Media planning

Media planning is generally outsourced to a media agency and entails sourcing and selecting optimal media platforms for a client's brand or product to use. The job of media planning is to determine the best combination of media to achieve the marketing campaign objectives.

In the process of planning, the media planner needs to answer questions such as:

Choosing which media or type of advertising to use can be especially challenging for small firms with limited budgets and know-how. Large-market television and newspapers are often too expensive for a company that services only a small area (although local newspapers can be used). Magazines, unless local, usually cover too much territory to be cost-efficient for a small firm, although some national publications offer regional or city editions.

Developing a Media Plan

Four Stage Process
Developing a Media Plan

The fundamental purpose of a media plan is to determine the best way to convey a message to the target audience. A media plan sets out a systematic process that synchronizes all contributing elements in order to achieve this specific goal. The media plan is broken down into four stages; market analysis, establishment of media objectives, media strategy development and implementation, and evaluation and follow-up.[1]

Similarities can be made to other marketing concepts such as the consumer decision-making process with comparisons such as, increasing brand awareness and knowledge, improving brand image, and the maximization of customer satisfaction.[2]

The first phase of any media plan is the initial market analysis, which consists of a situation analysis and the marketing strategy plan. These form the basis of information which the rest of the media plan is reliant on.[1] The purpose of a situation analysis is to understand the marketing problem, in relation to their competitors. For example, undertaking an internal and external review or competitive strategy evaluation.

The marketing strategy plan should establish specific objectives and goals that will solve the marketing problems that developed. Once the market analysis is complete the improved knowledge gained should indicate a proffered target market. Enabling the marketers to understand where the prime advertising space would be to gain sufficient exposure, what factors effect that certain demographic, and how to promote to the audience effectively.

The second phase in the media plan is the establishment of media objectives. Just as the marketing analysis lead to specific marketing objectives, this phase will result in explicit media objectives; such as creating a positive brand image through stimulating creativity. These objectives should be limited to those that can only be obtained through media strategies.[1]

Media strategy development and implementation is the third phase and is the point in the process that is directly influenced by the actions from previously determined objectives. Actions that meet these objectives are taken into consideration with following criteria; media mix, target market, coverage consideration, geographic coverage, scheduling, reach & frequency, creative aspects & mood, flexibility, or budget considerations.[3] Each of these criteria are explained briefly below:

The final phase in the media plan is to evaluate the effectiveness of the plan and determine what follow-up is required. It is important to assess whether each individual marketing and media objective was met, as if they were successful it will be beneficial to use a similar model in future plans.[1]

Components of a media plan

Media planning's major steps include:

Advertising media includes

Factors to consider when comparing various advertising media

Reach and frequency are important aspects of an advertising plan and are used to analyze alternative advertising schedules to determine which produce the best results relative to the media plan's objectives.

Calculate reach and frequency and then compare the two on the basis of how many people will be reached with each schedule and the number of times the ad will connect with the average person. Let's say the ad appeared in each of four television programs (A, B, C, D), and each program has a 20 rating, resulting in a total of 80 gross rating points. It's possible that some viewers will see more than one announcement—some viewers of program A might also see program B, C, or D, or any combination of them.

For example, in a population of 100 TV homes, a total of 40 are exposed to one or more TV programs. The reach of the four programs combined is therefore 40 percent (40 homes reached divided by the 100 TV-home population).

Researchers have charted the reach achieved with different media schedules. These tabulations are put into formulas from which the level of delivery (reach) for any given schedule can be estimated. A reach curve is the technical term describing how reach changes with increasing use of a medium.

Now assume the same schedule of one commercial in each of four TV programs (A, B, C, D) to determine reach versus frequency. In our example, 17 homes viewed only one program, 11 homes viewed two programs, seven viewed three programs, and five homes viewed all four programs. If we add the number of programs each home viewed, the 40 homes in total viewed the equivalent of 80 programs and therefore were exposed to the equivalent of 80 commercials. By dividing 80 by 40, we establish that any one home was exposed to an average of two commercials.

To increase reach, include additional media in the plan or expand the timing of the message. For example, if purchasing "drive time" on the radio, some daytime and evening spots will increase the audience. To increase frequency, add spots or insertions to the schedule. For example, if running three insertions in a local magazine, increase that to six insertions so that the audience would be exposed to the ad more often.

Gross rating points (GRPs) are used to estimate broadcast reach and frequency from tabulations and formulas. Once the schedule delivery has been determined from reach curves, obtain the average frequency by dividing the GRPs by the reach. For example, 200 GRPs divided by an 80 percent reach equals a 2.5 average frequency.

