June 19, 2020
Media buyers are an essential member of any agency team.
They are responsible for the execution of paid advertising campaigns on platforms like Facebook or Google.
(Check out more commonly-used terms here)
Finding a media buyer can be tricky and it’s vital that you’re able to find the right fit for your agency.
Media buyers create campaigns through the Facebook Ads Manager
Finding skilled media buyers can be a difficult process: as a small agency owner, you’re unlikely to want to hire a full-time employee or be able to afford to advertise the job.
This means you’ll need to get creative in your approach. Ideally, you should look to find three-to-four potential media buyers for your agency to interview at a later stage.
Here are some excellent ways to find media buyers:
Asking for referrals from fellow agency owners is one of the quickest ways to find media buyers, and also most reliable. Even if you don’t personally know any fellow agency owners, if you belong to a group such as the Agency Incubator Facebook group, just post and mention that you are looking for a media buyer, and which niche they operate in.
Here’s where it gets a little tricky. Both Upwork and Fiverr prefer all work to go through their platform, this means that although, in theory, you could ‘hire’ a contractor by white-labeling services from either website, you will have limited ability to communicate with the contractor, and they will not be able to speak directly to your client.
However, if you do try Upwork or Fiverr, and you end up being impressed by the contractor delivering your services, you may ask them to contact you outside of the platform and work on a different basis.
There are thousands of Facebook groups were media buyers look for work, ask for advice, and share tips. Join a few and start to read posts from the most active users: which campaigns are they working on? How much are they spending? What are their results like?
Use the ‘search’ function in a group to look for your niche and see if there are any media buyers who have worked in this field previously.
Add group members as friends, and talk through the Facebook Messenger.
Reddit is a fantastic source of knowledge and advice. Like Facebook groups, there are thousands of subreddits dedicated to a wide range of topics. Redditors are also famously-helpful and willing to offer advice. Let’s say you’re working in the eCommerce niche, or you’re thinking of working with a specific client, if you post a link to the client’s website and ask for advice, you’ll be greeted with multiple helpful responses.
Send a direct message to anyone who has given you great advice and ask for a meeting.
Important:
Remember to speak to media buyers as fellow professionals and respect their time. Don’t ask for free work or trials, as you wouldn’t expect to as an agency owner.
Don’t expect your media buyer to have spent millions in advertising
Once you have found potential media buyers, it’s important to go through a qualification process to make sure they have the skills necessary to execute successful marketing campaigns and are the right fit for your agency.
Here are some questions you might want to ask:
This is a common question to ask, and many agencies require – and many media buyers boast – incredibly-high figures over $1,000,000.
For most agency owners, media buyers who have spent more than $20,000 can be expected to be reasonably experienced in their field.
Just like agencies specialize in niches, media buyers do too.
If your agency offers paid traffic to dentists, it wouldn’t make sense to work with a media buyer who primarily focuses on eCommerce stores.
Before you interview a media buyer, ask if they have any pre-prepared case studies that you can see.
Set up Zoom calls with potential media buyers
Once you have qualified potential media buyers, it’s time for the interview process.
This is your chance to discuss remuneration, performance, and both your goals as an agency owner, and theirs as a media buyer.
It’s important to discuss:
You’ll need to decide how to pay your contractor: on a client-per-client basis, or for a flat-fee, regardless of workload. Speak to other agency owners to establish the going rate in your niche. Don’t be afraid to pay over-the-odds for a top-quality contractor.
Have personal-but-professional conversations and discuss, realistically, how much work you’ll be able to bring them on a monthly basis and whether this will be worth their while.
Why does a media buyer want to work for you as a contractor, and not work on their own agency? Don’t be afraid to have a frank conversation. Your media buyer shouldn’t want to work for your agency as a ‘stepping stone’ but to join and be part of a bigger team.
Even as a hands-off agency owner, you’ll be spending a lot of time professionally with your media buyer. It’s important to make sure that you ‘gel’.
If you’ve found a media buyer who’s qualified and is the right fit for your agency, feel free to make them an offer.
It’s important that you sign both a contract dictating the nature of their services and a non-disclosure and non-compete contract.
To see how GrowYourAgency founder Iman Gadzhi made his latest media buyer hire, watch this video:
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