Sell local media, on your own terms
Long Island Wave is looking for commission-based advertising sales representatives across Nassau and Suffolk. You bring the relationships and the conversations; we bring a publication local businesses actually want to be in, and a commission with no ceiling on it.
Long Island Wave is an owned media property of Wave Agency, based in Melville, NY.
Advertising Sales Representative (commission)
Long Island businesses want to reach Long Islanders, and most of them are stuck choosing between a national ad network that treats them as a line item and a boosted post that disappears in a day. You offer them the third option: a placement inside a local publication their own customers read, with honest numbers attached to it.
Day to day, that means finding the businesses in your part of the Island that belong in front of this readership, having a real conversation with the owner or the marketing lead, matching them to the right placement, and closing it. After that you stay the relationship: you check in on how the campaign performed and you renew it.
You are not cold-dialing a national list from a script. You are working the towns you already know, selling something you can point at on a screen.
Sell the thing you would recommend to a friend who owns the shop.
Before you apply
Is this really commission-only?
Yes. There is no base salary and no draw, and there is also no cap. You earn on every campaign you close, and the commission structure is laid out plainly on the first call so you can decide whether the math works for you before you invest any time.
Do I need media sales experience?
It helps, but it is not the requirement. What matters more is that you know Long Island businesses and are comfortable walking into one, calling an owner, and having a straight conversation. Some of the best local media reps came from hospitality, real estate, or running a small business themselves.
What do I actually sell?
Everything on our advertising page: square and banner placements served on the site itself, sponsored articles written with the client, Resources and Marketplace listings, event calendar listings, and sponsorships in The Weekly Wave newsletter. Real products with real reporting behind them, not vague "exposure".
Is there a territory, or do we compete?
Accounts are assigned, not scrambled for. When you open an account it is yours, and we keep a shared record of who is working what so two reps never land on the same restaurant in the same week.
How much time does it take?
That is up to you. Some reps work this alongside another local business or a full-time role and treat it as an add-on income stream; others make it their main thing. We care about the conversations you have, not the hours you log.
What support do I get?
A media kit and rate card, creative specs, first-party performance numbers from our own ad system, and a team that builds the creative and writes the sponsored articles with your client. You sell and manage the relationship; we handle production and delivery.
Real products, with real numbers
Every placement is served by longislandwave.com from our own first-party ad system, so what you promise a client is what we can measure and report back. Nothing modeled, nothing borrowed from an ad network.
Squares and wide banners
Placements inside the article grids and across the homepage, categories, articles and footer. The bread and butter of a monthly campaign, and the easiest thing to renew when the numbers come back.
A story, not an ad
A full article written with the client, clearly labeled as sponsored, that lives permanently in the archive on its own URL. The highest-value thing on your list, and the one owners get most excited about.
Directory, Marketplace, calendar
Standing listings in the Resources directory and the Marketplace, plus event listings on the community calendar. Lower ticket, easier yes, and the natural first step for a business that is not ready for a campaign.
The Weekly Wave
Sponsorship inside the Friday email that readers asked for. One email a week means a sponsor is not buried under nine others, which makes it an easy sell to anyone who has been burned by inbox clutter.
You would do well here if
- You know Long Island businesses. You can name ten owners in your town without opening your phone, and you would not feel strange walking in and asking for five minutes.
- You are comfortable asking for the sale. Warmth opens the door, but this is a closing role. The commission rewards the person who follows up on Thursday.
- You want the upside, not the salary. No base means no ceiling. If a predictable paycheck is what you need right now, this is honestly not the right role.
- You are organized on your own. Nobody is going to chase your pipeline for you. You keep track of who you spoke to and when you said you would call back.
- You want to represent something you believe in. This is a free, local, no-paywall publication written about the towns your clients operate in. That is an easy thing to be proud of in a meeting.
Media sales experience is a plus, not a prerequisite. Restaurant, hospitality, real estate, B2B and small-business backgrounds all translate well, because all of them are relationship work.
From apply to first commission
- Step one
You apply
Use the form below. Tell us which part of the Island you know and what you have sold before, and attach a resume if you have one handy. It is not required.
- Step two
We talk, plainly
A straight conversation about the commission structure, what is realistic in your first ninety days, and whether the math works for you. No pitch, no pressure.
- Step three
You get equipped
Media kit, rate card, creative specs, and a walk through the ad system so you can show a prospect exactly where their placement will run and what gets reported back.
- Step four
You sell, we deliver
You open the account and own the relationship. We build the creative, write the sponsored features, run the campaign, and report the numbers. You get paid on what you close.
What we will not pretend
Commission-only is not for everyone, and we would rather say so now than three weeks in. There is no base, no draw against future earnings, and no guaranteed first month. The first sixty days are the hardest, because you are building a pipeline from a standing start.
What we can promise is that the product is real, the reporting is honest, the accounts you open are yours, and nobody here will ask you to oversell a Long Island business owner to hit a number.
Not a salesperson?
Sales is the role we are actively hiring for, but it is not the only door.
- Write for the Wave: local voices welcome, from business owners to event organizers to people who simply know their town.
- Send a general application: pick "general interest" on the form and tell us what you do. We keep good people on file.
- Join the community: free with an email and a one-time code, and a good way to see how the Island uses this site.
Tell us where you know people
There is no application portal and no automated screen. The form goes straight to the team, a person reads it, and you get a real reply.
If you would rather start with a question than an application, reach us through contact us or at [email protected] and say you are asking about the sales role.