CAREER PROFILE: Mastering the art of online marketing

Herman J. Mkamba, born in Kilimanjaro at Moshi municipal in early 1990’s, is a young and smart mind in the tech world.

With a Degree in Public Relations and Advertising from the University of Dar es Salaam, today he works as a media buyer for Smart Codes Company in Tanzania.

He recently sat down with Success for a one on one.

What are your main duties as a media buyer?

I negotiate, purchase and monitor advertising space (digital billboards) on behalf of clients. The aim is to reach the highest number of people in the target audience at the lowest possible cost.

How long have you worked in the tech business?

It is almost two years now since I officially joined the tech industry, but my passion started when I was quite young. It’s my big brother who ignited my initial interest. One day he had to leave for Dar es Salaam, those days I recall the use of mobile phones was not popular as it is now, so he thought the best way of communication between us would be through E-mail. So he opened an email account for me and my first email address was [email protected], I was so fascinated because I was introduced to the world of technology and I decided to introduce it to my school mates. Since then, I wanted to know more about technology so I kept practicing until I became officially engaged with it two years ago, to the present.

What’s your take on the growth of online advertising in Tanzania?

Online advertising is growing at a slow pace in Tanzania.

Multinational organisations are the ones who are eager to advertise on online platforms while local organisations are still in dilemma on whether to invest in online marketing or not.

Even those who see the opportunity in online marketing still allocate mass budget on ATL (Above The Line).

I think we as online marketing agencies, have to dedicate our time in educating different organisations and the community as a whole on benefits of online marketing.

What are some of the toughest challenges you encounter in your line of work?

 There are many challenges, but the biggest challenge is illiteracy as most organisations managements’ are not familiar with online platforms. Due to dismal technological advancement in Tanzania, some clients do not understand the intricacies involved in this business. All they want is their job done.

For example, you find someone asking you to have mastheads as one of the features of his ads without knowing that it’s not available in our country and when you try to educate him/her, he doesn’t understand you, he just wants to see the feature implemented on his ads.

How do you ensure that online adverts only achieve the objective of reaching the audience, other than irritate them?

No one likes to be disturbed by pop ups and irrelevant ads while browsing online, so to avoid this I always use the available tools to reach the right audience and this is possible through team work. Why team work? I as the Media Buyer, I have to identify the targeted audience and their characteristics, and present them to the Designer who has to work on visuals, from there we come up with the perfect advert of which when seen online the targeted audience fills like it is there for them to see.

How long does it take for you to plan a perfect media campaign?

I believe every campaign is different from another, depending on the complexity of the product/service, how sensitive it is and the campaign objectives. So normally I spend between 2 to 5 hours to come up with the perfect media plan for a campaign.

So far, what has been your worst day on the job?

I recall about three months ago when I had to submit a report to the client but when I evaluated numbers I found that I had not reached the targeted goal, I remember calling the client and explaining why that happened. It wasn’t an easy task, but he understood when I presented him with facts.

Your occupation is not so popular in Tanzania, was it hard finding a job?

I do agree with you, my profession is still new in Tanzania but it takes passion to become a media buyer. You have to read a lot as there is no university or college in Tanzania that provides online advertising as a major rather than studying it as ATL within other courses.

Honestly, I’ve never heard of any agency in Tanzania announcing vacancies for a Media Buyer, but if you believe you can do it, you have to present yourself and your skills to the agencies.

What major skills does one need in order to become a media buyer?

You need to have advertising knowledge. Unfortunately advertising courses are taught at University of Dar es salaam for undergraduates only but in my opinion as the world is becoming more technological, this knowledge should start from an early stage such as diploma, or the government should see how they can educate our community especially youths on the importance of this field because as we are developing, it will come a time when everything will be done online.