MEDIA BUYING 101
A USER-FRIENDLY GUIDEOVERVIEW
A successful media buy is dependent upon strong creative messaging and an experienced buyer. Before embarking on your next media campaign, review these best practices and ask your media buyer the right questions to determine whether they’re the best fit for your advertising goals.
Media buying is the processes of obtaining media inventory across television, print, radio, outdoor and digital. Media buyers develop a media buying strategy and negotiate the price and placement of advertisements in different mediums.
WHY YOU NEED A MEDIA BUYER
Media Buyers have strong relationships with different media outlets for both traditional and digital media. These connections allow media buyers to negotiate the best rate possible for your media buy. Media buyers offer unique insights into their industry. In addition, they can develop the most effective media plan for a range of budgets and creative resources.
BEST PRACTICES
There are many steps involved with setting up a media buy. Follow these best practices when planning your next campaign.
01. Know Your Market
Understand the audience you are targeting with your media buy. Perform basic research on demographics and interests to inform a placement strategy. Strategies can vary based on region, channel and industry — so select the best placement options based on these factors.
02. Messaging
Craft a clear, creative message for your media buy. Make sure your message aligns with the goal of your campaign (brand awareness, program awareness, lead generation, transactions, education, or phone calls/store visits). Include the next step for your audience to take in the messaging. This could include directing your audience to a website or providing a phone number to call.
03. For Digital Media Buys, Design for Multiple Screens
User experience is critical to the success of a campaign. Make sure your digital media buys are visually appealing and work well for multiple devices including desktop, mobile and tablets. Ensure all designs are responsive as part of your optimization process.
04. Establish a Budget
Create a plan for budget allocation across different media types. Knowing your budget will help you determine the best options for your media buy (to purchase media that runs monthly, hourly or by click).
05. Compare Placement Options
Research the best placements for your ads. Create a list of similar media outlets to compare which options provide the best rates and ad positions.
06. Track Performance
Without measuring the performance of your media buys, you can’t track which placement worked the best to convert your prospects to customers.
QUESTIONS TO ASK
When selecting a media buyer for your next campaign, be sure to cover the following areas throughout your evaluation process:
01. Marketing Analysis
Ask about the buyer’s process for conducting a Marketing Analysis review. A strong media buyer should have a thorough understanding of your company’s industry prior to putting together a media plan.
02. Diversified Experience
If a media buyer only has experience across a few media forms, they lack the experience needed to offer recommendations across all media channels. Discuss the buyer’s experience with launching campaigns for both traditional and digital media that are relevant to your industry.
03. Tools
Request a list of tools the media buyer uses to conduct target market research and identify media usage.
04. Testing
Determine whether your media buyer includes test campaigns as part of their methodology. In order to properly scale a media buy, they will need to conduct a test program in order to develop a strong media plan.
05. Negotiation
Evaluate your media buyer’s approach to negotiation. Ask for examples of how they approach negotiation to secure the best price and placement for a buy.
06. Track Performance
Monitor ROI throughout your campaign to concretely identify which media outlets lead to the most conversions at the best cost.
MEDIA BUYING TRANSPARENCY
Run Spot Run Media was built on the model of an agency we ourselves would hire if we were the client. Our agency designed to offer openness via transparent communications, processes, and media billing systems.
We always provide invoices for every media placements, and will work with you to be fully accountable for our actions. We do not buy media and resell it to our clients at a markup, nor do we allocate added value earned by one client to another. Everything is tailored to you.
WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY…
Katie Walther is wonderful at listening to our needs and finding the best approach to attract customers to our Fair. She has long-standing relationships with our media partners that help get the extra edge for all her clients… and looks out for our best interests
Kim Grewe-Powell