Do I Need to Hire a Media Buyer?

To the uninitiated, media buying can be a fairly complicated topic. A media buyer is someone who negotiates and purchases advertising space. A media buyer is someone who is required to wear a lot of different hats on the job. They are responsible for deciding which types of media are best for your company, the do research to purchase the most cost-effective media placements, and they track the performance of each placement.

Deciding which Channels to Use

For many companies, when they are first getting started designing their marketing platform they tend to take an experimental approach to advertising. There seems to be a prevailing attitude that starting with radio advertising first will always be the most cost-effective means to promote your business. However, time and again, this has proven to be false for many businesses.

Consider for instance, the variety of radio stations vs the variety of TV channels. Aside from satellite radio, there are rarely more than twenty radio stations in a given geographic area. However, a cable provider in the same area can offer several hundred channels, each one targeted to a set of very unique consumers.

This offers advertisers the opportunity to spend their ad dollars in the most cost-effective way possible. Do you sell fishing and outdoor gear? National Geographic and the Outdoor Life Network are likely to generate far better results than advertising on Lifetime.

Doing the Due Diligence

This requires the media buyer to understand how to analyze data from TV networks to find out where his ads will reach the greatest number of people who are likely to purchase his companies products or services. Luckily, TV networks and cable companies make this information incredibly easy to find. Their research can tell a buyer exactly what his tarket market’s favorite channel and show are, and when they are most likely to tune in.

For instance: Advertising to wealthy moms? Your best channels are Bravo and Home and Garden TV.  

Investing time in developing a relationship with a professional media buying agency is one of the single best things you can do to stretch your advertising dollars while still achieiving substantial returns. Go to MindEcology.com to speak to a professional ad buyer today!