Media Planning - Introduction
Media
plays a crucial role in the success of an organization. Companies make the use
of various media platforms to reach their potential customers. The purpose of
media is so vital that companies spend millions of dollars on promoting
their products with the help of the media.
Different types of media can be used to promote the products
of a company. Companies select different media platforms to reach their
audience, depending on various factors. Therefore, media planning is used by companies to choose
different media platforms where paid advertisements of the company are placed.
Definition
Media
planning can be defined as a process of selecting the right media to advertise
a product / services of an organization and
also to determine when, where, and how many times the ad should be shown to get
optimum results.
What
is Media Planning?
Media
planning consists of various activities such as identifying the media outlets,
selection of media outlets, and investment in each media outlet. There are
different media outlets such as television, radio, newspapers, magazines,
internet websites, social media, and other outdoor platforms. (OOH – Out Of
Home)
It
is costly to advertise on these media platforms. For example, you are required to
pay a considerable sum of money to get a 10 seconds slot for your advertisement
on a national television channel. Therefore, it becomes crucial for a
company to plan its outreach through different media platforms so that it can
reach a maximum number of potential customers by optimized expenditure on
chosen media platforms.
A
person who is responsible for evaluating different media platforms is called a Media Planner. Advertising organizations usually hire a media
planner. Companies reach advertising organizations to run their advertising
campaigns for
their products or services rendered by them.
The
media planner first evaluates the nature
of the product offered by the company, the audience
that they need to reach, and the budget
of the advertising campaign. Based on this information, he selects the
different media platforms to get maximum output.
An
effective media planning requires a coordinated plan to reach different
segments of the audience through different media platforms within the budget
limit of the company. A media planner is needed to take care of various
factors.
For
example, the selection of media platforms, the number of audiences to be
reached through different media platforms, frequency of ads on each platform, and last
but not least is the budget of the advertising campaign. It is easy for large
organizations with huge budgets to advertise on different media platforms. But
small organizations with a limited budget requires strategic media planning to
maximize their media outreach.
Factors
in Media Planning
Each
media platform has its pros and cons. For example, some advertising media is cost-effective, and some have a
vast reach. The followings are the factors that a media planner should consider
before selecting a media platform for advertising and promotion.
1. Reach
The
reach of an ad is the most crucial factor that influences the decision of a
media planner. The reach of media can be defined as the number of individuals
who see an advertisement or post through different media platforms. Traditional
media platforms like television and newspaper have greater reachability as
compared to media platforms like radio.
However,
in the era of the internet, the social media platform has maximum reachability.
If a company is planning to target youngsters, then the social media
platform is the best platform to reach them. Therefore, it is essential to
consider the reachability of the media platform before you invest your money in
it.
2. Cost per thousand
In
advertising, the cost of advertising is divided per thousand people. How much the company needs to pay to a newspaper to reach one
thousand people? The total cost of advertising is calculated by multiplying the
cost per thousand with the total number of people.
For
example, if a newspaper has 100,000 subscribers and it takes $100 for an
advertisement to reach 1000 subscribers, then the advertising company is
required to pay $10,000 to the newspaper to get its ad printed in the
newspaper.
As
a media planner, you would like to choose a media platform with lower cost and
high reachability.
3. Frequency of advertisement
The
frequency of advertising can be defined as the total number of times an ad
would be shown to an individual. It is considered that an ad is required
to show at least three or four times to make an individual familiar with
the brand.
Therefore,
the higher the frequency of advertisement better will be the outcome. However,
the cost is also an essential factor that affects the frequency of
advertisement. You are required to pay more if you want your ad to be shown
frequently.
4. Impact
The
impact of the media platform means how likely the chosen media can persuade
your audience to take action. Different media have different effects on the
audience. For example, an advertisement for perfume in a fashion magazine is
more impactful than in a local newspaper.
Similarly,
an advertisement for food items will be more impactful on television.
Therefore, a media platform should be selected based on the kind of product
that you want to advertise.
If
you choose the wrong media platform to promote your product, then the outcome
will not be as good as you would expect it to be.
5. Selectivity
This
factor focuses on the number of logical audiences in the advertisement of your
product. The high reachability of your media platform will be ineffective if
the percentage of the valid audience who can afford to purchase your product is
low.
For
example, a full front-page advertisement of Porsche car in a local newspaper
will not get you enough return on investment because the percentage of the
audience who could afford your car will be meager.
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