Media Planner Career Path
“The role of a media planner is important because they determine the ad campaign architecture. They communicate with clients to nail down goals and objectives, plan internally using multiple forecasting tools, and execute the campaign.” – Tyler Christianson, Campaign Analyst, Pathlabs
What do media planners do and what does a media planner’s career path look like? Learn where to start and how to decide if a media planning career is right for you.
Marketers and advertising agencies spend a lot of money on paid media campaigns. In 2022, advertisers are expected to spend over 56 billion dollars on promoting their products on social networks (Statista, 2022), and social media advertising is only one category of many. Paid media refers to many advertising areas, including social media, paid search, connected-tv, programmatic audio, programmatic video, and display. Given the tremendous budget going into digital advertising, advertisers need to ensure that the types of media they use reach their target audience and generate a worthwhile return.
This is where media planners come in. Media planners are key to successful paid media campaigns. They are responsible for building the campaigns, placing ads in the right place at the right time, and strategizing to reach the desired audience for the least amount of money.
Media planners are an essential part of an agency. They execute media plans calculatedly, so clients know they are making the most of their ad budget.
Those with media planning skills are currently in high demand. This article will discuss the ins and outs of this field and how to enter this field.
What Is a Media Planner?
“A media planner is responsible for marrying creative concepts and advertiser goals into a compelling media mix. In addition, they are tasked with managing partner relationships and choosing suitable mediums to deliver campaigns on behalf of their clients.” - Cortland Fondon, VP of Media, Pathlabs
What Does a Media Planner Do?
Media planners create campaigns for a variety of clients. They are given a budget, a message, and a few other resources and then are challenged to find the best mediums to use and make the campaign successful.
Depending on where the media planner works, their responsibilities may vary. However, typical duties include:
Working with clients to manage ad campaigns
Researching different media channels
Making recommendations to clients and deciding the best types of media to use
Assisting in the creative media process
Develop media strategy for campaigns
Communicating with different media vendors
Utilizing programmatic software to determine where the ads should be fielded
Reviewing all marketing and ad content before they go live
Communicating with team media buyer on how to execute a campaign
Researching target audiences
Optimizing marketing campaigns
Analyzing campaign data and metrics
Why Start a Career in Media Planning?
Media planning provides a level of both art and creativity. It's an art form to balance creative concepts against a plethora of mediums while identifying channels that not only convey the brand's message but will also perform and deliver against business goals.
“It is incredibly demanding and satisfying as a career. It provides opportunities for career advancement. Understanding the balancing act required to be successful, a thorough knowledge of the media landscape and the ability to report campaign performance in a way that ties itself back to business output is a skill that can open many doors.” – Cortland Fondon, VP of Media, Pathlabs
A Day in the Life of a Media Planner
It is truly difficult for us to convey what a given day as a media planner will look like because it is completely situational.
However, on an average day, media planners juggle a few campaigns simultaneously. If they are just beginning the campaign process, they may spend their day meeting with clients and researching types of media to use. If they are farther along in the process, they may pay more attention to a specific campaign or try to meet strict deadlines to field an ad in crunch time.
Media planners must have a high-level understanding of advertising analytics and strategy. Media planners often run reports on spending, inventory, or tech performance. At the end of the day, it is the media planner’s job to build campaigns that match client goals.
In a single day, a media planner communicates with clients, performs data analysis, researches media channels, reviews budgets, and assists in creating more effective media. Those who enjoy a fast-paced work environment, and like to have their hands in multiple buckets, will thrive as media planners.
Where Do Media Planners Work?
Media planners most commonly work in advertising agencies. They are also found at media execution partner (MEP) companies. Media planners take on businesses and organizations as clients and are responsible for quickly assessing the clients’ needs and executing in the right direction.
Larger corporations that don’t outsource their media needs may also have a small team of media planners within their marketing department.
There is a large demand for workers with media planning experience. In fact, many build fruitful careers doing media planning in a freelance format.
Media Planner Career Path
How to Get Started in Media Planning
Do the research
Instead of diving into this career path immediately, prospective media planners should take some time to learn about media planning, ads, and marketing. Internships, or job-shadowing opportunities, at advertising agencies are the best way to learn. This way, prospective media planners get their foot in the door and learn the skills through real-life experience.
Determine if media planning is the right fit
Once they have gathered more information about media planning, prospects should take a look in the mirror and think about whether media planning will be the right career path for them. They should also ask themselves if they will be fulfilled, engaged, and stimulated in the long term.
Educate!
