Media Planning introduction
An advertising media plan is a strategy for marketing your business through certain media channels to achieve a business goal such as raising brand awareness to obtain new customers. Media planning will ensure you are putting your advertising message in front of the right audience using the right media channels, where your customers are most likely to see. And most importantly, effective media planning will improve your advertising ROI. Its success depends on careful research and implementation, as well as your knowledge of media buying and basic marketing strategies. Media planning process starts with a review of the industry and competition and an evaluation of available media research to understand the consumer habits and motivations that may impact their response to your advertising. Then, we design a customized media strategy, based on a careful examination of your business, your competitive position and your unique marketing goals and objectives. Finally, a strategic calendar of advertising activity is recommended that provides for effective utilization of your advertising budget. This media plan will provide a framework within which the media buyers can evaluate various media proposals and then negotiate purchase and schedule the media.
Meaning of Advertising Media planning
Media planning includes a series of decisions and strategies to choose the right advertising channel for delivering message to existing and prospective consumers. It helps to get the best way for communicating the advertiser message to the market. In another way, the aim is to find the best combination of media that allows the advertiser to communicate the message most effectively to potential customers at the lowest cost.
The components of advertising Plan
- Setting up Advertising Objectives
- Advertising Budget
- Message Strategy
- Media Strategy.
Importance of media planning
- Optimum utilization of resource – Advertising included a huge cost. Media planning will help the advertiser to use the available resources in an optimum manner. It helps the advertiser to take right decision about the media and time for the advertising that will effectively communicate the message with less cost. In the absence of media planning, the advertiser can select high-cost media that will not cover his target audience.
- Helps in allocating advertising budget – Media planning helps to decide the total amount to be spent on different media. There are different media vehicle advertisers have to choose which will communicate with their target audience. So, it also helps the advertiser in allocating the advertising budget for different media vehicles.
- Ensure appropriate timing of advertising – Advertising will provide the best result if they are shown at the right time to its target customers. So, it helps to decide on what day, month or time advertising will be communicated. It helps to communicate the ads at the time when more customers can be connected. It includes media scheduling which decides the time and space of advertisement in media.
- Helps in controlling – In media planning some standards of performance are fixed at the time of planning. These standards are regarding the goal which has to be achieved through advertising. These standards will help management in evaluating the effectiveness of advertising. If actual performance does not match with the standards, then proper precaution takes to fulfil the gap.
- Selection of appropriate media – In media planning, different media channels are compared based on cost per reader, cost per viewer, media coverage etc. while selecting media the advertiser must select media that will reach the maximum number of target customer. For example – if the target audience is literate then print media can be selected and if the target audience is professionals, then professional journals and magazines can be selected.
Process of Media planning
- Environmental analysis - Environmental analysis is the first step taken by the advertiser at the time of media planning. This analysis is done by taking a review of internal or external factors. The advertiser has to analyze
- Who is target customer?
- Internal and external factors
- Time for delivering the message
- Media objective – Media objective means what is the purpose of communicating the message. The purpose is to spread awareness, change the attitude of the customer, increase sales, recall the product etc. the objective decides the types of media to be selected or the nature of the advertising.
- Developing and implementing media
- Media mix – Media mix means that advertisers have to choose one effective media from all the alternative or to create correlation between them that all the media alternatives are used in an optimal manner. This depends upon the nature of the product, type of advertising, size of the budget etc.
- Scheduling – Scheduling means the number of times an advertisement once or ten times in a day, morning or evening time appears in each medium the size of advertisement the date or month at which the ads are to appear. Proper time and selection of media are required to make the advertising effective.
- Creative aspects – Creativity is most important aspect as there is a lot of competition in the market. It is the most efficient way to create memorable, long-lasting impressions for your target customers. If your ads have creativity customers will spend time on it. Experiments observed that creative message get more attention and change attitudes about the products being advertised.
- Flexibility – If a company and advertiser want effective advertisement then there must be some flexibility in it. In today’s time the internal and external environment change rapidly, so the advertiser has to change there policy as per the changing environment. It requires flexibility in advertising whenever it is required.
- Implementation media plan – Implementation is the process of converting strategies and plans into actions to achieve objective and goals. In these stages the media planner implements the media plan. All the strategies should be implemented effectively so that advertiser gets a favourable result.
- Evaluation and follow up – After implementation it is the last step to follow up on the media plan and evaluates its effectiveness to know that media planning has contributed to achieving overall advertising objectives. It will help the advertiser to know the success or failure of the advertising campaign. If media planning is not effective then proper action is taken in the future to fulfil the gap.
Problems in media planning
- Insufficient information – Media planning requires huge information regarding target customers. It includes the information of age, taste, attitude, education level, geographical area etc. the advertiser also needs information about the strategies of competitors. Advertising company requires information about advertising agency rates, images, rating etc. for selecting the best agency.
- Time pressure – Change in the environment is sudden and quick. These sudden changes require quick decision by the advertiser advertisement. If media planning is made without proper analysis, then all the effort gets wasted. It creates a lot of time pressure on advertisers because they have to make quick decisions at the appropriate time.
- Difficulty in audience measurement – Audience measurement means the number of persons who spend most of their time on a particular media. It is very difficult to know the number of audiences on a particular media mostly in broadcast media. For example, it is difficult to know how many watch a particular television program. Of the number of audience of media is known still it is very difficult to know the number of target customer out of them.
- Difficulty in cost comparison – While estimating the cost of different media it creates trouble for the right selection because the cost of different media is available on a different basis. For example, cost per word or square centimeter is known in the case of print media and in the case of broadcast media cost per second is known.
- Inadequate expertise – Media planning is not an easy task it requires expert those have deep knowledge for selecting the right media. It requires the service of talented, experienced and skill advertisers. If the advertisers do not have sufficient knowledge, experience, talent then media decision may go wrong and effort gets wasted.
Why You Need an Advertising Plan?
The most creative advertising in the world is worthless if it misses the target audience. The best offer in the world is worthless if it does not offer the benefits your clients want. Even well planned and executed advertising has little value if you don’t keep it in front of your customers. Effective advertising comes from good planning, good budgeting, a long-term commitment, and a lot of work. You need great ads that get results.
- Effective advertising lowers your cost of doing business.
- Minimal, limited duration or random advertising equals wasted money.
- Advertising is not creative or funny if it does not bring in clients.
- Advertising has a cumulative effect, and is a long-term investment
- Sales response builds over time if advertising is consistent
- Effective advertising comes from solid planning and high-quality production.
- Synergy is a real thing in advertising.
- Advertising cannot make up for poor quality, service, or timing.
