Media planning and media buying represents two crucial stages of a cohesive advertising strategy. For your ads to succeed, you need to (a) have a plan for reaching your ideal customers and (b) optimize your budget to ensure that you’re putting money in the right channels to grow your business.
Way too many agencies waste their clients’ money and take shortcuts when it comes to planning ad campaigns. Twelve Three Media is different. We manage every aspect of advertising to make sure all of your campaigns deliver maximum results in the most cost-efficient way possible.
Twelve Three Media has created a proven process for getting the most from paid media opportunities. Whether you’re ready to start advertising or you’re tired of your current agency dropping the ball, our team of experts can help you:
Define
Your Goals
Defining your goals drives the media planning and buying process. Understanding what you want to accomplish and the stage of growth of your business helps to determine the proper platforms, channels, etc. If you already have key marketing components in place (such as a website, social media pages, creative assets, brand guidelines, etc.), our team of experts can immediately start determining the most valuable media placements for reaching your goals.
It may be easy to assume that the goal of any media marketing campaign is to drive engagement and conversions, but that is an oversimplification. Thought must be given to the micro-moments that lead up to your sales and how you can strategically use different media channels to target specific points in the customer journey.
Twelve Three Media makes no assumptions when it comes to media planning and media buying. We work with you closely to define your goals and develop a cohesive strategy to achieve them. This starts with a discovery call where we learn:
- Your budget
- How your business works
- The stage of growth your business is currently in and where you are trying to go
- What your previous advertising efforts have involved
Often, one of two scenarios arises when it comes to determining a client’s budget for paid ads. The client may ask us how much it will cost to work toward a specific goal, or the client has a budget in place and asks us to determine the most effective strategy or combination of strategies to reach their goals. Our Paid Media Experts are highly flexible, and we will develop a custom-crafted plan based on your input.
Unlike many agencies, we do not predetermine our media mix. Instead, we evaluate all options and determine the best strategy for what your budget allows. This may consist of a single channel or an omni-channel approach.
Is your goal to stay number one in the market, raise brand awareness, increase action taken on your website, or fill an event? Defining the main goal of your campaign will determine the messaging and methods chosen to reach your desired outcome.
Identify
Your Target Audience
Once your unique marketing goals and objectives are defined, the next step of our strategic media planning process involves identifying the audience you want to reach with your ads. If you already have solid data on your target audience, we will use that to inform your ad strategy. If not, our expert media planners will gather the necessary data they need to evaluate your market and pinpoint your ideal customer.
Having worked with clients in a number of different industries, we recognize that different consumers have different needs and goals. These goals often depend on the customer’s position inside the sales funnel. Broadly, the stages are:
- Awareness: The customer is collecting information to understand their needs, situation, problem, etc.
- Consideration: The customer is weighing options for a product or service, considering the pros and cons of different vendors or service providers.
- Action: The customer is looking to make a purchase or book an initial consultation/appointment.
We tailor the messaging of your ads to reach consumers at different stages of the sales funnel. In addition, we carefully review your current marketing assets to ensure that everything is in place to reach the right people, drive the desired action, and measure success.
Tailor
Your Media Mix
In today’s competitive marketplace, your business needs to grow in order to survive. The strategic and effective use of modern media channels is essential for your company’s growth. With so many paid media options available, choosing the right method to convey your brand’s message can feel overwhelming.
Ultimately, your goals will drive where ads are served. Some of the most common goals with media advertising include:
- Conversions
- Sales
- Brand Awareness
- Visibility
- Positive Sentiment
- Building Audiences/Database
Another important consideration is your budget. We can recommend different strategies based on the audience you are trying to reach and how much you are able to spend.
We are not “married” to any particular platform or medium. Although we have strong relationships with a number of different companies and vendors, we do not try to sell you on a particular campaign to satisfy our partners.
Our focus is helping you reach your goals. That means we explore any and all viable strategies, plan your media campaigns effectively, and buy the appropriate placements to help you reach your objectives.
There are a number of media channels to choose from to deliver your marketing message. We will use the information we gathered in the goal-setting and research phases of the process to determine which media mix best fits your needs. A media mix can be any combination of online or offline channels.
Digital Advertising
Digital advertising encompasses all of the paid strategies to help you reach customers across different online devices. We plan, implement, and manage a multitude of digital ads for our clients, including:
- Search Engine Marketing (SEM)/Pay Per Click (PPC)
- Social Media Advertising
- Digital Display Ads
- Video Advertising
- Advertising on Connected TV (CTV) and Other Over the Top (OTT) Platforms
- Streaming Audio
- Digital Out of Home (OOH) Advertising
The inventory for digital ads is immense. Inexperienced advertisers often spend their budget with limited return on investment or choose ad campaigns due to name recognition rather than their ability to reach, engage, and convert the audience.
Our media planning experts cut through the noise and drill down on the platforms and campaigns that can actually drive results. We are also strategic in our media buys to get the most bang for your advertising buck.
Traditional Media
Advertising with traditional media involves a number of tried-and-true strategies outside the digital realm. Despite the massive growth of the digital ads space, we can still find success with more traditional advertising options such as:
- Television Advertising
- Radio Advertising
- Print Advertising
- Out of Home Advertising (Ex: Billboards, Posters, Etc.)
Targeting traditional advertisements is different from targeting digital ads. Our experience with both traditional and digital media enables us to create a complementary mix of both, enabling our clients to reach different audiences online and offline.
At Twelve Three Media, we have an in-depth understanding of the print, broadcast, and OOH landscape. These audiences still represent a viable source of business for advertisers, and we use our knowledge of your company (including your goals and target audience) to place effective advertisements in front of traditional consumers.
