Media Planner and Buyer

RUDDERLY MENTORSHIP PROGRAM

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KEY SKILLS

Excellent research skills
The ability to recognize good opportunities
Confidence negotiating
Good teamwork
Interpersonal skills
Interest in media
Good researchers
Aware of media trends
Interpreting data into meaningful research
Spoken communication
Computer literate
Advertising
Confident talking
Meet deadlines
Media Planning
Media Buying

PROS

You learn a ton about media planning/buying/execution and business tactics.
You learn to communicate with clients - managing requests, providing market reports.
You get a lot of freebies from your daily media buying that includes tickets of concerts, etc.
Media is a really interesting field as a strategist, you have a bigger stake in the output than you do in any other place.

CONS

Long working hours.
There is no work-life balance.
You have to negotiate a lot and that comes with endless meetings with media people who don't understand their product.
You can't really tell what will work and what will not and it can cause a lot of stress.

OPPORTUNITY TYPES

GOT WHAT IT TAKES?

Companies
Freelancer
Agencies

You have a genuine interest in media and advertising.
You understand what motivates people to buy a product or service and the role media channels play in this.
You know how to settle for a prize and buy the right media at the right price for your consumer.
You have maintained an awareness of industry developments and media trends.

KEY OPPORTUNITIES

Books

Podcasts

Networking Groups

Interesting Facts about the career

Some things you should keep in mind if you are interested in media planning and buying

1. Not all the TRP's equal.

2. Every media vehicle's effectiveness can be measured against real goals.

3. Brand safety should be a priority before you book a media channel.

4. Always optimize your media buying

5. Avoiding ad fraud is essential

6. The rise of the “black box” in media buying is lamentable.

7. Control media buying in-house.

8. If you decide not to take your media buying in-house and use an agency instead there are ways to improve trust

9. It’s unwise to mix and match campaign strategies when buying media.

10 Be realistic when it comes to your media spend. More creative requires more money.

What exactly is media buying online?

An online media buyer is a person responsible for purchasing online advertising and monitoring the results. They are statisticians as well as marketers – their job description includes being able to negotiate the best price as well as research the best outlets for their company. Online media buyers must evaluate the potential of advertising channels by the demographics, psychographics and geography of the audience of that channel. They are also responsible for determining the optimal type of medium. Some companies are much more successful on new media such as the Internet; other companies do much better on traditional media outlets such as print and radio. Online media buyers focus specifically on the Internet and its many forms of distribution. For instance, an online media buyer would be responsible for determining if ad space on a social media hub would be more beneficial than allocating that part of the budget to a PPC campaign within a major search engine. Online media buyers will also attempt to research and negotiate ad space for their clients during the most appropriate time. They are responsible for determining if an advertisement should have local, regional, national or international reach. Although online media buyers will have some spillover no matter whether they choose to focus locally or expand internationally, there is still a discipline that involves trying to direct as many resources towards the target market as possible. Depending on the experience of an online media buyer, he or she may be a general marketing media buyer or a direct response media buyer. The main difference between general marketing and direct response media buyers is that direct response buyers are also responsible for creating media schedules as well as negotiating the price with advertising outlets. Media buyers are almost always limited by budgetary constraints. There are different aspects of the media buying discipline which focus on the allocation of resources and the return on investment of those resources. Larger companies will usually split these responsibilities into separate job descriptions; however, online media buyers for smaller companies will usually have to wear both hats.

How do you decide the best platform for your brand?

How does your business’ competition market?
How do your competition’s products compare to your products?
What makes your products or services stand out from the rest?
Who is your target audience?
How do you reach your target clientele? What do you want to result from your advertising efforts?
Do you want to gain new customers or do you simply want to create brand awareness?
What type of budget do you have for media placement and advertising?
Are your ads designed to run on the types of media you are choosing?