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Responsibilities of a Media Buyer

  1. A media buyer is an individual who is responsible for the placements and negotiation of prices for all advertisements on radio, print, digital, and television.

They have the following responsibilities:

  • They help sales by developing job orders for production and entry of order after approval of proposals.
  • Media buyers work closely with the production department to ensure the expectations of customers are attained.
  • They assign appropriate workload to media assistants through the approval of media supervisors.
  • Ensure handling invoicing as directed by reviewing and evaluating media buying invoices and sort files as required.
  • Enhance excellent and effective communication by responding to multi-line telephones and ensure to handle customer issues suitably.
  • Media buyers identify more inventive media buying and planning methods by conducting thorough research in their related markets.
  • They help maintain strong and healthy professional relationships with stations as they negotiate with them on various matters.
  • They work hand in hand with account services teams on competitive, marketplace conditions, media opportunities, billing, and promotional opportunities to boost sales.
  • They play a significant role in developing good media bargains to facilitate a boost in sales and increase traffic for customers and discuss over best rates along with an added value.
  • Media buyers also plan, organize, implement, and control routine media buying process.

Responsibilities of a Media Buyer

  1. Explaining the Following Communication/Media Mix Elements

Advertising

According to the Advertising Association of the UK, advertising is the art of communicating with consumers or potential consumers of a product or a service through paid forms of messages to inform or influence their buying or consumption decisions. Advertising aims to reach an audience most likely to pay for a company’s services or products and entice them to buy.

Types of advertising based on the medium used include:

  • print advertising which includes newspapers, magazines, brochures
  • outdoor advertising: flags, banners, wraps, hoardings
  • broadcast advertising: radio and television advertising
  • Digital advertising: ads displayed over the internet and digital devices and platforms.
  • Broadcasting

Broadcast entails distributing video or audio content to a broad audience, that is, radio and television commercials. It is most preferred than other media, as consumers feel more comfortable with brands that advertise in this media. Also, using broadcast media is a good investment as it boosts a business’s credibility.

  • Outdoor

Outdoor media typically comprise of any advertising seen outside a home setup. It includes categories such as posters, billboards, and transit. Billboards are the most pre-eminent piece of outdoor media. Based on the size, billboards can make a big statement, and for them to be even more effective in reaching larger audiences, they can be lined in major highways and busy town streets. They increase awareness of business and bring additional revenue as they are ideal for targeting many consumers. The key takeaway to making use of outdoor media in your marketing campaign is visibility. It gives one’s brand a more substantial presence in a specific area.

  • Sales Promotion

Sales promotion is a promotional mix element that involves short term incentives to initiate trial or purchase. Sales promotion makes use of both media and non-media marketing communications for pre-arranged, limited time to increase consumer demand, improve the availability of products, or stimulate market demand.

Examples include coupons, loss leaders, freebies, contests, premiums, among others.

  • Public Relations

Public Relations is a strategic communication that establishes a mutually beneficial relationship between companies or organizations and their publics. Public relations in the advertising world is a vital element as it comes in in so many ways. When a brand has an event that requires media coverage, it is the PR department that contacts the news media. Also, it is involved in responding to media requests for information or spokesperson.

  • Personal Selling

Personal selling is one of the oldest professions known to humankind. Reynolds & Lancaster (2004) entails communication of information by a salesperson on a one-on-one basis intending to persuade customers to purchase goods or services. 

Personal selling is also defined as a unique interaction between a customer and a salesperson. During this dialogue or exchange, the salesperson must ensure they inform, educate, persuade, and understand the customer’s needs and ways of satisfying them. Salespeople should also be able to enhance and maintain good relationships with their customers or prospects. (Cant & Van, 2005).

An example of personal selling is the door-to-door selling.

  • Internet Advertising

The internet has made things more straightforward in that a company can easily reach out to a broad audience to deliver a message regarding their brand products and services through various online or social media platforms. It can merely reach nearly every global market. It is a suitable method of advertising as it is cost-effective as compared to broadcast advertising. It is also effortless for the advertisers to collect data on the effectiveness of their adverts.

An example of this kind of marketing is the ads that pop up on one’s screen while scrolling through the internet.

  • Telemarketing

Telemarketing is merely selling over the phone.

It is also a means of communicating to consumers an invitation to receive a sales presentation in exchange for value. This invitation comprises a credit card billing statement. With the initiation of telemarketing, salespersons no longer have to meet in person. With this, the sales presentation may be advantageously recorded prior. The use of pre-recorded sales presentations is very proficient since doing the displays could be too cumbersome. Yet not all the time, there will be an available salesperson for live calls. Telemarketing is a method used by many organizations, both running for profit or charity purposes, to solicit donations and business. (Walker & Jorasch, 2001)

  • Exhibition and Trade Fairs

A trade fair is an open-to-public exhibition organized by a company or the government to offer a platform for organizations and businesses to showcase the products and services.

 An example in Kenya is the Kenya International Trade Exhibition held on 1st August 2019 in the KICC Grounds.

  1. Differentiating Between Above the Line and Below the Line Media

Below the line, media entails engrossed conversion activities that are focused on a specifically targeted group. Examples of below the line media are the likes of sponsorships, billboards, in-store advertising, among others.

On the other hand, above the line advertising comprise undertakings that are largely non-targeted and reach a comprehensive coverage. Examples are newspapers, radio, and television advertisements.

  1. Media Objectives I Would Consider as The Advertising Manager of Telkom Kenya When Planning a Media Campaign

  • To increase sales of Telkom products and services by communicating their benefits to our already existing customers and the prospects.
  • To change customer attitude positively towards Telkom as a whole
  • To build the brand by creating more confidence in the Telkom company.
  • To create more demand for Telkom products and services.
  • To expand the customer base by coming up with more offers and improving the already existing services.
  • To inform customers where they can get our products and services worldwide.
References
  • Romano, C. (1998). Telemarketing grows up. Management Review, 87(6), 31-35.
  • Walker, J. S., & Jorasch, J. A. (2001). US Patent No. 6,216,111. Washington, DC: US Patent and Trademark Office.
  • Cant, M. C. , & Van Heerden, C. H. (2005). Personal selling. Juta and Company Ltd.
  • Lancaster, G., & Reynolds, P. (2005). Management of marketing. Routledge.

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