Maybe it is my many years of experiencing, learning and applying new technologies that affect media planning and buying, but I find being able to communicate with consumers through digital media like finding a pot of gold.

But with opportunity comes change…and with change comes fear. Instead of embracing the “new,” the media community seems to be putting their heads in the sand. The idea of allocating more time to consider other forms of media seems unrealistic for some planners—so much so that it’s been a struggle for some agencies to decide whether to attack digital internally or to solicit outside assistance.

In my opinion, it makes the most sense to treat it as an extension of media and to incorporate it into the internal media process; however, the majority of agencies have been selecting outside services or have built a separate department specially created to handle digital, thus removing it from the larger consideration set.

And when actually planning and buying media, it’s important to remember that success or failure should be based on results delivered and not on efficiencies. The attention to “best deal” brings hesitation to the risk of planning an overload of digital. Many media departments have pushed back primarily as a result of not having experience or knowledge in digital. Although it would make sense for them to allocate more dollars to their advertising budgets to account for new mediums, budgets are staying the same. This is forcing media planners to figure out how to include digital into their media buy without sacrificing traditional channels instead of considering digital as a medium and not an addition.

While this struggle may seem unique, this type of extraordinary change in the media landscape is nothing new. We have a history of adjustments/changes that have forced media departments to slowly evolve for the benefit of their clients. Here are some of the major ones:

• Research beyond the ratings
• Computer systems
• National Cable
• Local Cable
• Growth of magazine choices
• Radio station growth (no longer 4-5 stations but 20 stations to consider)
• Network TV growth (Fox Network’s share of the budget was cut from the ABC, CBS and NBC budgets)
• Social Media
• Mobile

And these are just a few of the advances! My advice to those entering the media arena is to learn and apply as much as possible. There will never be a boring day and no two days will be the same. The constant changes, new systems and new media vehicles are what make working in media exciting and challenging. To succeed in media, you must accept and dig in when the new communication tools or venues are introduced.

Photo Credit: Flickr’s bogenfreund