Media Planning

Media Strategy
A media strategy is a plan of action that helps businesses reach their
target audience and by reaching their target audience they improve their
overall conversion rate. When trying to capture the attention of a niche
market, it's important to know the exact demographic and what will get
their attention in the most effective way.

Key Components to Consider When Creating Your Media Strategy

Identify Your Target Market
The demographics of your target audience should be taken into
consideration. The more you know about your target market the more
effective your overall marketing strategy will be. You will need to identify
your market, where and how they spend their time, and how the audience
can most effectively be reached. For example, marketing through mobile
apps and social media would be more effective for reaching the teenage
demographic than print and traditional media would be.

Importance of Measurable Objectives

One thing to keep in mind during the strategy process is your overall
marketing objectives and goals. They need to be measurable and
specific; if a goal is simply, "make more money," it can be measured, but
there are no specifics tactics involved. "Increase profits by 20% by Q3" is
a much more specific, realistic goal -- and it introduces a time aspect that
creates a sense of the ability to measure and draft a workable timeline.
Determine Your Marketing Budget
In your media strategy, you must also consider your marketing budget.
Without a budget, it is possible to throw tens of thousands of dollars at a
problem without seeing a clear solution. However, having a set budget
encourages you to think each tactic through and be more creative in your
problem-solving and protects you from overspending or spending money
that you do not have.
Learn From Your Results
The most effective media strategies are those that evolve over time. If a
company launches one strategy that doesn't have the expected results,
the company can learn from where it went wrong and improve subsequent
launches. This is why measuring results are important; they provide
valuable data that can be implemented into future media strategies to
improve them.

Purpose of a Media Strategy

The purpose of a media strategy is entirely dependent on what the
company hopes to achieve with it. Improving public relations is a
completely different goal than increasing profits, but both can be achieved
through a well-written, well-planned-out media strategy.

Where is the place for showing or delivering advertisement?

In short it means the geographical area from where it should be visible to
the customers who use or are most likely to use the product or services
offered. The place does not mean only TV or radio but it can also be
newspapers, blogs, sponsorships, hoardings on roads, ads in the movie
break in theatres, etc. The area varies from place to place like it can be on
national basis, state basis and for local brands it can be on city basis.

When is the timing to show or run advertisement?

For e.g. you cannot show a raincoat ad in the winter season but you need
to telecast ad as soon as the summer season is coming to an end and
rainy season is just about to begin. The ad should be delivered with
perfect timing when most customers are like to buy the product. The
planners need to plan it keeping the budget in mind as the maximum of
20% of revenues of the company can be used in the advertisement
section. Different products have different time length for advertisements.
Some products need yearlong ads as they have nothing to do with
seasonal variations e.g. small things like biscuits, soaps, pens, etc. and big
services like vehicle insurance, refrigerators, etc. Some products need for
three or four months. E.g. umbrellas, cold creams, etc. So the planners
have to plan the budget according to the time length so that there is no
short of money at any time in this process.

What is what type of media is to be used for delivering the

message?
There are basically two media approaches to choose from.

Media Concentration approach

Media Dispersion Approach
In media concentration approach, the number of categories of media is
less. The money is spent on concentrating on only few media types say
two or three. This approach is generally used for those companies who are
not very confident and have to share the place with the other competitors.
They dont want anyone to get confused with their brand name so this is
the safest approach as the message reaches the target consumers.

In media dispersion approach, there are more number of categories of

media used to advertise. This approach is considered and practiced by
only those people who know that a single or two types of media will not
reach their target. They place their product ads in many categories like
TV, radio, internet, distributing pamphlets, sending messages to mobiles,
etc.
Selection of Media Category
Whichever category is selected by the planners of the organization, they
should select a proper media to convey their message.
If the product is for a big amount of customers then a mass media option
can be selected like TV, radio or newspaper. The best examples for this
type are detergent ads, children health drinks and major regular used
products such as soap, shampoo, toothpastes etc.
If the planners want to change the mind of people doing window shopping
or just doing shopping for sake of name, then point of purchase type can
be opted by the company. This helps the company to explain their point to
the buyers and convince the buyers to go for their product.
If the planners want to sell their product on one to one basis, then the
third option is direct response type. Here, the company people directly
contact the customers via emails, text messages, phone calls or meeting
for giving demos. The best example of this type of media is the Life cell
Cord Blood Banking. They go to their customers, explain them what it is all
about and try to convince them.

