How to Build a Successful Media Buying Team

After an independent media buyer reaches a certain level of expertise and experience, the next logical step is to scale operations. Working in a team helps manage multiple campaigns simultaneously and enhances overall efficiency and effectiveness, thus increasing profits. 

What is Media Buying?

Media buying is a strategic process that involves purchasing advertising space across various platforms to place ads where they will be most effective. The primary goal of media buying is to optimize the placement of ads to ensure they reach the intended audience in the most cost-effective way possible. This involves not only selecting the right platforms but also negotiating the best rates, timing, and formats for the ads.

Effective media buying requires a deep understanding of the media, audience behavior, and the nuances of different advertising platforms. It also involves constant monitoring and optimization to ensure that campaigns deliver the desired results. 

Key Roles and Structure in a Media Buying Team

A media buying team should be well-structured to execute effective campaigns that deliver strong results. You have to carefully select key roles, structure the team for optimal performance, and ensure that each member can contribute effectively to the team’s overall goals.

Essential Roles

Media Buyer
The media buyer is the foundation of the media buying team and is responsible for securing ad space across various platforms. This role requires a deep understanding of the media and strong negotiation skills to secure the best deals. Additionally, media buyers must be proficient in analyzing performance data to refine and optimize campaigns continuously. Their work is vital in ensuring that the advertising budget is spent efficiently and that campaigns effectively reach the intended audience.

Media Planner
The media planner collaborates closely with the media buyer to develop strategies that align with the organization’s marketing objectives. This role involves selecting the most appropriate media channels and crafting plans that effectively deliver the advertising message. Media planners must consider a range of factors, including budget, target audience, and the specific characteristics of each media channel. A well-executed media plan is crucial for the success of any campaign, making the media planner’s role indispensable.

Data Analyst
A data analyst plays a key role in interpreting performance metrics and providing actionable insights. This role is essential for helping the team understand campaign performance, identify emerging trends, and analyze audience behavior. By providing data-driven recommendations, the data analyst ensures that the media buying strategy remains aligned with the broader business objectives and continuously improves.

Account Manager
This team member is the vital link between the media buying team and partner networks, affiliate networks, or client businesses. Their primary responsibility is fostering relationships, getting exclusive offers, and arranging the best possible deals. They handle client expectations, provide regular updates on campaign performance, and ensure that the media buying team delivers on its commitments. 

Technical Expert
The technical expert manages the technological tools and platforms used by the media buying team. This includes setting up and optimizing tools like Keitaro Tracker, which are essential for tracking campaign performance, analyzing data, and making informed decisions. The technical expert ensures that the team has access to the right tools and that these tools are set up and utilized effectively, maximizing the efficiency and impact of media buying operations. They also could be in charge of building websites and landing pages, scripts and coding.

Accountant
This is a vital role in managing the financial aspects of a team. Includes budgeting, tracking expenses, processing payments, and ensuring that all financial transactions are accurate and compliant with regulations. The accountant helps maintain the financial health of operations by providing regular reports and insights on budget utilization and financial performance. Their work ensures that the team operates within budgetary constraints while maximizing the return on investment.

Legal Counsel
The legal counsel ensures that the media buying team operates within the legal frameworks and adheres to industry regulations. This role involves reviewing contracts, advising on compliance issues, and handling any legal disputes that may arise. The legal counsel also guides on intellectual property rights, advertising standards, and data privacy laws, ensuring that all campaigns and business practices are legally sound.

Content Creator
Some networks and businesses may provide you with their own ads, but more often than not, you may need your own content creator. It is a crucial addition to the media buying team, responsible for producing engaging and relevant content that supports advertising campaigns. This role involves creating various forms of content, including ad copy, visuals, videos, and social media posts, that resonate with the target audience. A skilled content creator understands the nuances of different platforms and tailors content to fit the specific requirements of each channel. 

Some roles may be delegated to external professionals and businesses from the get-go, such as content creation, accounting, and legal. However, an in-house specialist who always has your best interests in mind, knows your team, campaigns, and other specific details, and has a quick reaction time to all requests and tasks is considered optimal.

Team Structure and Size

It’s important to strike a balance between size and agility. Typically, a small, agile team with around five members per team leader offers the best combination of responsiveness and adaptability. Smaller teams can react swiftly to changes in campaign performance or market trends, allowing for more efficient resource allocation and real-time adjustments to maximize impact.

As your team grows, consider scaling by creating multiple small teams, each led by a different manager. This structure promotes greater flexibility and efficiency as decision-making and communication become more streamlined. Smaller teams also enable managers to monitor individual performance and provide tailored support and guidance closely. This approach not only enhances the effectiveness of the media buying team but also fosters a culture of collaboration and continuous improvement.