Why Choose Twelve Three Media for
Your Media Planning and Media Buying?
Many agencies outsource media planning, buying, and other critical roles to outside vendors. At Twelve Three Media, we hire experts in paid media to handle all aspects of each campaign in house.
Our team takes full ownership of the media planning and buying process. We fully control the strategy behind ad campaigns and their execution. In addition, we obsessively track results so we can ensure that your campaigns deliver maximum value in the most cost-effective way possible.
When it comes to media buying, relationships are pivotal. We take pride in the relationships we’ve built with our media partners and we put those relationships to work for you. You’ll benefit from our years of experience and the passion and creativity of our industry pros, as well as favorable advertising rates and exciting opportunities we have earned through years of working with media vendors.
Our in-house media buyers are expert negotiators who specialize in getting the right price and placement for your brand message. As a full-service digital marketing and advertising agency, we can successfully execute every aspect of your marketing campaign, from content development to conversion optimization. We love creating success for our clients, and it shows in our results.
We are results-focused. We’ll keep you up-to-date on the performance of your campaign and make adjustments along the way to optimize the reach and effectiveness of your advertising efforts.
Media Planning & Buying Frequently Asked Questions
Media planning is the process of identifying where ads should be run to (a) reach the target audience and (b) persuade them to take the desired action. It is important to account for multiple factors when creating a media plan, including who the audience is, what platforms are most suitable for engaging them, when they will be most receptive to seeing the message, and what the messaging should be for the ad to succeed.
Media buying is the process of identifying where ads should be served and strategically purchasing ads to position them appropriately. Successful media buying involves not only staying on budget but ensuring that the maximum number of prospective customers are reached based on the available spend. Media buyers often work with a host of different vendors across digital and traditional media to purchase ad inventory and properly place advertisements.
Just about all businesses advertise. However, many small and medium-sized businesses are unaware of the vast number of advertising campaigns available or what it takes to reach their goals. This is where a media planning and buying agency comes in.
Clients usually contact an agency when they have an advertising budget but little idea of how they want to spend it. They might be aware of a few options (such as PPC, Facebook Ads, etc.), but the majority of clients don’t have a clear vision of how their advertising dollars can be used effectively.
Having a reputable agency handle media planning and buying is a good way to overcome these obstacles. An agency can help you with all of the steps in between “I want to buy some ads'' and “your ads are now live.” This includes strategizing, budgeting, messaging, preparing creative assets, negotiating with vendors, and launching your campaign.
The media planning process is one of audience segmentation. It is impractical for any business to pursue all kinds of customers. For the sake of their budgets, small and midsize businesses have to hone in on the people who are most likely to respond to their ads.
Media planners look at the following characteristics to define the audience:
- Geographic area (where customers live, work, and play)
- Demographics (including age, sex and gender, education level, income, etc.)
- Psychographic qualities (such as interests, buying habits, pain points, hot buttons, etc.)
- Engagement (what devices customers use, the platforms they are on, the content they view, etc.)
Another key component of media planning is understanding the client’s goals. Some campaigns are focused on driving leads and conversions while others are dedicated to building visibility and awareness among the audience. By aligning goals with advertising opportunities, a media planner can optimize your media mix to position ads so they are served to the right people on the right platforms.
Media planning is a core part of any media buying strategy. Without a plan, businesses and advertisers are flying blind or guessing. So, any agency that proceeds directly to media buying without any kind of planning process (such as getting to know your business, audience research, etc.) should be regarded with suspicion.
Today, the actual process of buying paid media typically involves a combination of negotiating with vendors for ad inventory and bidding on ads through one or more automated platforms. Although your budget is a key consideration in any media buy, it is also important to consider the audience who will see your ads on a particular platform or via a particular medium.
Any media buying agency worth its salt won’t just take your money, purchase some ads, and consider the job done. The agency you choose should provide accurate reporting on the ads so you can get a sense of whether the campaign helped you reach your goals and, ultimately, the ROI on your ad spending.
In the advertising world, reach refers to the number of people your campaign will be in front of for a certain amount of time. Reach is similar to another advertising metric – impressions – in that both measure the number of people who are exposed to an ad. The key difference is that reach measures unique users whereas impressions makes no distinction between users seeing an ad for the first time and users who have already seen your ad.
Frequency describes the number of times your ad reaches your audience over the course of a campaign. It is important not to inundate the audience with your ads. Over time, repeat exposure to the same ad may forge an unfavorable association with your brand in the minds of consumers who are tired of seeing your advertisements.
Develop a Winning Paid Media Strategy
Contact Twelve Three Media Today!
Advertising has evolved to a point where there is virtually no barrier to entry. Just about anyone can create a Google Ads account, start advertising on Facebook, or run a YouTube ad.
The difference is in how these campaigns are implemented, how they are measured, and how different campaigns and platforms can complement each other. At Twelve Three Media, we are distinguished by our knowledge of the different advertising strategies and platforms, as well as our commitment to tracking the results and sharing crucial insights about the performance of your ads.
It all starts with a solid plan and strategic buying of key media placements. Underlying this process is our in-depth understanding of how your business functions and what you want to achieve, which creates a strong foundation for all of your marketing and advertising endeavors.
Our Paid Media Team is made up of industry veterans with a strong grasp of media planning, media buying, and the execution of successful campaigns. We have seen the pitfalls of how other agencies approach the ideation and implementation of ads, and we have developed a unique and satisfying process that empowers our employees and our clients to work together to achieve success.
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Contact Twelve Three Media Now for a Free Consultation.
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