The Assistant Media Buyer in an agency works in the media department assisting the media buyers with their duties. In some agencies the assistant is assigned to a senior media buyer and works exclusively on his or her accounts. In others, the individual works where needed most.
Assistant Media Buyers do a great deal of legwork in the selection and purchase of media time and space. The individual is responsible for searching out all types of media information and research. In order to accomplish this, the Assistant Media Buyer must determine whether the advertising and/or marketing plan is going to be a national, regional, or local campaign. This information is usually supplied by the senior media buyer or the account executive. The individual must also ascertain what type of media campaign is being planned. Television, radio, newspaper, Internet, magazine, and outdoor media are all options.
The Assistant Media Buyer is then responsible for researching the various types of media available in the chosen markets. He or she must obtain rates and demographics. This is done in a number of ways, including checking Standard Rate and Data books, calling and writing to publications, talking to broadcast time salespeople, reading rate cards, and reviewing data files that have been collected by the agency. Once the information has been obtained, it must be recorded and either analyzed or given to the senior media buyer or planner for analysis.
Depending on the agency, the Assistant Media Buyer may actually do the research or may work with the research department to locate information on potential markets and how they can best be reached. He or she also finds out where both the client and competitors have advertised previously. The individual is responsible for tabulating prices of possible media buys for potential campaigns. Other functions might include calling specific media salespeople to determine if certain broadcast times or print media locations are available and what the rates would be. For example, the individual may want to find out if an inside front cover of a publication is available. He or she might also ascertain what type of discounts might apply and might be involved in negotiating the purchase of blocks of time or space for a particular client campaign.
The Assistant Media Buyer may review the data with the senior media buyer and/or the media planner and help decide what the most effective media buys would be. Low advertising rates do not mean that a particular medium is the right one. A low rate is only effective if the advertisement or commercial will be seen by the right people.
The individual may have writing duties, which would include reports on research findings, reports on price and effectiveness, comparisons between different media, memos, letters, and other correspondence. In some agencies the Assistant Media Buyer may meet with the constant flow of salespeople and representatives who visit the agency in hopes of selling the media buyer on recommending his or her publication or television or radio station to account clients.
The Assistant Media Buyer may specialize in just one type of media, such as the purchase of broadcast time on radio or television, or may work with all types of media buys. The individual is responsible to either the senior media buyer to whom he or she has been assigned or to the media director, depending on the organization of the department. Assistant Media Buyers often have to work after normal business hours to meet deadlines or to finish up projects. Some people in this position feel they are working under stressful conditions because of deadlines and the general competitiveness of the industry.
Annual earnings for Assistant Media Buyers working in agencies vary depending on the size and location of the agency and the experience and responsibilities of the individual. Salaries for this position can range from $28,000 annually for those with limited experience working in small agencies to $40,000 or more for those in larger agencies. In addition, most advertising agencies augment salaries with good benefit packages.
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04122010
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