Making a lasting impression in a TV advertisement is the ultimate goal of a media buyer. But a lot goes into that: the effectiveness of the ad itself, the time it airs and whether or not it reaches the target audience. Businesses or media agencies looking for a media buyer will look for someone with a variety of skills, including the ability to analyze and negotiate.

Buying TV advertising also requires one to be a great strategist. Done right, TV ads can be highly motivating and direct a precise message to a precise audience. To get started in this exciting career, you'll want to research more information about becoming a media buyer, including the job outlook, education to land the job and keeping the job with ongoing training.

Consider the following:

1. Small businesses may not be able to afford to hire an individual on a full-time basis for buying TV commercials but instead rely on freelance media buyers or media buying agencies.

2. Buying TV ads in an effective manner requires mining data and critical thinking skills.

3. Placing television advertisements relies on timing and being able to negotiate a deal.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Learn more about television ad buying and placement as a career

Online research can help you come up with the answers to your questions about what it would be like to work as a media buyer. Carefully evaluate your skills and personality to see if a career in advertising would be a good match.

I recommend: The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Office of Occupational Statistics and Employment Projections provides a job outlook and other career information when it comes to advertising sales. Get a media buyer job description, working conditions and other information from Net Industries. Get professional coaching in TV media buying and other ad industry skills as a college student through the National Student Advertising Competition.

Receive ongoing training on television advertisement topics

The need for learning doesn't stop once you land that job. Adopt a welcoming approach to lifelong learning. Ongoing training can not only help you with career advancement, it can also help you retain your job as you show leadership in your field. Ongoing education can also keep you up to date on changing trends in the industry.

I recommend: The Media Buying Academy's Boot Camp is a well-established series of training seminars for beginning media buyers. Check out the training course on buying advertising via Training-Classes.com. The Laredo Group of Fort Lauderdale, FL offers training customized to fit your needs including those in the television advertising business.

Learn by attending media buyer professional events

Working a trade show is always a good way to further an education, either by hitting the seminars, the speeches or the show booths.

I recommend: The American Advertising Association's annual Media Conference and Trade Show is the big get-together for the media buying community.

Buying TV advertising doesn't have to strain your budget, contrary to popular belief. In fact, buying television advertising can be a smart investment for your company, gaining you local or even national exposure. But you have to be smart in choosing the best avenue to get that exposure. If you are a small to mid-sized company, your targeted audience may only be a few thousand, so you should consider placing local ads. If you are a larger company or are trying to capture a larger audience, then you might consider national advertising. Whatever your size, targeting your actual market is important in television ad buying and placement.

If you don't want to get in over your head with the details of placing a TV advertisement, you should consider consulting with a television advertising agency. Many television advertising agencies are quite affordable and some even offer pre-packaged television advertisements that can be customized. Whichever way you choose to go, here are some points to think about before making a decision about TV ad placement:

1. Know your target market.

2. Look at television advertising agencies as a possible option.

3. Consider affordable, customizable pre-packaged ads.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Determine your market and the costs of buying TV advertising

If you have a small market, consider local cable access or other local options when buying a TV advertisement. If you're going after a bigger market, know that you don't have to lose an arm and a leg to purchase an ad. Costs vary based on demographics, time slots and the ad length, so you may find that you don't have to spend as much as you thought.

I recommend: Gaebler's primer on television advertising costs is a good place to start. Also, Entrepreneur offers a couple of good write-ups on both the costs of a network TV advertisement and cable TV ads.

Find an affordable televising advertising agency

Buying television advertising is easier and cheaper due to a growing demand from small to mid-sized businesses and companies willing to meet that demand. You can find several online agencies that can produce quality ads for local or network television.

I recommend: Just as its name claims, Cheap TV Spots offers affordable (or "cheap") television advertisements, both local and national, while TazMedia offers affordable cable TV advertising to small businesses.

Get an affordable pre-packaged television advertisement you can customize

Not only can you find customizable pre-packaged advertisements, but you can also purchase customizable and royalty-free clips from a stock footage library. Don't forget to check local video production companies in your area. These options make television ad buying and placement very convenient for small companies.

I recommend: Spot Runner offers pre-packaged ads by industry that you can personalize and at reasonable prices. Mpower Media also has pre-packaged ads at low rates. Thought Equity Motion's library includes royalty-free stock footage from which to choose production-ready commercials.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Consider Internet advertising as a supplement to your marketing campaign. Most are affordable and, in some cases, free. Options include Internet radio ads as well as banner ads. You can find online media kits to help you along.

Buying and placing TV advertising can be complicated, especially if you are not familiar with television ad buying and placement key terms. Buying TV ads and placing them can involve hiring professionals to create and produce your TV ads. It also can mean hiring someone to place the ads on local or national networks.

If you know television ad buying and placement key terms, you can speak more competently with professionals in the TV advertising industry, which can make it easier for you to reach your TV marketing goals. Armed with the correct jargon, you can better understand what concepts you need to pay attention to as you buy and place TV ads.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Television advertising agency

A television advertising agency is an advertising agency staffed with professionals who can write, create, produce and place your ad on television. If you want a TV ad for your business, these agencies can take your completed ad and help you place it on TV or can take your idea for an ad from concept to completion.

I recommend: TelevisionAdvertising.com explains what television advertising agencies are and what they can do for small businesses.

Demographics

When buying and placing TV spots, determining the demographics of the audience you hope to reach is a vital first step. Demographics refers to specific characteristics that people share, such as background, education level, income bracket, age group, marital status, ethnic group or other markers.

I recommend: Tulane University provides a description of demographics and how they relate to advertising.

Ratings

A rating refers to how many people in a specific demographic are watching a specific show. Ratings are important to understand when you are buying TV ads because if ratings are too low, too small an audience will see your ad.

I recommend: Riger has an easy-to-understand definition of ratings. Nielsen has a detailed explanation of ratings and related concepts.

Jingles

One main part of a TV ad is a jingle, which is a memorable song or tune that becomes associated with a company or product and then is used to promote that product.

I recommend: Cheap TV Spots has a useful definition of TV jingles.

Airtime

Airtime refers to the amount of time a show, TV spot or ad is broadcast on television. The amount of airtime your spot takes up often will determine the costs of your ads. More airtime also can mean more exposure for your ad.

I recommend: Infomercial.TV provides a comprehensive definition of airtime.

Household

A household is the basic unit used to describe how many people or groups of people are watching a show, station or your TV ad. A household is usually counted as one apartment unit or one home, even though more than one person may live in that household. The more households your ad or TV spot will reach, the greater your exposure will be.

I recommend: Showcase Enterprises has an explanation of the household. Channel 4 also offers a concise definition of the term.