Most ad agencies will expect media planner applicants to have a bachelor's degree in a field that corresponds with some aspect of media planning. However, since there is such a big demand for media planners, they may be able to land this kind of job with an associate's degree, marketing certificate, or bachelor’s in a separate field like math, journalism, anthropology, etc.
Grow competencies on the way
When competing for a media planning position, hiring managers will expect applicants to have some baseline experience they can pull from to execute ad campaigns. So we recommend they have some kind of portfolio, digital badges, certifications, or real-world experience they can bring up in an interview.
Land a job
Once prospective media planners have some education, experience, or competencies to set them up for a successful media planner career, it is time to take that last step: get a job.
Because media planning is a broad field, they can work for various agencies and companies. They may choose to work for a smaller agency that works with local brands or may join the ad and media department of a large company.
Essential Skills for Media Planners
Successful media planners are scrappy, dynamic, and creative. Prospective media planners can embody these characteristics as well by honing in the following skills:
Rockstar writing and communication
Ability to work with different media planning tools and programmatic software
Knowledge and experience running ad campaigns within multiple media channels
Understanding of digital and physical ads
Data analytics
Campaign and project management
Time management, organization, and ability to work under pressure
Leadership
Skills that will diversify media planners’ projects and tasks:
Graphic Design
SEO writing
Photography & Film
Consumer Behavior Psychology
Computer Science and Algorithmic Thinking
Entry-Level Positions for Media Planners
High-level media planners deal with a lot of responsibilities and pressure. Those who want to break into the world of media planning may not get these top planner positions from the get-go.
Media planners start by joining an advertising or marketing team and serving as an intern or an associate media planner. In these roles, they will often work directly under the media planner, who can serve as a mentor. Tasks for these associate roles and internships will revolve around research and reporting. After a few years of work, these lower-level employees can work up to more formalized media planner roles.
Media Planner Education
To attain a fruitful career as a media planner, one will most likely need to have a BS or BA in the following degree fields:
Most common degrees for media planners
Marketing
Media Arts
Business Administration
Other degrees that will set individuals up for success as media planners
English and journalism
Psychology
Statistics
Graphic Design
Finance
MIS or Computer Science
Media Planner Salary
According to current data, the average salary of a media planner can range from 30k to 155k, based on the amount of experience, education, and job location.
However, a common base salary is normally anywhere from 54k to 60k. With a few years of experience, media planners can comfortably make 67k to 75k a year.
Given that digital media has become a necessity in almost every business and agency, it is likely that there will be a large increase in salaries and demand for these positions.
Is a Media Planning Career Right for You?
Are you considering entering a career in media planning? Take the survey below by answering yes or no to each question. Then, compare your score to the key under the questions.
Am I passionate and knowledgeable about different types of media?
Am I comfortable juggling multiple projects at once?
Do I have any connections in the world of media planning?
Do I have relevant work experience and education?
Am I active on at least five different kinds of media channels? (e.g., Audio & Video Platforms, Social Media, Websites, Blogs, Radio, etc.)
Would I feel confident researching different media channels, even though I may not have any knowledge about certain channels?
Do I feel confident making high-level decisions for clients?
Am I good at working and managing multiple people?
Am I willing to spend extra hours during certain weeks to execute campaigns?
Do I have an eye for visual and artistic elements?
Do I have at least some experience creating or planning ads?
Am I willing to learn how to use different planning platforms and applications?
Am I willing to do little math, whether that be for analytics, budgets, etc?
If you answered yes to 8+ questions, a career in media planning might be a good fit for you!
If you answered yes to 5-8 questions, you might want to reconsider and explore careers that are more relevant to your interests and skillset.
If you answered yes to less than four questions, a career in media planning is not for you!
How Is Pathlabs Relevant in the Media Planning World?
At Pathlabs, our Media Services team works hand-in-hand with Media Planners daily. We help planners navigate an ever-evolving landscape of tools and technologies available to deliver and measure campaign performance.
Media planning is challenging, and we see ourselves as a support system - executing and planning around the details. We provide our partners with the elements of their plan; in-platform audience segmentation, day-parting, bidding structures, inventory sources, vendor negotiation, etc., so that our partners can focus on the big picture. The strategy.
We believe that allowing our partners the opportunity to see above the forest - creates an environment for their professional growth and the growth of their agencies.
Curious to explore careers in media planning? Check out our open positions page. We’d love to meet you!
Contributors: Jacob Treece, Elias Snyders, Cortland Fondon, and Tyler Christianson
