Freelance Media Buyer or Agency? How to Choose for Your Store

When is a freelance media buyer enough?

If your store is just starting, you have few products, and your creative (images and video) is ready, then a freelance media buyer running the campaigns may be enough. The cost is lower and you talk directly to the person working on your account. But watch three things: who runs the account if he's sick or traveling, who makes new ads when the old ones tire, and who will tell you the problem is in the store and not the ad.

When do you need an agency?

As spend grows, ads become just one part of the problem. In most stores that stop growing, the cause isn't targeting. It's tired creative, a product page that doesn't persuade, or an offer that doesn't lift average order value. That's when you need a team working on all of it together. At one Gulf store, for example, most of the result came from the offer rather than the ad: $692K in 7 months with discounts under 1% (full case).

Freelance platforms like Khamsat and Mostaql

You can find media buyers on freelance platforms, and some of them are excellent. But platform ratings measure how happy a client was with the working relationship, not the profit of his store. Always ask for dashboard screenshots, and ask about the attribution window and the source of the number: does it come from the ad platform or from the store's own sales? The criteria are explained in the guide to choosing a media buyer.

Questions to ask any media buyer before you start

• Show me dashboard screenshots from stores close to mine.
• How do you measure results: from the platform or from store sales?
• What do you need to know about my profit margin to set the maximum cost per order?
• What do you do when an ad tires? Who makes the new creative?
• When do you refuse to raise the budget?

Between the two

Ahmed Ebrahem is a media buyer who works on accounts himself. He has managed more than $2 million in ad spend for more than 40 stores, including $1.9 million on Snapchat at a 13.57 return for a Gulf store. Behind him is the Saduq Agency team for creative, stores and conversion. If your store is in Saudi Arabia, read Digital marketer in Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam, for the whole Gulf Best digital marketer in the Gulf, and for the differences between agencies How to choose a marketing agency.