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Developing an Effective Media Plan
At no time has the need for knowledgeable, professionally-trained
media planners been greater. After all, costs for space and
time have risen dramatically to the point that budgetary controls
are more critical than ever. And how do you know you are reaching
the right people when there are literally hundreds of television
and radio stations, thousands of newspapers and magazines
and a host of direct mail and outdoor advertising options
from which to choose?
Because of this huge selection, today's media planners must
have broader knowledge of marketing goals, advertising objectives,
audience profiles and media characteristics... All with the
goal of reaching the largest number of prospects at the lowest
possible cost, and in an editorial or programming environment
suitable for the particular product or service.
Things to consider
Target Audience Who are the present and
potential prospects for the product or service? In recent
years, media has been evaluated on its ability to maximize
target-audience exposures. As a result, most agencies use
some sort of weighted or demographic cost per thousand (CPM)
to determine a medium's efficiency at reaching a specific
audience.
Geography/Seasonality Where is the product
distributed? Where are the heaviest concentrations of prospects?
Are there times of the year when sales are strongest? Answers
to these questions help narrow media selection, determine
the timing of a schedule and budget allocations per geographic
area.
Creative Considerations Are we effectively
using the communicative strengths of the various media? Sometimes
the very nature of the product may indicate the most appropriate
media. Are demonstrations key to selling the product? Is a
coupon involved? How much detail is necessary?
Reach/Frequency There are often trade-offs
that must be considered between reach and frequency. Is it
more important to advertise to fewer people more often, or
a broader base less frequently? Few budgets can stress both.
What about “interactive” media? This
rapidly unfolding media realm is opening up a whole new world
of opportunity (and chal-lenge) for advertisers. We'd be happy
to review the basics with you and explore how you can best
prepare your organization for interactive messages.
Competition Virtually every aspect of advertising
is measured against the competition. Ad budgets typically
take into account what competitors spend. Product success
is measured in terms of market share. Often, in order to gain
market share, you must be willing to outspend your competition.
If that's not possible, the media planner must look for appropriate
areas where the competition is weaker.
Remember, a good media plan systematically excludes non-prospects
from the mix and includes methods for evaluating overall communications
effectiveness. Since media usually represents the largest
expenditure of an ad budget, it's no wonder advertisers are
paying more attention to it.
Riger Media
Through years of experience with both media-savvy consumer
clients and business-to-business advertisers, our agency has
developed a level of sophistication comparable to that of
the largest agencies in the business. Riger media has helped
launch new products for national advertisers; buy space worldwide
-- in the Far East, Latin America, South America and Europe;
and we've helped develop a system for insuring McDonald's
Restaurants owner/operators of equitable media coverage...
A methodology that was adopted system wide by McDonald's corporate
media department for use by advertising agencies all over
the country.
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