Media Buyer

Media Buyers are those individuals, who are responsible for purchasing time and advertising space, as well as developing the campaign and researching how it will be most effective for the client. Media buyer can purchase media, nationally or regionally. There are two types of buyers: Direct Response Media Buyers and General Marketing Media Buyers.

Direct Response Media Buyers is efficient in purchasing media from the proper stations, and is also proficient in negotiating a functional rate. They attach unique phone numbers to each station and track the sales. They also make adjustments to the media plan and schedule as necessary to optimize results. Whereas, General Market Media Buyer create media schedules and negotiate rates, based on a media plan constructed by a Media Planner; they actualize or enact media plans drawn by Media Planners. They rely on published cost per point guides, which in reality, are often based on hypothetical standards and somewhat outdated models.

Media Buying Process

There are five steps involve in media buying process –

1. Identify your target audience or market – Create a profile that reflects the consumer you are trying to reach i.e. their age, incomes, gender, etc.
2. Do Research on your target market – You will need to identify, where you will find your target market; online, television, or magazines.
3. Understand the consumer behavior – It is very important to understand the consumer behavior that you are targeting. It will help you in placing a media or product in the market, which will be effective and better than the competitor’s product.
4. Set your objectives and plan out your strategy – Identify what objectives are important to you for each media buy, so that you can measure whether those objectives are being achieved or not. When you set the marketing objectives that you want to achieve with your target market, you can begin to create a plan.Your plan should contain –
   1. Where you will buy media?
   2. What is your budget and where you can allocate that budget.

Execute your plan – After setting your objectives and planning your strategy, it is a time to execute your plan. Contact the media outlets and start negotiating your media buy rates. As your plan for media buy is executed, be sure to evaluate how your strategy and plan is working for you. If you are not meeting your objectives, then don’t be afraid to adjust your plan as necessary.