The Challenge:
We were tasked to find 1 Senior Facebook Media Buyer for an international, full-scope marketing agency called Porobic Group.
The Result:
After 7 weeks, instead of 1 candidate, we managed to find them 2 Sr. Media Buyers. The agency’s plan is to continue expanding its media buying team and therefore was able to offer the position to both candidates.
One of these candidates came from headhunting, and the second came from networking & referrals.
Overall, we had to reach out to 146 people, which resulted in 10 interviews.
We saved 2-3 months of work for the agency by finding them an additional candidate. As we managed to find two candidates for them instead of one, they also saved on recruitment fees without having to initiate a new hire from scratch.
Requirements:
The agency identified a particular set of requirements that to them were non-negotiables and what they were looking for in their Sr. Media Buyers.
It was centered around having a proven track record of working & scaling with brands after the big iOS 14 changes and being able to solve the complex tracking issues that arose from it.
As the Sr. Media Buyer would also be taking care of the team, the candidate should have previous experience collaborating with different creative teams and coming up with different angles together.
Finally, the last thing that was important for the agency is to have a media buyer who has worked with brands that have been spending profitable monthly ad budgets of at least €75k/mo, as this was the clients' size that they typically work with.
Biggest Selling Points:
Apart from being a fully remote & international workplace, the agency had a lot to offer that would make (and did!) any media buyer drool.
They put a lot of emphasis on the quality of the client - in order for the agency to work with them, clients had to not only have a good quality product but also be a good value fit.
Apart from having great clients, their in-house creative team is extremely strong in marketing and conversion principles, and they're able to contribute equally when it comes to coming up with new angles and taking autonomy of their work.
Skills We Looked For:
- Creative - they need to be able to participate in the creative brainstorming process.
- Analytical - good media buying always comes down to being analytical.
- Research - they need to be doing research from the day they get the account till the day they stop working on it.
- Communication - they will be a key role within a company, they need to be able to communicate effectively & clearly with the team as well as with clients.
- Learning - Facebook media buying is changing rapidly with every new iOS update and every Facebook algorithm change - they need to be on top of their game.
Approach:
From previous experience, we know that paid job ads will not get us the candidates that we need. That’s why we headhunted from the very beginning - targeting media buyers who had previously worked with digital marketing agencies, or had worked with e-Commerce brands.
We also made sure that the test we created allowed them to showcase one of their case studies, and break it down into detail how they achieved it, as well as a scenario based question to see how they would handle a brief.
Key Questions To Ask:
- Share your experience with one eCommerce account that you have scaled profitably (Use the POAS metric).
- What were the main contributors to the growth from that eCommerce account that you scaled profitably?
- How do you solve Facebook tracking/attribution issues?
Challenges We Faced:
One major challenge that we faced was hiring during the summer periods. Whilst most people choose to take their vacation in the summertime or spend more time outdoors, it was more difficult to get a response from potential candidates. However, this just means that we need to reach out to more people or try different countries to target.
Another challenge that we ran into was the increase in salary demands, where more junior-level media buyers were asking for senior-level salaries. At Prosana, we know that skills can be taught, so it was all about negotiating with them and showing them how their performance over the next months will allow them to level up and raise their salary over time.
Key Takeaways:
- There are a lot of media buyers out there, and the market is saturated with talent that was not what we were looking for, therefore we need to be diligent with our criteria
- You need to be very precise with how you formulate your questions during interviews. Media buyers know how a wrongly asked question can help them create a better picture of their experience.
- Media buyers are willing to change their current role & negotiate their salary as long as there are 3 things in place - good clients, good products, and strong creative/copywriting teams.
- There are many great media buyers out there who just didn't have a chance to work for a good company, therefore, you can't judge them based on their ad spend solely. You need to take it all into a consideration & make a collective decision.
Tips For Similar Hires:
- Identify your non-negotiables upfront. Decide what metrics matter most
- Formulate your questions with precision
- Referrals matter
- Look for cultural & skills fit
If you’d like to save 3 months of your time, fill out the form on our website and let’s get talking about how we can help you find a media buyer for your team.