A media buyer is the liaison between a client’s goals and their targeted audiences. But what does their typical day look like? We connected with Liesle, a media buyer at Drake Cooper, a Northwest ad agency, to find out.

How do you start your day?

Media buying can be pretty hectic so starting the day right is crucial. Liesle begins most days with a giant cup of coffee and a walk with her 90 pound lab, Boone Roger.

How long does the radio buying process generally take?

When you hear a radio buyer talk about the radio buying process, most often you’ll hear about how lengthy it is. The bad part is, they’re not exaggerating. Radio buying requires a lot of time, focus, and organization.  

“Depending on the size of the buy, I find myself spending a minimum of eight to ten hours working on various parts of the buying process over a few days,” said Liesle. “If you add in invoicing and make goods that time can be extended a lot. It’s very tedious work.”

How does radio buying differ from other media buying?

Radio tends to be more challenging to buy than other forms of media. The truth is, the process hasn’t changed much over the last few decades, which tends to stand out to newer media buyers.

Here are the things that really stand out to Liesle:

• Reporting: There’s a lack of reporting when buying radio. Clients love knowing how many people they are reaching at any given time.
• Segmentation: Audience segmentation is very different for radio than other media.
• Flexibility: Making changes is really difficult whether it’s just a creative update or a simple trafficking adjustment.
• Reliability: In my experience as a media buyer over the years, the manual process of confirming receipt of buys and traffic with reps can be challenging.

What if buying radio was as easy as buying Facebook or Google ads?

As demonstrated above, radio buying isn’t known for being quick and easy, but what if we told you that’s changing? This definitely sparked some extra interest from Liesle, can you blame her?

“If we were able to buy radio more quickly and provide solid analytics, it would be easy to convince more clients to invest in radio,” said Liesle. “Plus, media buyers would be more willing to encourage radio buying as opposed to digital options that have less reach.”

We are working with buyers like Liesle every day in hopes to improve their radio buying experiences and in turn, increasing results for advertisers. Ready to learn more about buying radio with just a few clicks in minutes?