audience Network. Tight targeting meets huge reach, with creative that can flex from thumb-stopping to conversion-focused.

Why It's Important

Scale plus precision. Rich audience data, varied formats, and robust measurement mean you can reach the right people, tell the right story, and prove impact—without overspending.

How to Improve Facebook Ads Skills

1. Pick the right objective: Awareness, traffic, leads, sales. Let the algorithm optimize for what you actually want.
2. Dial in targeting: Use detailed demographics, interests, lookalikes, and exclusions. Shrink waste, expand relevance.
3. Refine creative: Test hooks, images, video cuts, and CTAs. Mobile-first layouts. Clear value fast.
4. A/B test relentlessly: Budgets find their winners when you pit ideas head-to-head.
5. Install Meta Pixel and Conversions API: Track conversions, enable remarketing, and improve attribution even with signal loss.
6. Monitor and iterate: Watch CTR, CPA, ROAS, frequency, and creative fatigue. Shift spend when performance blinks.

How to Display Facebook Ads Skills on Your Resume

3. SEO/SEM

SEO boosts organic visibility; SEM uses paid search and shopping to capture demand in the moment. Together they amplify reach, fill the funnel, and convert intent into revenue.

Why It's Important

Search is where needs shout out loud. Show up with relevance and speed, and you win attention at the exact moment it matters.

How to Improve SEO/SEM Skills

1. Own your keywords: Map topics to intent. Target head terms for reach and long-tail for conversion. Prune what doesn’t perform.
2. Publish quality content: Useful, original, fast-loading pages. Bold structure, clear answers, strong internal linking.
3. Be mobile-first: Responsive layouts, quick load, clean navigation. Core Web Vitals matter.
4. Level up local: Keep your Google Business Profile accurate. Reviews, hours, categories, and consistent NAP citations.
5. Build authority: Earn backlinks with partnerships, PR, and content worth referencing.
6. Measure and adapt: Track rankings, CTR, conversion rates, and cost efficiency. Use GA4 and Search Console to guide tweaks.

How to Display SEO/SEM Skills on Your Resume

4. Photoshop

Photoshop powers image creation and editing for ads, social assets, landing pages, and more. It’s the toolkit for visual polish, fast iterations, and brand consistency.

Why It's Important

Striking visuals stop scrolls and sell ideas. With Photoshop, you control light, texture, composition—so the story hits harder.

How to Improve Photoshop Skills

1. Master the core tools: Selections, masks, adjustment layers, smart objects. Non-destructive workflows save time.
2. Speed up with actions: Batch edits, reusable effects, and templates for recurring campaign needs.
3. Sharpen typography: Hierarchy, spacing, contrast. Clean type elevates every creative.
4. Color confidence: Work in the right color profiles and keep brand palettes consistent.
5. Export like a pro: Optimize for web and social without losing crispness. Test across devices.

How to Display Photoshop Skills on Your Resume

5. Illustrator

Illustrator creates vector graphics—logos, icons, illustrations, patterns—art that scales cleanly from a favicon to a billboard.

Why It's Important

Brand systems depend on scalable, precise graphics. Illustrator keeps assets sharp everywhere your campaign shows up.

How to Improve Illustrator Skills

1. Nail vector basics: Paths, anchors, strokes, and shape building. Clean curves, fewer points.
2. Use layers and groups: Organize files for painless edits under deadline pressure.
3. Typography that sings: Kerning, leading, grids, and styles for on-brand headlines and legible microcopy.
4. Color and contrast: Build harmonious palettes. Test accessibility early.
5. Data-driven graphics: Use variables and data merge for personalized or high-volume creative.
6. Export with intent: Correct formats for print, web, and motion. Save artboards efficiently.

How to Display Illustrator Skills on Your Resume

6. InDesign

InDesign is for layout and long-form design—brochures, one-pagers, magazines, reports, and polished sales collateral.

Why It's Important

Complex layouts need structure and finesse. InDesign brings consistency to multi-page documents and keeps brand rules intact.

How to Improve InDesign Skills

1. Use styles everywhere: Paragraph, character, and object styles keep formatting locked in and fast to update.
2. Leverage master pages: Headers, footers, grids, and recurring elements synced across pages.
3. Preflight and package: Catch font, link, and color issues before they stall production. Deliver press-ready files every time.
4. Link smart: Place images with proper resolution and manage links to avoid broken assets.
5. Interactive options: Buttons, links, and simple animations for digital PDFs and presentations.
6. Shortcuts and workflow: Reduce clicks, increase consistency. Templates are your friend.

How to Display InDesign Skills on Your Resume

7. CRM Software

CRM systems track customers, leads, and interactions across channels. For advertising managers, they connect ad spend to revenue and keep targeting sharp.

Why It's Important

Centralized data means smarter segmentation, better timing, and personalized messaging that actually resonates. Measurement becomes clear. Budgets behave.

How to Improve CRM Software Skills

1. Integrate ad platforms: Pipe in campaign and conversion data to connect spend with pipeline and revenue.
2. Automate intake: Send leads from forms and ads straight into the CRM with consistent fields and de-duplication.
3. Segment like a pro: Build audiences by lifecycle stage, behavior, value, and engagement. Target differently, win differently.
4. Personalize journeys: Trigger emails, SMS, and tasks based on actions and thresholds.
5. Standardize reporting: Dashboards for CAC, LTV, ROAS, time-to-close. Share them. Act on them.
6. Enable mobile access: Keep teams updated in the field. Notes and follow-ups shouldn’t wait.
7. Protect the data: Roles, permissions, audits, and good hygiene. Trust earns trust.
8. Collaborate in one place: Comments, tasks, and alerts tied to records keep the work moving.

