• by Shawn Riegsecker , Op-Ed Contributor, May 4, 2010

The digital advertising landscape offers a vast array of channels and opportunities for brands to communicate with their audiences. When done right, it's a goldmine for the brands, but a minefield for the media buyers tasked with processing each opportunity and getting ads placed. The sheer multitude of opportunities and the transactional work associated with each is overwhelming even to the most seasoned buyer, and there are many obstacles to getting through each day (which, unfortunately, normally ends in overtime).

Media buyers wear many hats throughout the course of their day, from strategist to communications expert to Excel wizard, and there are challenges associated with each, but across the board, there are a few that stand out.

Outdated Tools and Technologies
Every now and then I will be asked to sign and fax a form, for whatever purpose, and for a minute, I'm transported back to the Dark Ages. At least it feels that way; in this age of constant connectivity, instant gratification and 140 character communications, feeding papers into a fax machine while it beeps and sputters feels positively archaic. Yet many media buyers are forced to deal with faxing IOs back and forth to place their buys on a regular basis throughout the day. Not only that, but copying and pasting communications and buys into hundreds of emails and Excel spreadsheets seems no less of a waste of their time and talents. No wonder many are working the day's buys well into the late night hours.

It also follows that if the bulk of their time is spent cutting and pasting and using outdated technologies, that media buyers have less and less time to devote to the strategic thinking that results in creative, compelling and successful campaigns. Media buyers are chosen for their expertise and digital advertising knowledge. By not providing them with better tools to do their jobs, we're not utilizing them as effectively as we can and we're not allowing them realize their full potential.

Access to Opportunities
Many think of digital advertising as just banner ads online, but it goes well beyond that. Ads can be placed on mobile sites, portals, video sites, and more. And media continues to fragment; it's not just tv or print, but online, digital out of home, video, mobile, social networking, games, etc. It is important for media buyers to stay current on the available opportunities for campaigns, yet that research has to be done manually, meaning there is no way to ensure that the full depth and breadth of the digital spectrum is being covered.

There is a demonstrated need for a solution that houses all of the available opportunities in one place, where media planners can easily search, filter and select the appropriate opportunity for their campaign. We can not only make access to digital media easy and painless, but comprehensive and universal.

Efficiency and Scalability
The digital industry has always struggled with scale, and media buyers bear that weight on their shoulders as they attempt to plan and place media with great complexity at a fraction of the budget of other channels, while still being held to pretty rigorous ROI standards. It's important not just to the execution of their daily job duties, but also to the profitability of the agencies that media buyers be able to work as efficiently as possible.

It's time to rethink the process we've taken for granted for so many years, and move away from antiquated tools into the 21st century. The solution to how to do better work in less time, along with the issues of reach and availability of tools, lies in technology. We are equipped with the intelligence to develop a toolset that meets the unique needs of the digital media buyer today. Making their lives easier and helping them do their jobs better will have positive implications across the agency world, for their clients and the digital industry at large.