Just making ads does not guarantee your brand’s success. These ads need to be placed strategically in front of the right audience in order to succeed. And in this day and age, there is more competition in the advertising game than ever. Making it even more important to be inventive, dynamic, and tactical when it comes to marketing and one way to do that is with media planning and buying

At Focused Image, our team has years of experience in the advertising arena and because of that, we have kept up with the trends. We know exactly what will catch the attention of your ideal client and we know how to implement these ad campaigns as well. But before you decide whether or not these services are right for you, you need to know exactly what is involved.

What is media planning?

Media planning is the process of selecting what media outlets are right for a particular marketing message. This process involves a lot of researching, comparing, analyzing, identifying, and working within a company’s set marketing budget.

What is media buying?

Media buying compliments, media planning services and is the process where the information that is gathered during media planning is put into action. The media planner will then begin to negotiate the buying of ad space across the targeted media channels to place the ad.

What is a media plan?

The media plan is then the collective result of both the media planning and buying process and includes the effectiveness of the campaign as well.

The Media Planning and Buying Process

Media Planning

At Focused Image, our media planning stage acts as the first line of defense for a campaign. We take care of conducting market research for the campaign (both internal and external), establish media objectives, and make sure everything is budgeted appropriately for your marketing campaign.

Media Buying

We will then take the strategy into motion with media buying. We will work to establish relationships between your brand and media publishers and channel owners while also negotiating and purchasing ad space. After that, we will monitor the ad and optimize ad performance to make sure that it is achieving the best results and to pivot the campaign if it is not.

Media Planning and Buying Terms to Know

One of the most difficult things for non-marketing specialists to understand is some of the industry terms. Understanding the terminology that will be used during the creation, implementation, and evaluation of your media planning and buying services will help you ensure your media plan is running the way it should be!

• Inventory: this is a term that is often used interchangeably with ad placement. It can also describe the amount of ad space that a publisher has available for sale
• Request For Proposal (RFP): this is a document that is submitted by our team at Focused Image during the bidding process. It is intended to express interest in purchasing particular ad inventories
• Cost Per Thousand (CPM): Cost per thousand is the cost of an ad per 1,000 people who see it. For example, if ad space is selling at $5 CPM then you will be paying $5 for every 1,000 people that see your ad.
• Guaranteed Inventory: This is a strategy that allows for media planners and buyers to secure ad placement in bulk at a fixed CPM. In some situations, this makes sense, for example, if a business wants to know that a set number of people will see their ad then this could be the best way to go
• Non-Guaranteed Inventory: This is sometimes also referred to as real-time bidding and is sort of like an auction where advertisers will bid against one another to secure better ad placement. During this process, people that have guaranteed inventory have priority over the advertisers that are placing bids. This method is typically good for advertisers that have smaller budgets or can monitor ad placement for performance in real-time.
• Media Mix: Media mix refers to all of the media channels used to achieve specific marketing objectives. For example, if you use social media, radio ads, and TV commercials to promote your marketing campaign, that is your media mix.
• Targeting: Targeting is the identification of the audience that should be on the receiving end of a marketing message. This is determined during the internal and external research portion of media planning.
• Target Market or Target Audience: These terms refer to the audience that has been chosen. It can either be specific or broad depending on what you are advertising.
• Scheduling: Scheduling refers to the specifications that a media planner and media buyer put around a marketing campaign. It indicates what time and day certain ads will be served throughout various media forms. Correct scheduling is vital when it comes to media planning and buying.
• Real-Time Bidding (RTB): This form of bidding allows for vendors to sell ad impressions- also known as views- through an ad exchange platform. On this platform, each impression is sold as it becomes available in real time. Advertisers are able to adjust their bids based on the marketing conditions that become available.
• Automatic Bidding or Programmatic Marketing: With this type of bidding, the process of digitally buying and selling ad space is completely automated. It is based on algorithms where digital platforms replace standard negotiations.
• Manual Bidding: This process is the act of manually changing the bid on a certain set of ads based on keyword performance, cost, engagement, and a few other factors.

Media Planning and Buying With Focused Image

We believe that communication is key with each and every client that we work with which is why we involve you in each and every step of your media planning and buying process. We take the reigns while working to keep you informed on ad space that is purchased, the CPM, and all other factors involved.

Our team is here and ready to help you take your advertising to the next level with our media planning and buying services. Contact us today for more information on how we can help you put your ads in front of your target audience with ease!