If there’s a way to make money that’s been getting more popular every day, it’s Media Buying. In fact, there are hard-working employees saying goodbye to their bosses and devoting themselves entirely to this most recent of businesses on a daily basis.
It’s a whole new world; a new path to becoming financially independent. In this article, you’ll get to take a good look at some of the basics of Media Buy. Towards the end, you’ll be able to check some tips that you’ll surely use on your Media Buying journey.
You’re probably asking yourself: what’s this business all about? It’s simple. Media Buying is the activity of purchasing traffic from networks/websites, later monetizing it by promoting offers from either direct advertisers or networks (the latter will pay you.)
The flow is simple: the Media Buyer pays a website for showcasing an ad (it’s usually a clickable banner). This Media Buyer is working on a cost-per-impression basis, meaning that he pays every time a user actually sees the banner. Later on, the Media Buyer will be paid by the advertiser (owner of this specific offer) when users click on the offer and make what is known as an acquisition.
If you take a look at the image below, you’ll see how the Media Buying ecosystem works.
As you can see, the users are the most important piece of the puzzle. Why? Because, without them, there would be no profit whatsoever. Now let’s try to understand the flow of Mobidea’s business. First, you should bear in mind that Mobidea aggregates offer from advertisers all over the globe. When Media Buyers reach our platform, they take these offers and promote them to users in an array of diverse ways: a) ad networks (ExoClick, Ero-Advertising, etc.); b) through websites (direct buying); c) social media (Facebook advertisements), etc. Finally, after users engage with the content, the payment immediately pops on the Media Buyer’s account – on the platform – as a conversion or a signup.
Mobidea gives access to offers from Direct partners worldwide, making sure to play a fundamental role in the whole process.
Why should Media Buy be your next adventure?
1. This is a quick way to earn a living. If you are a Webmaster, you have to think about creating websites, become an expert on SEO, promote the website for an extended period of time, create some content, update it, etc. This path will take some time. When you are a Media Buyer, though, you can start making money almost instantly. Of course, there’s an investment to be made but, unlike what happens in case you’re a webmaster, the process is fast and therefore you’ll get to see the results of your investment in no time.
2. Media Buying is a great learning experience. By becoming one yourself, you’ll see it is actually all about testing, gathering data and making a bunch of silly mistakes that allow you to learn. Experiencing this learning curve ultimately builds up your character and makes you better. Sooner or later, you’ll be able to understand which types of offers work better for which traffic source. Moreover, you’ll get to become a real trend-follower, noticing new ideas and becoming able to see potential coming from a mile away.
3. This is a pretty addictive profession. Ever thought about getting that great, grand dream job everyone goes on and on about? For the majority of Media Buyers I know, this is surely one of those famous dream jobs. If what you want in life is to do something enjoyable, then the thrill of finding offers, analyzing stats, and optimizing campaigns will certainly fulfill you.
4. Media Buying allows you to be your own boss. Instead of having to deal with countless daily issues and an overweening boss that overwhelm you every day with tons of paperwork, you can become a proper Media Buyer. Trust me: you’ll probably never have to see the inside of an office again. In fact, a lot of successful Media Buyers have the chance to decide where and when they want to work.
Now that you know the remarkable advantages of becoming a Media Buyer and dedicating yourself to a whole new career, it’s important that you read the next tips. Afterwards, you’ll be able to start your Media Buying journey.
First: Pick an Ad Network
The first thing you need to think about is what you wish to promote and what’s the Ad Network that works best for you.
In case you’ve got an offer that you know converts better on a specific operator, you should obviously work with an Ad Network that works with 3G Carrier Targeting. If you’ve got an amazing product getting you excited in Singapore, you should make sure to choose an Ad Network that features traffic coming from this particular country.
Second: Target and Segment
The segment is basically a number of crucial variables in the business. In fact, aspects such as the Country, the Operator, or the Operating System make up the “segment”. In order for you to select the segment, you have to create a campaign that has a wide enough target so as to cover the whole segment you wish to launch. Afterwards, once you’ve analysed the results of this wider campaign, you’ll start doing what we call “optimization.” That is: you’ll start directing your attention to the segments that are more profitable. It’s basically a filtering process.
You should also cover all segments by investing in different languages, operating systems, devices, browsers, etc. Then you do what always has to be done: analyse the data in detail and tweak your investment to get as much revenue as possible. You should also stop parameters which are clearly not profitable or adjust bid/capping.
Third: Pricing
On the Ad Network, you should set both the capping and the bid for any campaign you plan to launch.
This is a great way to understand what type of Media Buyer you want to be. Indeed, some guys will tell you to throw caution to the wind and have a more aggressive stance, spending a lot of money so as to be able to gather data more rapidly and becoming ready to optimize your campaign sooner. Other fellows will be a bit more cautious, and they’ll probably guarantee that knowing how to control costs is the key to success.
Fourth: Picking the Right Banner
Some people who love and have played this game for many years will swear banners aren’t that important. They’ll tell you not to worry about them. Nevertheless, they are as important as the targeting or the bid. Why? Due to the fact that banners are the first selling point of the product to the eventual end user.
Indeed, optimizing your banners is a must-do. You could have 3 to 5 banners on rotation. That’s how you gather data from them all, becoming able to optimize your campaign and therefore getting the highest CTR. The 3-to-5 banner rule is easily explained: if you happen to use a fewer number of banners for your campaign, you won’t be able to compare performances. If you wish to use more, you have to spend more time and money to get stats that you will use to analyse the performance of each banner.
What’s the trick? You should try different colours, images, layout, texts, lettering, etc. You can never forget that everything has an impact on the success of your campaign. Bear in mind that you should always respect the rules, not only of the Affiliate Network but also of your Ad network.
You know the game, and now it’s time to play
I hope you’ve been able to learn from this post. Media Buying is a great art and, with attention to detail, a passion for analysis and a love of numbers, you’ll be able to become successful.
Guest Post By Francisco Gomes (MOBIDEA’s Community Manager)
