PulsePoint’s Programmatic Trader Hall of Fame: Michael Valdez

PulsePoint’s Trader Hall of Fame: Michael Valdez

We are proud to partner with hardworking clients who are pushing the boundaries of programmatic and putting the right medications in front of HCPs and patients at the right time. PulsePoint established the Trader Hall of Fame to highlight their efforts and give others a closer look at the individuals shaping this quickly evolving industry. This month, we welcome Michael Valdez, media strategist, operations and research, at Moon Rabbit, to the Trader Hall of Fame.

Michael’s journey to programmatic healthcare marketing

One of the most unique characteristics of experts in the programmatic marketing field is the variety of backgrounds and professional experiences that lead them there—and Michael is no exception.

After earning an undergraduate degree in literature with sub-focuses in French and economics from New College of Florida, Michael earned a master’s in the history of theater and performance from Florida State University. But he didn’t stop there—he’s currently writing a dissertation for a PhD in the subject at the University of Minnesota.

Professionally, he spent time working in both academia and government operations. He gained experience with large data sets while modelling historical theater audiences and also became familiar with digital asset management and large-scale organization. But how did he go from French literature and the history of theater to programmatic marketing?

A close friend made the jump and quickly saw how Michael’s skills would be transferable to programmatic—with his attention to detail and experience analyzing data, it was a natural fit and one he was happy to try out. He started out as a junior digital strategist at Moon Rabbit, building strategy with the larger team for digital placements, and he’s only gone up from there.

Michael’s favorite parts of the job

A large part of Michaels’ role is vendor management and negotiation, and he said that’s a huge part of how he builds out strategy. 

“I’m always on the phone with the smartest people in the industry—whether that be sales, strategy, business development,” he said. “Digital media itself, and especially healthcare media, is always evolving and there’s always new functionality and ways to reach people, so just being at the center of that every day is always really exciting.”

His favorite part of the job is that the work is both dynamic and rewarding—and that he’s constantly learning and being presented with new opportunities from those around him. “I find it much more productive to surround yourself with smart people—and that’s easy at Moon Rabbit, since we have the best media planners, creatives, and strategists in the business. When we plan, we have medical experts, creative directors, and brand strategists at the table—there isn’t a day at Moon Rabbit where I don’t learn something new,” he added.

Michael’s advice for newcomers to programmatic health marketing

“Always be curious. Never set it and forget it,” he said. “There’s always something to be learned.” He stressed that learning something new is never wasteful but will always help you improve and move forward.

And while it’s good to be focused, he cautions against being so laser-focused on learning a single skill that you miss out on building a wide set of skills that will help you stand out. 

Michael puts a lot of trust in data, and he thinks others should too. “The data will never steer you wrong,” he said, recommending that newcomers get familiar with reporting and find the metrics that mean the most to them so they can make their own connections and conclusions.

Ultimately, Michael said your top priority should be how you work with others. The best advice he ever received was that you have to go “halfway and a half” with people. “You’re told to meet people halfway, but you have to be willing to go that extra mile,” he said.

Michael puts this into practice by pretending that every person he talks to is having a bad day and could use a boost. “I want to make this meeting the best meeting of their day,” he said. “I want to bring that energy. I want to bring whatever they need to the table.”

Michael and PulsePoint

Michael knows a lot about PulsePoint—he’s been working with the team since he first started in the field. “To be honest, PulsePoint was my introduction to programmatic … I met them when I was just starting out with programmatic, and it was a lot of my own research, but they opened my eyes to a lot of the possibilities and functionality within programmatic advertising. So I think I owe PulsePoint a great amount of thanks for being such amazing partners.”

“My favorite thing about working with PulsePoint is the people,” he said. “You guys are so impressive with how stacked your staff is. You have some of the smartest people I’ve talked to in the industry working for you.”

As for the technology itself, Michael said he’s a big fan of the audience builder in the forecasting tool that you can use to target audiences by NPI specialty. He appreciates how easily he’s able to get insights when he’s initially building out a strategy, and how the data feed allows for a lot of granularity when he’s planning and forecasting.

“[Working with PulsePoint] has been a master class in how to do it: how to optimize, be cost-efficient, hit your target lists, follow up, and then deliver huge value for the people you’re working for,” he said.

Michael outside of work

Between work and finishing his dissertation, Michael doesn’t have a lot of free time—but he does his best to take his mind off work when he can. “I really try to have hobbies that take me very far away from the computer, which I recommend to everybody,” he said.

He’s an aspiring oil painter, and he turned half of his garage into a studio to help him separate from work and focus on art. He’s also a huge biker and runner, spending as much time as he can on the extensive bike and running paths on Minneapolis’ greenway system. When he takes a moment to sit down, he usually turns to horror books. “When I log off, I’m either out painting in the garage, running, biking, cooking, or reading.”

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