Media Planning vs. Media Buying: Strategic Concerns
Media planning and buying are both critical functions of building and executing contemporary marketing strategies. Each process may occur separately by different entities or as a part of one unified strategy that is managed by one organization—but must be carefully choreographed in order to be used to fully benefit a brand.
Media Planning Fundamentals
Media planning is the process of identifying what mix of media platforms will best achieve the goals of a campaign based upon the current trends in the industry. The goal is to determine when, where, and how often a message should be placed in order to optimize audience response.
Though this step is sometimes skipped, the money is well worth it since good planning can save money when buying.
Media Buying Fundamentals
Media buying, on the other hand, is the acquisition of media inventory/space and timeslots that ensure the message reaches the identified target audience across different channels. Top concerns for media buyers include impact, ROI, reduction of ad fraud, and viewability, among others.
The process consists of researching the various platforms, their audiences, and their pricing for each platform/time. From the below chart, it becomes clear that TV and digital are the most popular tactics, but it is also evident that the mix of the tactics is where the full story can be delivered to your target audience segments.
Source: The Basement, 2018
Best Practices
There are some key elements in both the media planning and buying processes that can help you to make sure that your media plan is strategically sound.
Planning
Conduct thorough research: This is comprised of both studying the business itself thoroughly in order to understand their goals and objectives and studying the market at large.
Develop defined objectives: The only way to determine the efficacy of your strategy is to hold them up to well-defined objectives. Having defined goals can lead to an over 400% greater chance of being successful in your marketing efforts.
Focus on the budget: Profitability can only be achieved if budgets are adhered to. But within your budget, it is important to decide what percentage will be focused on each channel. While many companies are currently allocating more toward digital advertising, it may not necessarily be the most effective.
Buying
Develop relationships: As with any type of sales, buying media space can be much more effective when you know the right people to work within the industry and have formed trusted relationships with them.
Take time to negotiate: Like many other items that are bought, media placements pricing is often open to negotiation. When reviewing RFPs, recognize that you can contact vendors and discuss your budget with them. Sometimes they may be flexible, sometimes they won’t, but you won’t know until you’ve given it a shot.
Assess your strategy: There is no finish line in media planning and buying. Even with a sound strategy and great purchases, it is essential that the strategies are monitored, data is analyzed and adjustments are made when necessary.
Planning vs. Buying
An overall media strategy incorporates both processes – the planning and the buying, however, it is not uncommon to see many organizations create imbalance between one or the other. This results in either the purchasing of media without ensuring its potential for optimal results or the development of a sound plan that lacks actual media placement.
When these two processes occur together, the overall result can be much better since the company will have a media plan that is backed by data, which is proven to maximize ROI.