Media Buying, Selling & Planning

Our media planning and buying agency provides solutions in advertising on the Internet, communication strategy, banners, AdWords, social media, email, mobile, etc.

Our highly skilled media planning process uses the industry's leading research and media planning tools to develop robust, intelligent, creative and accountable media strategies. We suggest bespoke, flexible strategies for each campaign consultancy service that we undertake.

We ensure that our clients get the best in their budget and deliver added value to make their campaigns work harder, leading to additional sales within their media budget.

What is Media Buying and Planning?

Media buying is a process that involves integrated marketing channels. Media planning and buying are about strategies, placement of ads, negotiation, and budgeting. 

The key steps involved are -  

• Identifying the target buyer through comprehensive market research

• Identifying consumer interest and behaviour

• It is finding the audience most receptive to the messages delivered through a media channel. 

• We are delivering creative strategies to motivate buyers to take action.

• Testing or examining the data figures (analytics), retesting, and modifying the strategies related to ad placement and messages to get better results. 

The modern services use technology-based channels like blogging, social media, PR, messaging, etc. It provides easy-to-use a system of communication where you can constantly remain in touch with the target audience. 

What is Media Planning?

It is strategically selecting the media platform you wish to use to promote your ad over the given period to achieve the specific advertiser goal. 

Research 

• The first stage in media planning is conducting market research and SWOT analysis, where you establish broad objectives and segment the target audience to identify how a client should position itself. 

• The research can be used to define marketing tactics where you work closely with the brand or the business to understand the objectives or goals of the marketing campaign and discuss the aspects of the target buyer. 

• Research can be of two types - 

• Internal research aims to integrate the strategy with the brand's key objectives and goals.

• The external planner will gather information about the market, review the competition, and try to find ways to target the audience to engage them with ad content. 

• It is the stage where the marketer needs to disclose the nuances of the audience group and examine their behaviour to find out about the type of product the buyers are interested in getting and how they are accessing the channels. 

Objectives

• The second stage is to establish the objectives where traditional channels like TV, newspaper, radio, print, billboards, and digital are strategically considered to target the consumers. 

• A perfect mix of different channels should be able to get a preeminent set of channels where once the channels are selected - the planner will express interest in the supplier's inventory through the request for proposals – RFPs.

• As the executives design the request for proposal – RFP, they try to gain data figures related to the campaign, like what per cent of the ad is devoted to which type of buyers or how to search from displays or beyond.

• A user will allocate their money only to the most powerful mediums of all, and the marketing firm should target the most effective means for a specific type of message to get the strongest results. 

The firm tries to determine what per cent of the money spent will be on guaranteed real-time bidding (RTB).

Budgeting

• Cross-media client budget authorizations are conducted in the third stage, where you try to figure out if you are complying with the sanctioned/allocated funds. Are you tracking authorized versus planned spending?

• As the planners determine which mediums will be the most cost-effective, they will allocate dollars towards the ones that can help them achieve the strongest results. 

• For a guaranteed inventory, at the planning stage, one may send RFPs to suppliers who are interested in your campaign. For the inventory, you may purchase premium or get guaranteed inventory at your own established rates without RFP by purchasing automated guarantees (Automated are system-defined). 

What is the Media Buying Process?

The media buying process involves strategies like buying ad space or allocating funds to favourite time slots to ensure the buyer views the advertisements at the desired space and time slots. It is the region where you can reach the target market through outlets like television slots, newspapers, radio, magazines, online ads, etc. 

The key strategies involved in the process are – 

Networking – Purchases must develop relationships with important channels to get TV slots. One may have to build relationships with the right kind of executives, managers, or agencies to get airtime.

Investigation – One can investigate to know the latest and the best to get the most appropriate venues for distributing the ads. It is necessary to keep up with the channels where the purchasers should be on top of the new platform to impact the target market and translate the viewers into beneficial client recommendations.

Negotiation - The third stage is negotiation, where the buyers should be able to negotiate a fair price for the slots and find deals or discounts to gain more through less investment.  

Strategies For Successful Media Planning

Such a plan must be based on knowledge about the customer at the granular level. An in-depth analysis of consumer behaviour and other contributing factors should be identified to target the most valuable customers.

Brands should be aware of the multiple platforms available to contact target audience members and various methods to engage with them. 

Platform preference allows for choosing the medium to run campaigns. The campaigns must be planned to make appropriate use of the allocated budget.

However, if media planning is influenced by budget rather than customer engagement, it has limited flexibility. It is necessary to approve flexibility in allocating funds to get maximum benefits from the investment. 

Technically, modern channels can be integrated with traditional offline ones, but in such cases, measuring the impact and effectiveness of the individual channels. maybe difficult 

Strategists make use of certain popular methods to get a better outcome like -  

Continuity – In this approach, the ad runs consistently throughout the campaign, two or three times a week. This strategy works as a reminder to the client. The product offered in such methods is not seasonal, and the method allows ads to remain in the customer's mind consistently. 

Flighting – Flights refer to the alternating period of ads followed by pauses in advertising on the channels. This strategy works well for seasonal products.

Pulsing – The strategy pulsing uses both flight and continuity, where low-intensity consistent ads can be mixed with high-intensity ones to get a higher impact. 

What is the Difference Between Media Planning and Media Buying?

Media planning is about formulating a strategy that involves market research, objectives and budgeting used to evaluate the brand to determine a proper combination of messaging and a mix to advertise the brand in a positive and impactful manner. In contrast, the firm establishes a relationship with the salesperson, vendors, channel owners, and automated tool providers in media buying. It negotiates the placement, time slots, and performance of the ads.

