The advent of social media has pushed boundaries of traditional advertising. Thus, challenging every aspect of the industry, where even the key roles in advertising have witnessed a dramatic change. Here, we’ll discuss one such role – the scope of a Media Planner.
A good ‘Media Planner’ now has to plan, buy and spearhead a campaign. Thus, the role today has moved from planning to ‘managing’. So, if you are looking at building a successful career as a Media Planner, try and inculcate these habits:
1) Adopt at multi-planning approach: Successful media planners implement a multi-pronged strategy at work.The role of a good planner is to go over the media brief, approach it through a syndicated research and develop an all-embracing strategy.
2) Get to the pulse: Good planners are detail-oriented, have keen interest in trends, comfortable with numbers and have a clear understanding of the target audience. Further, they breathe in and breathe out media reach strategy.
3) People person: Good planners are social and well networked. They have the ability to handle multiple negotiations.Further, they have excellent communication and presentation skills. They are also persuasive, confident, excellent team players and have the ability to interact with a range of different clients with ease.
4) Consumer skills: A media planner needs to get to the grassroots to understand audience consumption data or web analytics. A good planner, thus, has deep understanding of target audience, media trends, behaviours and preferences.
5) Quick thinkers: A successful media planner is always alert and has the ability to think on his feet. He/she has the ability to revise plans based on the requirement or in case of a fall-out. Overall, they have excellent skills in interpreting and analysing statistics.Also, they have a good grasp of business and the media.
6) Always prepared: Effective planners are, however, well prepared with their plans. Usually many planners have three plans: campaign launch plan, optimisation plan and site change plan.
7) Patience: Successful planners are patient, yet persevere. They have the ability to work effectively through deadlines and in a pressurised environment.
These skills can be acquired over time. But, before that it’s important to have a good educational background and understanding of the subject. For this, you can reach out to schools like Whistling Woods International’s School of Media and Communication, where you can get a clear understanding of successful Media Planning.
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