Reach and Frequency

In media planning, reach is one of the most important factors, as the whole media planning is all about reach. The Purpose of the reach is exposure of brand (Belch & Belch, 2012). The higher the reach; the higher the brand exposure (Belch & Belch, 2012). And of course, higher exposure means high chances of new customers. When it comes to media planning most of the businesses decide well in advanced what their target market would be (Belch & Belch, 2012). They Choose their target market on the assumption that they already know who their customers would be (Ossi, 2015). Even though, choosing a target market for reach in media planning could be a very successful way to get to the potential customers of the brand, but this method leaves out potential customers outside of the target market; Customers the brand thought were not important to reach to (Ossi, 2015). Smart businesses also reach outside of their targeted market in order to know other segments that could be targeted (Ossi, 2015). Therefore, starting with a broader reach and then choosing target markets would be a much informed decision; derived from actual data rater than just assumption. A broader reach is also beneficial for general brand awareness, otherwise many people outside of the targeted market never even get to hear about the brand.

In media planning, frequency is also a very important factor to consider. Most small businesses say "We just want to see what happens", which just wastes their money leading to disappointment on media planning ("The importance of frequency," n.d.). In Advertisement, once is just not enough ("The importance of frequency," n.d.). The biggest problem in media planning is; advertisers assume that someone would see their advertisement, would walk in their store and just buy something!!That is definitely not how it happens. There are five different steps for buying cycle a consumer goes through before actually purchasing something (Euan, 2013). These are Awareness, interest, need, Comparison and purchase ("The importance of frequency," n.d.). Frequency is important as it pushes a consumer towards the actual step of purchasing something. The understanding of how exactly a consumer goes through the buying cycle is very essential to grasp the importance of frequency in media planning. Initially, the idea of reach is there to increase the awareness and exposure, but people forget. 80% of people forget the advertisement they see within 24 hours or even sooner ("The importance of frequency when advertising," 2016). So, frequency is also important for awareness - deceasing the chances for forgetfulness. Secondly, frequency builds familiarity, familiarity builds trust ("The importance of frequency," n.d.) and trust builds interest. In need, it is absolute that the consumer is aware of the company and have somewhat trust/ interest. And again, frequency plays essential role is remembrance, trust and interest. Higher frequency also helps to beat the competition ("The importance of frequency when advertising," 2016). And finally, the consumer is on the final step of buying cycle the purchase, with the help of frequent advertisement. Without the good amount of frequency, a consumer would be very unlikely to get to the purchasing step. Thus, frequency is important because consistence advertisement reinforces top of mind brand awareness, brand favor-ability and brand loyalty among the current and potential consumers. Patience and effective frequency plays a great role in a business's long term success.

Tools used in Media Planning

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Belch, M; Belch, G (2011). Advertising and Promotion: An Integrated Marketing Communications Perspective. New York: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.
  2. ↑ Pelsmacker, P (2010). Marketing Communications: A European Perspective. Essex: Financial Times / Prentice Hall.
  3. ↑ Fill, Chris; Hughes, Graham; De Francesco, Scott (2012). Advertising: Strategy, Creativity and Media. Pearson.
  4. ↑ Mahdizadeh, Molabashi, T. 1393: 25) (PhD thesis media manager T. Mahdi Zadeh Molabashi Dr. Nasrollahi, Dr. Fayyaz& Dr.poursadegh in the International University of Imam Reza Mashhad, Iran)
  5. ↑ Ellis, Shelley. "Tools For Spying On Your Competitor’s Display Ads". Marketingland. Marketingland. Retrieved 12 September 2015.
((Reach and Frequency))

Belch, G. E., & Belch, M. A. (2012). Advertising and promotion: An integrated marketing communications perspective (9th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin. Euan, J. (2013). 5 steps to understanding your customers’ buying process. Retrieved from https://www.b2bmarketing.net/resources/blog/5-steps-understanding-your-customers-buying-process

The importance of frequency. (n.d.) Zip code magazines. Retrieved from http://www.zipcodemagazines.com/enough-importance-frequency-advertising/ The importance of frequency when advertisement. (April, 2016) Inspired Senior Living. Retrieved from http://www.seniorlivingmag.com/articles/the-importance-of-frequency-when-advertising Ossi, A. (2015) why is reach important. Retrieved form https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/intl/en-dk/article/why-is-reach-important/

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, April 19, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.