To understand what is the meaning behind media buyers, it is important to know what is meant by media buying because a media buyer conducts media buying activities. Media buying is the process of purchasing ad space on both online and offline platforms.
Online platforms include websites and social platforms while offline platforms include TV and radio. So, a media buyer is someone who performs media buying activities where they tend to negotiate ad space from publishers, manage budgets, and improve ads based on campaign performance with the purpose of getting your ads in front of your target audience.
Media buyers follow the media buying process that involves certain steps:
- Identifying the target segment
– In this step, it is important to know who your target segment is. This happens by understanding who is the audience that you want to reach.
– You can start identifying your target audience through the use of buying personas that will help you have a clear picture of the kind of customers that you want to attract and researching who is your segment that you want to target through market segmentation.
- Research your target segment
– After identifying your target segment, you have to do some research about this type of segment through understanding the channels that you can find them in so you can choose these channels to deliver your ad for the target segment.
– You can also conduct research about competitors about the way that they use to reach out to the target segment and the channels that they use to do so.
As a media buyer, you have to set objectives that will help your business reach its goals.
These objectives are identified through determining the:
Goal:
There are many goals for using media buying such as to raise awareness or to make a conversion. These goals can then be broken down into many objectives that will help you reach these goals.
Channels:
Through knowing the channels that your target segment uses, you can set objectives that will help you in accomplishing your goals.
After setting your objectives, you need to begin to plan your strategy and plan for achieving your business’s goals. You have to take into consideration many factors such as where you will buy your media space, the channels that you will use, and your budget.
After creating your media plan and strategy, you need to execute this plan. Executing the plan involves tracking the results of ad campaigns and creating reports about what was successful and what needs improvement.
Media buyers who are specialized online such as in social media work on implementing digital campaigns through these channels.
These media buyers specialize in:
- Instagram ads
- Snapchat ads
- Facebook ads
- Twitter ads