Marketing Budget
Once you've aligned your company goals with your marketing goals, you'll
need to identify your marketing budget so you can develop a detailed
marketing plan that supports your strategy. Basically, youll choose from
three options:
Lean Plan: 1 - 2% of your top-line revenue. In essence, youre
committing to engaging and retaining current customers with simple tools
and strategies. This is ideal for companies that are looking to maintain
their market position and don't have ambitious growth goals.
Target Plan: 3- 4% of your top-line revenue. The goal here is to attract
new prospects and retain current customers with advanced tools and
strategies. This is ideal for companies that are looking to increase their
market share and have moderate growth goals (10 - 15% annual growth).
Stretch Plan: 5% or more of your top-line revenue. Your target is to
accelerate your results by applying more resources that are focused on
driving leads, conversion, and sales. To do this, youll use complex
marketing strategies and cutting-edge tools. This option is ideal for
companies who have ambitious plans to grow and increase their market
share (20% or more annual growth).
Allocate Your Marketing Budget:
Determine how much of your marketing budget should be allocated to
each aspect of your plan.

SEO and paid advertising

Social media
Content offers, blogging, and email marketing
Lead conversion and nurturing
Traditional advertising
Implement a Marketing Budget Plan
Once you've developed a plan that supports your company's goals, you
need to implement it. And to guarantee a successful implementation, you
need a team of qualified marketers, designers, and technical experts.
Youve got a few options for creating such a team:
In-House Marketing Team
To execute a complex marketing plan, you need a team of people who
possess skills in copywriting, coding, design, social media, paid search,
and SEO. Unfortunately, theres no single person who can effectively do all
those activities.
Large corporations will often hire an in-house team, but specialists can be
expensive. Benefits, training, and equipment alone could easily cost up to
$500K per year. For smaller businesses, this isn't an option.
Freelance Team
Freelance employees can be a good choice for individual projects. Skilled
marketing freelancers can help fill in the gaps that your marketing director
cant supply, and they can be a lifesaver in a pinch.
But when you're trying to bring a long-term, complex marketing plan to
completion, you're likely to experience a series of stops and starts on the
project. Because they work on-demand for several clients at a time, they
may not be as available as you need them to be. You may need to hire
extra people to cover all the roles to execute your plan. In addition,
theres the coordination and communication time youll need to manage
all the freelancers. And when a freelancer moves on, they take all the
knowledge of your project with them, forcing you to start over from
scratch.
Virtual Marketing Team
Contracting a marketing agency has several benefits:
Services of top-notch marketing experts without incurring the costs of
hiring, training, and managing several in-house employees
Hiring a virtual marketing team typically involves an investment of $60K -
$150K per year, which is significantly less than the cost of an in-house
marketing department. However, your team is off-site, which means
communication can be a little slower at times and you may need to work
via teleconferencing. Also, because marketing teams have several clients,
you wont have a claim on their time every minute of the business day.

Hybrid Team
The best solution might be a hybrid of a small in-house marketing team
that's dedicated to one or two key tasks, supplemented by an agency
team that rounds out your marketing efforts. And the agency can usually
provide training and best practices guidance to your staff, freeing you
from this responsibility.
Media Mix
A media mix is the combination of communication channels your business
can use to meet its marketing objectives. Typically, these include
newspapers, radio, television, billboards, websites, email, direct mail, the
Internet and social media, such as Facebook or Twitter. Combining these
channels in a media mix enables you to communicate in the most
effective way with different types of customers and prospects at different
stages of the purchase decision, according to Entrepreneur.

Reasons for media mix:

1. Right Message to the Right Audience
If you want to reach a consumer audience across the country, you might
use a media mix that includes national newspapers, radio or television. If
you wanted to reach a specific group of business decision-makers, such as
technical directors, your mix might include specialist business magazines
or exhibitions aimed at those directors. To reach a small number of key
executives who influence a major purchasing decision, you might include
personalized direct mail or an executive briefing session in your mix.

