Media placement specialists may place ads on billboards.
Media placement specialists, often known as media buyers or media planners, work in the field of advertising to find the best placement for advertising in the media. Media includes radio, television, newspapers, magazines and any other place where the advertising may be seen or heard by potential customers. Media placement specialists may work in advertising agencies, for media planning agencies or independently.
Media Buyer
Media buyers work for advertising or media placement agencies to buy advertising space for customers. They negotiate the pricing of the advertising, find out the specifications necessary for the ads to provide information to the creative team and monitor that the advertising is happening as planned. Media buyers may work in many types of media, such as television, radio, newspapers and magazines, or they may focus on one particular type of media. A day in the life of a media buyer includes meetings with advertising clients, negotiation meetings with media representatives, meetings with media planners and many phone calls and emails to sort out details.
Media Planner
Media planners work to find the best places for ads for advertising clients for the least amount of money. This includes evaluating the demographic information of media locations, looking at editorial content to find out who is reading what and researching alternative media outlets such as billboards, the Internet, buses, airports and many more. Media planners understand which advertising outlets would provide the most information to a targeted population. A day in the life of a media planner would include meetings with clients, meetings with media representatives, research, phone calls with clients and media representatives and many emails.
Salary, Job Outlook, and Other Information
Media placement is a competitive field where individuals work long hours to achieve the goals of their clients. Many of the jobs are located in larger cities such as Los Angeles and New York, but other opportunities are offered in some smaller cities as well. Travel may be involved to meet with clients and negotiate media buying and planning. A four-year bachelor's degree is often required, but in some cases work experience may be substituted. Master's degrees in advertising are desired for certain managerial positions. The field is not expected to have significant growth of jobs, but positions will need to be filled for those retiring or changing careers. The average salary for an advertising professional is $747 per week, but this may vary considerably depending on experience and success in the field.
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