If you have developed a new product or service, if you are a start-up
and want to launch yourself on the market, you need to develop the media
planning activity. This term "technical" refers to advertising
planning on the media. On all the media, among which you will choose those that
best suit the type of product / service to be advertised and your target. The
person who deals with these advertising planning activities is the Planner.
The Planner is a professional figure (often from an agency, but it is also
possible to search for figures) who covers two different roles:
- Strategic Planner
- Media Planner
The two roles can also converge. The Strategic Planner plans - at a
strategic level, in fact - the entire advertising campaign, considering in
detail and systemically "the condition of consumers, the product, the
company, the brand, the market and the competition, in light of the strategic
and tactical objectives of the user who commissioned the campaign itself
"(source Wikipedia).
The Media Planner, on the other hand, is the one who chooses the most
suitable means of communication to cover the advertising campaign, taking into
account the objective and budget available for the launch. The Media Planner
also plans its choice on the basis of specific criteria: the characteristics of
each medium of communication, the behavior of the competition, the time span in
which the campaign will develop and the financial coverage made available.
The 8 phases
of effective media planning
Media planning is not an activity that can be improvised. You need great
preparation and study and an excellent knowledge of the market that you want to
penetrate. In any case, effective media planning develops in 8 very specific
phases, as reported in the Glossary Marketing:
- The target definition: that is the definition of the recipients of the communication campaign. The more detailed this hatching, the more accurate you are in choosing the media and the more likely you are to hit the target
- The budget setting: or how much money you have available and for how long, to cover the advertising campaign. This aspect will determine the choice of media and the duration of each launch
- The channel strategy: i.e. the choice of the most suitable means of communication to reach the target audience with the least expenditure of resources and in the most effective way. The channel strategy follows
- Media buying, i.e. negotiation and the consequent purchase of advertising spaces identified as ideal. This phase can be carried out - in large agencies - by a dedicated person, called Media Buyer. The Media Buyer works in close contact with the Media Planner (the one who chooses the most suitable media)
- The pre-evaluation. Here we enter the field of estimates. What could we achieve with this advertising launch, planned on these media, with this budget, over this period of time? The estimates are drawn up on the basis of pre-set (and absolutely personalized case by case) socio-demographic panels
- The execution. Here you get to the heart of the advertising campaign and with this term all operational activities are indicated. The chosen agency can be entrusted with it, which more often than not works closely with the corresponding department of the various media
- The post-evaluation. The campaign is over, what results have been obtained? The post-evaluation deals with measuring these results and packaging them in specific reports
- The implementation also referred to as the implementation of the plan. This term refers to all the stages of development of a plan (in this case media planning) until its closure.
Consider
these 3 aspects if you are doing media planning
In addition to the schematic eight stages of effective media planning,
there are other more detailed aspects you need to know, especially if you are
going to commission this activity. These are useful details to know even if you
are a Media Planner, so that you can propose them to your client and guide him
and assist him in choosing.
1) The best frequency for the advertising
campaign
The frequency of publication of the contents must be set with the aim of
maximizing the views, without being too pervasive and literally
"bombing" the target audience. Each medium of communication,
including social media, has its own specific characteristics, so the frequency
of passing through a newspaper will be different from that of a Facebook ad.
The "correct" frequency is developed taking into account:
- The characteristics of the product / service
- Of the medium on which the advertisement will be made
- Of the available budget.
In general, there are 3 types of frequency:
- Constant exposure of the target: in a certain period of time, the passage of advertising is constant. This approach is especially useful for those highly competitive goods or services
- Intermittent exposure of the target: it is useful if you want to advertise seasonal products
- A combination of both. This approach increases the flow of communication to the target audience when it is considered that this is more effective and thins out over the remaining period of time. The choice of double speed is strictly linked to the type of medium used.
2) The greatest possible attention in
identifying the target audience
The identification of the target audience is a fundamental part in media
planning. Why? Each audience has specific tastes and preferences, different
routines and lifestyles and therefore will have different levels of affinity
with different types of content and platforms. Without careful analysis,
therefore, advertising messages will risk being too general and failing the
objective. So, after identifying the target of that specific advertising campaign, the Planner must carefully examine:
- Habits
- Consumer trends
- Media and social preferences
In order to set up a campaign with contents as closely as possible,
since this information will act as the main structure for all media planning.
3) The best possible approach
To conclude, let's write a sentence that seems obvious but that in
reality is what you must never forget during the whole preparation of the media
plan:
Think
like a consumer, not a marketer
This is valid in all phases of media planning forany corporate video production company in UAE, but especially in the
pre-evaluation phase. Get into the shoes of the end consumer when you develop
behavioral statistics, the channels to be used and any other data "in
projection". Only then will your estimates come close to reality. Only if
you think like the average recipient of your advertising campaign, the one you
are developing as a Marketer.
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