Media buyers never have the same day twice. In an interview with Monique Lupkes, Media Buyer at Craft and Associates, I learned exactly (or rather inexactly) how she spends her day.
Craft and Associates, located in Sioux Falls, SD, does advertising, marketing and web design. Its clients are based around the country, and the firm handles direct mail, television, radio, newspaper and yellow pages.
Lupkes, a graduate of the University of Minnesota, only had one media buying class in college. Today, her clients are colleges and technical schools, mainly from the West Coast and Ohio. Because she cannot meet any of her clients in person, she communicates by phone, fax and email.
Although Lupkes is not a typical media buyer, she had valuable advice for students looking to get into her field: prepare yourself to not have the same day everyday. Once a month, she goes over a campaign’s progress and changes ad sizes, television stations, or radio frequency accordingly. In addition to researching new markets and updating files, she takes care of make-goods, monitors traffic, and confirms the right spots are running at the right times.
There is a lot to keep up with, and Lupkes admits she works under high stress situations. Working quickly under pressure is another skill she applauds because deadlines are usually yesterday.
Finally, a media buyer must be confident in her choices, but willing to change if the original plan isn’t working out. The most important strength of a media buyer, Lupkes says, is being able to justify why you chose one medium over another.
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