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Growing any ad business is an all-hands-on-deck effort. Whether you’re a scrappy team with limited headcount, or a Fortune 500 company with departments spanning continents, the challenges of structuring an effective ad operation are universal – and the stakes couldn't be higher.
Retail media already accounts for one-fifth (and growing) of global digital ad spend. With hundreds of commerce media networks live today, your team must be firing on all cylinders to win and grow ad budgets.
Essential to commerce media success are seven functional roles. As your platform is getting started, one person can wear multiple hats; for example, marketing or customer service might also own ad sales. But, no matter your approach or stage of maturity, you’ll want to make sure these bases are covered.
The Ad Business Owner directs the overall strategy and makes crucial decisions about processes and technology. This person owns the revenue responsibility for the CFO and other senior leadership, ensuring that the business is meeting its financial targets and has necessary funding and headcount.
The Ad Business Owner also acts as a coach by running quarterly strategy reviews, monthly steering committees, and weekly program standups. These regular check-ins ensure that all team members are aligned, progress is tracked, and any issues promptly addressed.
The Go-to-Market (GTM) Strategy role creates and delivers the commercial plan and ads business Objectives and Key Results (OKRs). By defining clear goals and metrics, and creating a robust Sales Operations (Sales Ops) motion, the GTM role ensures that all team members understand what success looks like in terms of the sales pipeline, revenue attainment, and customer expansion. This person also works closely with the product teams to offer guidance on which ad inventory to prioritize, and what new features to consider developing.
The Ad Sales team is on the front lines of revenue generation. These professionals handle all outbound sales, using a variety of pitching, emails, and events to get in front of advertisers and motivate potential clients to buy into the Ad platform’s unique value proposition.
Ad Sales is measured against advertiser sign-up metrics and new pipeline created. These specialists must have a deep understanding of the platform's capabilities, ad-tech market trends, and advertiser pain points. The team generally works closely with the existing Partner Manager or Merchandising teams that drive relationships on the core e-commerce side of the company.
The Customer Success (CS) role manages the entire lifecycle of the advertiser base, including onboarding, educational training, and collecting product feedback. Often, CS is the first point of contact in addressing advertiser questions, and their ability to resolve issues quickly and effectively is crucial in maintaining advertiser trust and loyalty.
The CS team plays a vital role in not only retaining advertisers, but also identifying the most promising up-sell and cross-sell opportunities. By maintaining a pulse on customer account health and maturity, the CS lead can suggest relevant solutions and additional services at opportune moments, driving further revenue growth for the Ad business.
The Product Owner is responsible for the technical backbone of the advertising platform. This role owns the ad format roadmap, and manages the actual ad spots and placements on the website or app that advertisers buy (i.e.,, the “inventory”). The Product Owner works closely with development teams to support various ad specifications, targeting options, and reporting capabilities. They also own relationships with tech vendors and external platforms, assembling a commerce media stack that can drive performance, scalability, and relevance for users.
The Marketing role owns the development of all branding assets and education of advertisers about the platform’s Ads offering. The collateral Marketing creates collateral could include landing webpage content, ad resource centers (with tactical guides or case studies), and ads training materials for in-person workshops. The Marketing team could also own relevant online learning portals. Marketing’s efforts help drive awareness of your Ads Platform, and establish your brand as a trusted marketing platform.
The Analytics team supplies Ad Sales and Ad Operations with valuable data to attract, retain, and grow advertisers more effectively, including crucial tasks such as segmentation and tiering of sellers for targeted ad pitches. The importance of Data Analytics cannot be overstated. Data analysts are responsible for ad revenue projections and advertiser build-up plans. They forecast month-over-month growth in total platform ad revenue, based on demand and supply dynamics, and set goals for Ad Sales and Marketing teams on how many advertisers they must acquire to achieve revenue targets.
Download our Executive’s Guide to Scaling Ad Operations and Governance
While having the right roles in place is critical, the success of an advertising business also depends heavily on how well these teams collaborate. Here are some best practices:
Set up regular cross-functional meetings early on to review progress and make decisions faster. These touchpoints often include:
Establish common objectives and key revenue attainment goals between Account Management (category managers) and the Ad Sales team. These shared metrics ensure both sides are working together to land new logos and grow existing accounts, rather than potentially crossing paths or getting in each other’s way. This also means existing AMs must support new sales reps by co-pitching ads to accounts and upselling where possible.
Forge tight partnerships between your Data Analytics team and other key internal departments. Encourage Ad Sales and Marketing to use data to target sellers, create educational content that resonates with advertiser feedback, and develop marketing materials based on churn or rejection reasons. Additionally, Ad Sales can use analytics reporting to identify bottlenecks in the sales cycle or seller activation and refine the process from prospect to customer, quote to cash.
Engage senior leadership early and often to back your new venture. Lean on these individuals’ clout and decision-making power when needed to overcome internal obstacles, or secure needed approvals. Regular updates to leadership also ensures that the ad business remains a priority and receives necessary resources and support.
Work closely with finance and legal teams on invoice execution, financial systems compliance, adherence to regulatory standards, and policy compliance including brand safety and contract management. This tight collaboration helps mitigate any account or financial risks, and ensures smoother operations at every touchpoint in the advertiser experience with your business.
Having the right team in place is crucial for the success of any advertising business. By achieving coverage across the seven essential roles, and implementing best practices for cross-functional collaboration, you'll be well-positioned to drive sustainable growth and maximize ad revenues — while delivering value to advertisers and consumers alike.
Download our Executive’s Guide to Scaling Ad Operations and Governance