How to Display CRM Software Skills on Your Resume

8. Mailchimp

Mailchimp is an email and marketing automation platform. Build lists, segment audiences, design campaigns, and track what converts.

Why It's Important

Email remains a reliable revenue driver. With good segmentation and automation, Mailchimp keeps messages timely, personal, and profitable.

How to Improve Mailchimp Skills

1. Segment deeply: Behavior, recency, frequency, value, interests. Fewer blasts, more relevance.
2. A/B test: Subject lines, content blocks, send time. Let data crown the winners.
3. Automate journeys: Welcome series, cart recovery, post-purchase flows, re-engagement. Always-on nurture that compounds.
4. Personalize content: Merge tags, dynamic blocks, and conditional logic tailored to each recipient.
5. Measure and refine: Track opens, clicks, conversion rate, and revenue per send. Trim weak links.
6. Mind deliverability: Warm IPs, authenticate domains (SPF, DKIM), keep lists clean.
7. Integrate your stack: Sync ecommerce and CRM data so targeting and reporting stay honest.

How to Display Mailchimp Skills on Your Resume

9. Hootsuite

Hootsuite manages social publishing, monitoring, engagement, and reporting in one dashboard. One login, many channels, fewer headaches.

Why It's Important

Consistency across platforms wins. Scheduling, listening, and fast responses keep brands present and conversations warm.

How to Improve Hootsuite Skills

1. Set smart streams: Track mentions, keywords, competitors, and campaigns. Surface signal, mute noise.
2. Build a content calendar: Plan pillars, themes, and cadences. Batch production to stay ahead.
3. Use bulk scheduling: Load series and always-on posts without last-minute scrambles.
4. Tag links with UTMs: Attribute traffic and conversions by post and platform.
5. Listen and respond: Route messages, assign owners, and set SLAs. Community builds brands.
6. Report what matters: Engagement rate, reach, traffic, conversions. Tie back to goals, not vanity.
7. Collaborate with roles: Permissions, approvals, and asset libraries protect the brand under pressure.

How to Display Hootsuite Skills on Your Resume

10. Tableau

Tableau turns raw data into dashboards and stories. See trends, slice audiences, and share insights that drive spend and strategy.

Why It's Important

Clear visuals beat crowded spreadsheets. When everyone understands the numbers, better decisions happen faster.

How to Improve Tableau Skills

1. Learn visualization principles: Choose the right chart, reduce clutter, highlight the point.
2. Level up calculations: Table calcs, LOD expressions, and date logic for deeper insights.
3. Prep your data: Clean joins, unions, and data models. Bad data ruins good dashboards.
4. Add interactivity: Filters, parameters, actions. Let stakeholders explore without breaking things.
5. Optimize performance: Extracts, fewer marks, efficient queries. Snappy dashboards get used.
6. Tell a story: Context, progression, conclusion. Don’t just show data—guide decisions.

How to Display Tableau Skills on Your Resume

11. WordPress

WordPress is a flexible CMS for websites, blogs, and landing pages. Themes and plugins make it adaptable to almost any marketing stack.

Why It's Important

Content moves quickly. WordPress lets teams publish, test, and iterate without waiting on heavy dev lifts.

How to Improve WordPress Skills

1. Boost performance: Use caching, compress images, lazy-load media, and minimize scripts.
2. Strengthen SEO: Install an SEO plugin, set clean URL structures, and tune metadata and sitemaps.
3. Manage ads cleanly: Use an ad management plugin for rotation, placements, and scheduling.
4. Track behavior: Implement GA4 and server-side tagging where possible for durable measurement.
5. Harden security: Security plugin, backups, updates, and least-privilege access.
6. Go responsive: Choose mobile-friendly themes and test across devices. Core Web Vitals count.
7. Govern content: Templates, style guides, and approval flows keep quality steady.

How to Display WordPress Skills on Your Resume

12. Google Ads

Google Ads (formerly AdWords) delivers text, shopping, video, and display campaigns across Google’s search results and network. Meet intent in real time and turn queries into customers.

Why It's Important

Granular control over targeting, budgets, and measurement. You can start small, learn quickly, and scale winners with confidence.

How to Improve Google Ads Skills

1. Refine keyword strategy: Mix match types. Mine search terms. Keep lists tight and pruned.
2. Write sharper ads: Responsive search ads with strong hooks, benefits, and clear CTAs. Test variations.
3. Use assets: Sitelinks, callouts, structured snippets, images. More real estate, more clicks.
4. Track conversions correctly: GA4 conversions, enhanced conversions, and offline import if needed. Measure what matters.
5. Pick smart bidding: Test tCPA or tROAS when you have reliable conversion data; use portfolios for control.
6. Build audiences: Remarketing, customer lists, and in-market segments to raise efficiency.
7. Tune schedules and locations: Bid by hour, day, and region. Spend where performance peaks.
8. Fix landing pages: Message match, quick load, crystal-clear CTAs. Improve Quality Score and conversion rate in one move.
9. Run experiments: A/B test bids, creatives, and pages. Keep learning loops short.

How to Display Google Ads Skills on Your Resume