2. Aligning Media Mix With Buying Stages

Entrepreneur notes that the emphasis in the media mix changes at
different stages in the buying cycle. When prospects are looking for
information, they may read publications covering their interests, search
websites, visit trade shows or check product review sites. The emphasis in
your media mix would be on raising awareness through advertisements,
press releases, and product pages on your website, participation in trade
shows or comments on social media. When prospects have expressed an
interest in your products, you can use a different media mix to nurture
them and move them toward a buying decision. The mix at this stage
might include email offering detailed product information, a seminar or a
customized sales proposal.
3. Integrated Media Mix
Using the same creative themes and marketing messages across all
elements of your media mix. Prospects viewing an advertisement, website
page, direct mail piece or product guide from an integrated campaign
would receive consistent messages, with each element of the mix
reinforcing the others.
4. Fine-Tuning the Mix
Analytical tools are available to assess your media mix and improve the
results you achieve. These tools identify the strengths and weaknesses of
your marketing programs and your media mix. By demonstrating how
changes in the mix can affect results, the tools help you to reallocate your
budgets and create a better mix to improve marketing performance.

Scheduling:

Factors that affect Scheduling:

Sales pattern
Purchase cycle
Product availability
Competitive activity
Marketing task
Budget constraints
Target group

Methods of scheduling:
1. Continuity: This model is very good option for the products or
services which dont depend on season for advertisements. They
run ads whole year round. The advertisements under this type run
at regular and fixed intervals. The main advantage here is reminding
about your products to the customers continuously. This model
helps maintain a continuous and complete purchase cycle. This is a
best model for the products having continuous demand all the year
round. (FMCG)
2. Flighting: This model is also called bursting. As the name suggests,
this an absolute season based products model. The ads here run at
very irregular intervals. Advertisements are for very shorter periods
and sometimes no ads at all. The ads are in concentrated forms. So,
the biggest advantage here is there is very less waste of funds as
the ads run only at the peak time when the product demand is on
high.( Warm Clothes, Coolers)
3. Pulsing: This model is the combination of both continuity and
flighting scheduling. Here, ads run whole year round but with less
 ads, and heavy advertisements are preferred at the peak time. So
this model has advantages of both the other models.
Scheduling for impact:
1. Road block- same ad at the same time on all channels
2. Day or Day part emphasis- specific days are chosen
3. Multiple spotting- same ad twice or thrice in one break
4. Teasers-One or more creative units are aired before the main ad
campaign
Developing the Media Plan

The standard media plan covers four stages: (a) stating media objectives;
(b) evaluating media; (c) selecting and implementing media choices; and
(d) determining the media budget.

1. Stating Media Objectives

Media objectives are normally stated in terms of three dimensions:
Reach: The number of different persons or households exposed to a
particular media vehicle or media schedule at least once during a
specified time period.
Frequency: The number of times within a given time period that a
consumer is exposed to a message.
Continuity: The timing of media assertions (e.g., 10% in September, 20%
in October, 20% in November, 40% in December and 10% the rest of the
year).
2. Evaluating Media
There are definite inherent strengths and weaknesses associated with
each medium. In addition, it would require extensive primary research,
either by the sponsoring firm or their advertising agency in order to assess
how a particular message and the target audience would relate to a given
medium. As a result, many advertisers rely heavily on the research
findings provided by the medium, by their own experience, and by
subjective appraisal.

3. Selection and Implementation

The media planner must make media mix decisions and timing directions,
both of which are restricted by the available budget. The media mix
decision involves putting media together in the most effective manner.
This is a difficult task and necessitates quantitatively and qualitatively
evaluating each medium and combination thereof.

The timing of media refers to the actual placement of advertisements

during the time periods that are most appropriate, given the selected
media objectives. It includes not only the scheduling of advertisements
but also the size and position of the advertisement.
 4. Setting the Media Budget
The media budget is a subset of the advertising budget, and the same
methods used to create advertising budget will be used to create the
media budget.