Media planners are essentially brand strategists. They are like architects that design communications to achieve the marketing objectives. Specifically, what do media planners do and how they do it varies a lot from one firm to another. However, this role has some common expectations as well.
Who is a media planner?
A media planner is a brand strategist who manages the advertisements and campaigns. They could be working within the firm or as an external consultant. Sometimes they are also known as brand managers. It depends on the firm, who names the job role as per their prerogative. The media planners ensure that the ad reaches the highest number of potential targets. Finally, they also do a multitouch attribution model to ensure that each communication channel provides good ROI.
What do media planners do?
Firstly, they handle everything that goes on the advertisements. Preparing the copy to giving go ahead regarding a particular ad.
Secondly, they look at how the ads are doing. This analysis helps them get back the marketing team. This feedback helps the marketing team in the marketing mix modeling.
Thirdly, the media planner also understands how different media work. Each media has its own specific advantages. Some of the important ad media are:
- Print media – newspaper and magazines.
- Billboards
- Posters
- Television
- Websites
- Social Media
Fourthly, modern media planners are also data analysts. They are expected to understand how to collect market research data and campaign data to optimize the ad delivery. What media planners do with the data is also driven by the key performance indicators they track.
What is the salary of a media planner?
The media planners draw decent salaries, comparable with many entry-level professionals. Also, the good news is the average salary has increased by almost $2000 between 2019 and 2020. The median salary is around $50k in 2020 up from around $48k in 2019. The top 10% of the media planners earn about $64k per annum.
Skills required (to do what media planners do)
The media manager’s role is quite demanding. They straddle between different teams such as marketing and advertisement agency.
Firstly, knowledge of marketing management is important. A media planner must know about the marketing objectives of the firm. They should understand what are the 4Ps of the marketing mix.
Secondly, the media planners have to work between different teams. This requires a good deal of interpersonal skills.
Thirdly, a media manager should have excellent communication skills. They handle a lot of copy, media, and content. Although they may not develop the content, they should be skilled enough to proofread it.
Fourthly, they need to have a good understanding of how traditional media like television and radio work. Not technical but business knowledge. This makes the difference between getting a decent rate and an excellent rate for an ad on prime time.
Fifthly, good networking skills also help. A media planner who already has deep connections would be preferred over someone who does not have one.
Finally, doing a course on social media marketing would also help in doing what media planners do.
Why is media planning important?
- It improves marketing ROI
- It helps manage the marketing mix effectively
- Media planning integrates the art of advertising with the science of marketing
- Media planners help build brand value