Jobs in Advertising: Media Buyer

For a blog about how to break into the ad industry, I haven’t provided too many examples about the types of job one could expect to get. Boy is my face red. Well, here’s hoping this post can make up for some of my negligence.

As I’ve mentioned in the past, advertising has become one of the most pervasive elements of our society. It’s become such a powerful force that it can actually alter the media in which it appears. For an example of this, steal your neighbor’s newspaper this Sunday. Take a few minutes to flip through it and make a mental note about how many ads there are versus how many articles there are. You’ll find a pretty shocking disparity. Once you add in all of the “special sections”: autos, home design, etc., you’ll find that nearly two-thirds of the paper is filled with ads. For the anti-corporate activist, this sounds like trouble. But for the up and coming marketing student looking to land a good job right out of college, it sounds terrific. And here’s why.

Every ad that you see on television or in a magazine has been placed there with a specific intent. This means that weeks before a publication or broadcast is shown, some kind of an arrangement has been made between two parties involving the placement of advertising. The job of a media buyer is to represent the interests of the company by coordinating an advertising plan on their behalf. They negotiate the purchase of advertising space in various types of media in order to display the message of the company in the most clear and cost effective way.

This type of work is critical to the success of an advertising campaign and requires someone with a specific skill set. To be an effective media buyer, you have to be good at dealing with people, strong-willed, organized, and highly communicative. This is a great job for recent graduates because they’re not asked to do too much too soon. You can start out on small accounts and, as you improve, move on to bigger and better things. At the very least, it can be a short-term stepping-stone into a more creative position in the marketing business.