It leverages strategies like manual bidding, direct, programmatic, or RTB. Both processes are equally valuable to ensure the campaign runs efficiently.  

What is the Future of Media Planning?

The process is time-consuming and requires a good amount of investment. The plan comes before creative production with ad agencies; an individual third party mostly provides the creative effects.

Today, advertisers are buying digital slots to target buyers where programmatic advertising can provide an easy mechanism to run highly targeted campaigns and reach more viewers without spending funds and time on irrelevant marketing channels. 

These days, many media planning and buying services are using opaque processes to get scalable solutions. Some advertisers bypass agencies and eCommerce brands using in-house SEO and social media channels or public platforms like Facebook and Google to contact and serve customers directly. 

Advertisers seek profitable techniques rather than just focusing on clients' needs. Media planning is becoming difficult for agencies working on traditional rules and technologies as the market is about competing demands for long-term brand building and short-term sales. 

Most brands are investing in bigger brands to generate awareness, and they are using digital activities to convert sales at the bottom while neglecting the middle. 

Conventional media planning and buying services invest in data analytics and collaborate directly with clients. The next-generation buyers are not much fascinated by TV or radio ads. They are using smartphones to buy, and brands are struggling to grow on mobile phones. 

The future lies in automating online media planning and buying and digital analysis of the available market data. Today, digital systems are complex and fragmented, but most upcoming firms use a coordinated mix of channels suitable to the business type to get the best results.

Define the role of Media Planning and Media Buying.

• The role of media planning and buying is to select the optimal combination of outlets to advertise marketing messages based on market research, identification and analysis of market requirements, comparative analysis, planning, and working towards the brands' budget. 

• Media buying is the complementary process where an individual or the agency tries to gain insight into the planner to find and negotiate ad space across various channels. Such negotiation can be done manually or automatically. 

• The cost of the ad space is determined based on traffic and exposure.

• The goals, audience, frequency, and budget determine the channels a firm or an individual uses.

Online Media Planning and Buying

Digital Publications – One can get user registrations and personalized contact emails or other details through online subscriptions. It is a cost-effective digital lead-generating channel. 

PPC - Advertisers can capitalize through PPC searches. 

Social Media can provide a method to contact users and maintain regular communication.

Programmatic Advertising – It provides extremely targeted ads that can be used to find a group or category of specific audiences. 

Offline  

Magazine – It has a long shelf life, and information provided by magazines serves as a source of information retained by the viewer for a long.

Newspaper – Readers of this group can be highly educated and well-earning, and it can be used to target local groups of buyers.

Radio – It is a low-cost medium having local appeal and can be used to get a regional response.  

TV/cables – It can be used to launch a technically advanced system or a new cleaning product or consumer goods, where one can demonstrate how to use it. 

Billboards – They can attract hundreds and millions of users if hosted in a busy marketplace or a highway. It is necessary to provide clear messages on such boards to get a positive response. 

How Does the Media Buying Process Work?

In the media buying process, you conduct audience research where you see the target audience and see how the target audience shifts by the medium. Consumer behaviour varies from one geographical location, and media planners use strategies to identify different varieties of mediums to recognize the most effective campaigns. 

The stages involved in the media buying process are - 

Identify the target audience – In this stage, the firm gathers information about the viewers, like the target age, income, gender, demographics, etc. 

Identify the audience's characteristics – The data related to the user is used to create a profile that can reflect the type of customer one aims to attract – which includes the ideal age, income, demographics, and gender of the audience.

Research the market – One needs to research to understand consumer behaviour. The firm should conduct full research on the data as it provides information about competitors, how to attract new customers, and how to reach the ideal audience. 

Set objectives – The marketers devise a plan by setting objectives like determining what to do with the viewers' response. The objectives will tell if you want to create awareness or are trying to get new user registrations or sales. If the objectives are determined, the firm can target to achieve them. Also, the objectives should be shared with the agency working on your strategies that can help achieve the most compatible goals. 

Plan- Once the objectives and goals are determined, the firm plans to buy the channel or outlet, tries to know how to use online space in the given budget or find out what components of the plan should be used in the specific situation.

Negotiating – After researching, determining the objectives and planning, one approaches the agency to negotiate the ad time or space to get the best slot for the specific requirements. 

Launch - The launch is when you place the ad or commercial; then, you need to monitor the placement to see the initial response to the aired ad. The statistics gathered through monitoring can be used to determine if the ad distribution was done per the given standards or if the results are coming in the manner you expected. 

Test - The final stage is to measure the results, where you see whether things are working as per your plan. If the plan is not working, you can find alternative methods, fix the problems and amend strategies for better outcomes. 

Why is Media Planning Important?

Most successful firms start their campaigns by knowing the viewers where you try to find out about the customer's behaviour, attitude, and real-life personas. Audience profiling provides perception and is key to success in such campaigns. 

Internet-based users leave huge digital footprints as they move through websites, and this movement can be tracked to reach and interact with customers more efficiently. 

Media planning provides the research that advertisers can use to strategically place ads in front of the right audience to get better responses for their marketing efforts, competitive advantage and attract consumers to have a niche interest in your messages.

• It can be used to determine the most appropriate advertising platform for a specific business. 

• It helps to develop audience-centric plans and take calculated risks that ultimately lead to winning new business and expansion into new markets. 

• It provides ways to post at better rates, proper time slots, and value-added placements.