So, what is Media Buying?
A method utilized in paid marketing initiatives is called Media Buying. The idea is to locate and purchase ad space on channels that are important. Try to target demographic at the best possible value at the best possible moment.
This process is done in several steps, one of which is through the use of a Media Buyer. A Media buyer is an agency or individual that is hired by a client to assist in building and launching a campaign.
They are responsible for all the aspects of creating, organizing, and executing the media strategy.
It is a very critical role for a business that wants to drive awareness, convert prospects, or move a prospect to action. Media buying is essential in the process of marketing.
However, it can be very complex to manage.
Whether it is for an ad campaign, a brochure, an email campaign or a web page, the job of managing a media campaign can often be overwhelming. Fortunately, there are ways to make the task a little less daunting.
Media Buyer’s Role In Marketing
With guidance from the media planning team, media buyers manage the procurement process. Media buyers carry out the actual acquisition of advertising space. That happens once the media planning team has given them a knowledge of marketing goals and target audience preferences.
The media buyer will then coordinate with the production and distribution unit to create and deliver the campaigns.
Once the campaign is launched, the marketing director is responsible for overseeing the execution of the project.
If it is a new campaign, marketing directors and media planners work closely together to set the objectives and select the key messages, as well as determining the budget and timeline.
They will be involved in the creative and development of new media materials, and ensure that the desired media reach is achieved. It is important to understand that media buying is not just about buying space on television or radio.
There are many other channels through which media can be purchased. Including the internet, print, direct mail, and telecommunication. An integrated marketing campaign can involve all of these, depending on the target market and industry.
Media Buying VS Media Planning
Media Buying
So, Media buyers communicate with their peers across the agreed-upon media sites once the media plan is in place. These are frequently sales/account executives whose job it is to locate appropriate advertisers.
They may be asked to work closely with the editorial teams. Try to determine the best placement of their campaign for reaching the desired audience.
The ad placements are often based on a media planning system used to plan and forecast advertising expenditures across a given budget.
This is where the buyer’s job starts. Once this is set, the salesperson has to make sure the publisher adheres to the plan, and the ad placement is appropriate.
In some cases, sales people will work in a similar capacity as the editor in charge of a publication.
Depending on the overall size of your campaign, you may need to split the work amongst more than one person or department. That will ensure that the ads are placed correctly. Additionally, it’s important to have a plan in the works before starting any work.
Often, a campaign will start up and run in one month and then fall apart when the writer isn’t available.
It’s also important for the seller to get the approval of both the production and editorial editors before beginning work on any ad campaign. Ad agencies may not approve a particular ad until the entire campaign is finished.
If the agency doesn’t approve the placement, they will not be paid.
Media Planning
Creating an audience, performing market research, establishing a budget, and setting goals are all part of the media planning process. This article is written as a guide for journalists and for other media professionals.
The purpose of this guide is to give you a sense of how a good media plan should look like, how to implement a good media plan, as well as to provide you with a way to get started.
Once you know how the plan works, it’s time to put it into action. Let’s get to it!
The planning phase is the most important for many companies in the process. That’s because it gets the job done. From first to the very last word, everything that happens affects every other part and the whole.
So, whether you have a deadline for the next day or you need to set an appointment for a week later. Nothing can be done without that final plan!
As we said earlier, planning is a sequential process that includes identifying the objectives and identifying all the information that you will need.
Why Does Media Buying Metter?
Effective media buying is considered much more than simply exchanging money for ad space. Media buying teams may come up with strong connections with media owners, ending up in more reach for less money.
This lets marketing teams improve conversions and show customers and stakeholders a strong return on investment. The media buyer is the bridge between media and the customer.
Their job is to help the buyer of a piece of content understand its audience. That will enable him to position the content to its target audience and make it relevant to them.
They work in collaboration with the creative team, where the two work closely to create a brand ‘s unique voice. So long as the media buys are done correctly, the revenue produced is worth the time and cost.
For example, when your sales team engages a reporter from a national news source to write an article on your brand, you’re likely to receive higher quality coverage.
It shows to your customers that you genuinly care about their interests. And the article may generate more impressions than the typical story about your competitor.
But you should be careful to do the right amount of media buy, even if you get more clicks than your competition. By doing the wrong amount, your media spending may hurt your audience.
If you spend too much on media, they may not be motivated to come back for your content.
One mistake that many businesses make is overestimating the value of the ad. An ad budget is a commitment to spending a certain amount on advertising.
Challenges You May Face
Investing in skilled media buying teams and processes, like any other marketing project, requires proving value.
To do so, media buying teams will need analytical tools. That will allow them to link conversions and KPIs to specific ads. They also require real-time data to make in-campaign changes to underperforming advertising.
On the other hand, media buying strategies need to be flexible to reflect the changing needs of a client. Media buying is at the core of all campaign strategies. It is how you develop the right mix of media, content, imagery and messaging.
Another key point for the board to consider is that media campaigns are best executed when they are at different stages of the campaign. One should not rush to develop a media campaign too early.
This could result in wasting time and money. For that reason, a timeline for a campaign should also be in place. If a time-sensitive issue arises, then a decision should first be made about how to deal with this.
Time-consuming media buys can be avoided by making media planning a part of your planning process. It would probably be a huge mistake to wait until the end of an ad campaign to assess the effect of that campaign on a customer.
That could be the case after a certain period of time or at the beginning. There is a great need for media buy teams that are totally flexible. Having a schedule of when to do a particular media purchase can make a big difference.
Negotiating Media Buys
The most crucial duty of a media buyer is that of negotiation; this ensures that customers obtain the most value for their ad space. To negotiate, the media buying team has to go into the customer’s business case and examine it on their own.
For example, a business might have an ad on the homepage of their website, but they don’t really have any legit way of confidently knowing whether that ad is going to be effective and useful for the business or not.
So the media team would then negotiate the terms of the ad so that it is relevant to the customers, as well as to its users.
But negotiation is not always easy and involves a lot of back and forth. Some media buyers prefer to delegate the negotiation to a professional. Others prefer a structured process that will ensure that the best deal is reached.
Both approaches are viable and can be very beneficial to your business, if you take the time to carefully analyze the situation. An effective negotiation strategy will help you to get the maximum value out of your budget. It will also help to achieve your goals.