Media Planning: A Kickstart to Your Career

Advertising is no longer restricted to traditional media usage only, but brands keep exploring new opportunities to get public attention and want people to talk about them. Nevertheless, what makes a brand get that publicity is the media and its mediums. To grab these mediums, brands take the help of Media Planners. The advertisements you see on TV, hear on Radio, take action on the banners on google/facebook, and ads in newspapers are all moderated and coordinated by the media planners of a brand. A media planner works in a fast-paced world with a great deal of pressure to deliver. Career in Media Planning brings great opportunities for an aspirant with a great level of socializing.

How to Become a Media Planner?

To become a media planner, you should have a relevant qualification and in-demand skills. Media Planners work with press, television, radio, big brands and many other organizations for their promotion and planning media. A media planner helps clients to make decisions to start a particular media campaign. The main focus is to place the advertisement into right media ventures for maximum reach.

A bachelor’s in marketing, business administration, is preferred if you want to become a media planner. You should also possess effective communication skills, and execute decisions.

Role of a Media Planner

Role of a media planner is not only confined to planning the media for the client but on grounds, they have to manage media dealings, creative’s approval from the client and ensure that the campaign goes on air at the scheduled hour.
The key role of a media planner is to help their client to reach its target audience at the right time at the right place using the right media.
Media planners are data analysers as well. A regular data study and analysis is required to understand the consumer viewership pattern and the inclination towards a particular type of media. Once the campaign is on air, to understand the success or failure of the launched campaign, the planners take data from various software like Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC), India Readership Survey (IRS), Target Group Indexing (TGI) to understand the market, competitors, and the media consumption habits of the target group.
Establishing different alternatives for Media Plans depending on the client’s preference.

‘Digital First’ Strategy

It is important to understand that the brands are quickly moving to digital platforms and gradually the media strategies are focusing on ‘Digital first’. Being equipped with digital media planning tools would be an add-on for your career.

Degree and Certifications required to become a Media Planner

A specific degree for media planner is not listed as advertising experts normally have a four-year college education. However, employers consider applicants with Journalism, Communication, Business, or an English degree.

Getting a certification in digital or traditional planning is always a good option to go for. You can also enroll for an online course to get a certification in advertising or marketing.

Skills Required to Become a Media Planner

Media planning is most associated with data analysing, so if you are skilled with excel and have interest in research this is the most appropriate career to go ahead with. Other relevant media planner skills are given below:

Communication and Presentation Skills
Sales and Advertising Skills
Strong analytical and organisational skills
ability to work with IT resources such as databases and spreadsheets, for the collection and management of information
Compose efficient and clear official statements
Marketing & Negotiation Skills
Understanding of different mediums of marketing and advertising

Salary of a Media Planner

Talking about the initial salary that you might get as a fresher is anything between INR 20,000 to INR 30,000 and as you gain experience, you can make up to INR 1.5 to INR 2L in a month or more depending on the skill set and experience.

Written By:- Ms. Riya Gupta, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Media Studies and Humanities, MRIIRS