Recruitment and Training: Building from the Ground Up

You have to hire the best people for the role. This means that it’s essential to prioritize candidates’ attitude, drive, and willingness to learn over their existing skills. The most effective media buyers are those hungry to succeed and demonstrate a strong commitment to their role. To identify these candidates, consider using a multi-step selection process that filters out those who may not be fully committed.

One effective method is assigning initial tasks that gauge candidates’ dedication, such as requiring them to read and summarize industry-related books or complete a small project demonstrating their understanding of media buying principles. This helps ensure that only the most motivated and capable individuals are selected for your team.

Ensure that your crew’s initial interests and expertise complement each other. This way, you will have well-rounded expertise in multiple areas of the industry and its nuances.

Talent Development

Training media buyers from scratch allows you to align them with your practices and goals. It will not only ensure consistency in how campaigns are managed but also foster a sense of loyalty and commitment among team members.

A structured training program is crucial for developing a successful team in this case. It usually includes the following stages:

1. Introduce the new hires to the tools and platforms they’ll use, such as Keitaro Tracker, and provide foundational knowledge.
2. Pair new team members with experienced media buyers (or mentors) to observe how campaigns are managed and to learn the best practices that you use. 
3. Allow trainees to manage small campaigns under supervision, giving them hands-on experience while ensuring they have the support they need.
4. Set clear objectives and performance goals and evaluate trainees’ readiness to become full-fledged team members. This stage ensures that only those who meet the company’s standards are integrated into the team.

Compensation and Incentives

Offering competitive compensation packages is important to attract and retain top talent. A common approach is to provide a base salary combined with performance bonuses tied to specific metrics like return on ad spend (ROAS) or overall campaign success. This incentivizes media buyers to continuously improve their performance and achieve better results.

Commission-based structures can also be effective, particularly in agencies, where media buyers are rewarded based on the ad spend they manage or the results they achieve. This aligns the interests of the media buyers with those of the company, as both benefit from successful campaigns.

For startups or rapidly growing companies, offering equity options can be a powerful way to attract high-caliber candidates. Equity incentivizes media buyers to invest in the company’s success, as their personal financial gain is directly tied to its growth.

Creating a Motivated Team

Motivation is key to maintaining a high-performing media buying team. In addition to competitive compensation, consider offering opportunities for professional development, such as access to industry conferences, training courses, and certifications. These opportunities not only help team members stay at the cutting edge of media buying trends and techniques but also demonstrate your investment in their long-term career growth.

Setting clear performance goals and providing continuous feedback and rewards is also essential. Regularly recognize and celebrate achievements, whether through bonuses, promotions, or other incentives. This creates a positive work environment and encourages team members to strive for excellence.

Four Tips for Scaling Your Media Buying Team

As your media buying operations grow, efficiency becomes increasingly important. Effective management involves streamlining processes, leveraging advanced technologies, and ensuring that your team remains focused on tasks that directly contribute to revenue generation. Here are four tips to make this a successful process:

1. When hiring additional media buyers and supporting roles, such as data analysts and technical experts, it’s important to scale gradually and avoid overextending resources.

2. One of the most common pitfalls in scaling is focusing on quantity over quality. It’s better to run a smaller number of high-quality campaigns than to spread resources too thin across too many campaigns. Ensure you consistently select and prioritize the best offers to maximize returns.

3. Success in media buying is as much about learning from mistakes as it is about capitalizing on wins. Encourage your team to conduct post-campaign reviews, analyzing what worked well and what didn’t. Use these insights to refine your strategies and make data-driven decisions that improve future performance. Learning from both successes and failures allows your team to adapt quickly to changing market conditions and continuously improve their approach. 

4. Use advanced tools with the potential for scaling from the get-go, so your team won’t need to migrate all of your operations to a new platform–that may take a lot of time and sometimes could be borderline impossible. And learn and adjust to a new tool. 

One of these tools is Keitaro Tracker, which provides a centralized platform for managing multiple campaigns, optimizing performance, and analyzing data. Keitaro’s user-friendly interface simplifies the process of setting up, monitoring, and optimizing media buying strategies, ensuring a more efficient workflow. It has various pricing options for individuals and businesses, multi-user access with multiple permission levels, and–most importantly– it’s a server-based solution with fixed rate monthly or yearly payment that doesn’t change depending on the amount of data, clicks, conversions, campaigns, offers, etc. that will increasingly grow when you scale your business.

Building a successful media buying team is a complex but rewarding process that may increase your profits. As you build and scale your business, remember that success comes from both individual achievements and the collective strength of a well-coordinated, motivated, and skilled team.