Make sure to implement these essential steps before you embark on a Media Campaign!
Have you ever wondered who is behind the advertising banners on the websites you visit? What about the commercials between soccer games that people are still talking about weeks after they air? Media buyers are the answer! A portion of a company’s marketing budget is often spent on pay-per-click advertising. This is where media buying comes in.
Although this technique gets little attention in the marketing world, it is the driving force behind the hyper-targeted ads we see every day. This is a process that so many of us are exposed to. This article is about media buying and the procedures necessary for its success.
What Is Media Buying?
Media buying is the process of acquiring advertising space in digital and traditional media channels. Negotiating advertising inventory, managing budgets, and optimizing campaigns are all part of the media buyer’s job.
Media buyers are responsible for ensuring that companies reach their target audience, whether they watch a show on TV or visit a website.
Users don’t come to you the way they do on social media. Therefore, a well-thought-out approach is required to make this outbound strategy work. A common mistake businesses make is not taking the time to consider their marketing goals. Media planning is essential in getting the most out of your advertising.
Today, there are two options for media buying:
- Direct buying: Media buyers build relationships with publishers to negotiate ad inventory, such as with a newspaper to place an ad in the next issue.
- Programmatic buying: The buying process is handled using automated technology.
Objectives of Media Buying
As we mentioned earlier, media buying aims to get your promotional materials in front of your target audience in the right context, at the right time, and in the best possible format, resulting in a successful campaign.
Of course, how you measure success depends on your goal. Perhaps you want to increase brand awareness or conversion rates. Either way, smart media buying can help you achieve your goals.
Think of media buying agencies as a type of real estate agent. Properties include newspapers, television networks, radio stations, social media platforms, online periodicals, and more. The best properties for you are found by media buyers, who then negotiate the purchase. Here you are not building apartment complexes or houses; you are creating your brand.
Media Buying Process
The process of buying media includes a number of basic steps:
Strategic Planning
The majority of strategizing an advertising campaign takes place in the media planning phase, not the media buying phase. However, effective tactics for media buying are also important. Media buyers need to figure out how best to achieve exceptional results while staying within budget. Before taking action, they can decide on the critical mix of media types they will use and other specifics of their strategy.
Identify the Best Media Channels
Once media buyers have a plan, they can begin to put it into action. The first step is to determine the media they want to advertise in. This can be a mix of traditional and digital media, such as print, radio and television, or a complete focus on digital platforms. Each media provider that the media buyer wants to work with requests a quote.
Negotiate & buy
Media buyers then negotiate with media companies to get the best price before legally purchasing the ad space. Much of the online advertising process is automated and does not require traditional negotiations. However, media buyers must make thoughtful decisions to ensure their clients’ ads appear in the best places, at the best time, and the best price.
Launch the Campaign
This is when your ads appear in different places, depending on your preferences. The media buyer should begin evaluating the campaign immediately to ensure the campaign is having the desired impact.
Monitor & Optimize Results
As the campaign progresses, media buyers should keep an eye on the results to improve them. Once the data comes in, they may need to make some tweaks to get the best possible results while staying within budget. The buying process depends on identifying difficulties early and developing better ways to get the message across.
Challenges of Digital Media Buying
There are several challenges associated with buying digital media, including:
Brand Safety
If one of your ads appears on a website or next to content that customers perceive as inappropriate, it could damage your company’s reputation. Media buyers need to be vigilant to prevent brand safety issues from negatively impacting your business.
Ad Fraud
Fraud is one of the biggest problems in online media buying. For example, ads can be placed on “ghost sites,” which are websites or apps that do not even exist. Pixel stuffing, where your ad appears invisibly small, ad stacking, where ads are stacked on top of each other, and hidden URLs, where your ads appear on unexpected pages, are some examples.
Lack of Transparency
another problem in the modern world of digital media buying is the lack of transparency. The digital media buying process is much more complex and challenging to track than traditional media buying, sometimes exploited by parties involved in ad buying to take advantage of companies.
Disjointedness
When there is a gap between campaign planning, ad design and the media buying process, problems can arise. When you integrate these different campaign components, you achieve greater coherence in your approach and potentially better results.
Media Buying: Beneficial Tips
Now that you have an idea of how media buying works, it’s time to get into the details. Below are some tips to keep in mind when planning your next advertising campaign.
Have a Clear Goal in Mind
Knowing what you want to accomplish with your media buy is the first step to selecting the optimal media for your campaign. It will be easier to choose marketing channels and avoid mistakes if you start with a precise goal in mind. It also serves as a benchmark to judge whether your last media buy was successful or not.
Be Conscious of Your Context
It’s crucial to understand the content of your campaign and the context in which it is being run. Keep an eye on the feedback. Not only will this help you optimize your campaign and minimize mistakes, but it will also give you a more comprehensive view of your media mix, which will directly impact your media buys.
Be Budget Conscious
Anyone who has ever worked in the advertising industry knows how important it is to keep track of your money. You should be sure about your asking price and start negotiations well below that figure. It’s better to have an unsuccessful media buy than an expensive one.
Wrapping Up
The media buying environment is constantly evolving. As a result, media buying strategies are being researched and tailored to specific marketing channels. The actual purpose of media buying, on the other hand, will never change.
A successful media buy makes your brand accessible to the right audience at the right time and place. It establishes a meaningful connection between a brand (or creative initiative) and its audience.
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