At some point in the marketing process, the work has to change from research and strategizing to actually going out and promoting a product or service to potential customers.
One of the most potent tools to reach consumers is a media advertising campaign. When well conceived, a media campaign enables marketers to reach thousands of consumers simultaneously with a uniform, focused message.
The key concept, however, is "well-conceived." Media advertising is a sophisticated tool. Especially today with the ever-growing assortment of specialty cable television channels and the variety of new media options available, marketers have to target their advertising dollars carefully to reach the right audience at the right time.
Such calculations are the job of the media planner. Media planners are often part of a full-service advertising agency, but they also work in specialty firms. In either case, the media planner works closely with the marketing and advertising team to devise a media strategy.
The media strategy is a roadmap to ensure that an advertisement reaches the right audience at the right time. The three big questions in any media plan are:
- What is the right media mix?
- What specific media offer access to the target market?
- When should advertisements air, and how often?
When the marketing, advertising and media team arrive at satisfactory answers to those three questions, what follows is a balancing act to make the most effective use of the marketing budget. There is no such thing as a perfect media plan. It is an organic creation specifically targeted to the product or service, the marketing objectives and the marketing budget.
When the team devises a media plan that they think has the best chance for success, they pass it along to a media buyer to make it all happen.
The following tutorial is an introduction to media planning, including terminology, a review of the process and a general discussion of what works, and what doesn't.
| 2. Media Planning Process |  | |
| The mission of the media planner is:
To create innovative and cost-effective plans designed to fulfill media objectives through the development of strategies and tactics.
Media planning is a multi-step process.
It begins with the marketing objective – what is the client company trying to accomplish in terms of sales, brand image and market share. Media advertising is typically only one part of a company's marketing mix – it is one of many tools at a marketer's disposal. In the most effective marketing campaigns, the media advertising campaign works in concert with other marketing initiatives such as sales, distribution channel strategy and customer service to deliver a unified, focused message to the consumer.
Ideally, the client has already worked out the elements of the marketing plan and marketing objectives before they started serious work on advertising strategies.
Media objectives are an extension of the marketing objective. If media and advertising are a part of the marketing strategy, what does the media plan need to accomplish to fulfill its role? Answers could include share-of-mind measurements, sales goals or brand recognition measures.
Media strategy explains the "how" of a media campaign. The questions answered at this stage will help media planners devise a strategy:
- Who is the target audience?
- Where is the target audience (global, U.S. market, etc.)?
- When should the marketing message air (timing, seasonality, etc.)?
- How many times should the message air?
- How will we communicate the message (creative)?
- How much does the marketer have to spend?
Will the commercials run year-round to build and maintain awareness? Are there specific seasons when the client needs to ramp up its marketing activity, such as a toy company before Christmas or a pharmaceutical company before the spring and fall allergy seasons?
The media strategy then forms the base of a detailed discussion of specific tactics. It is at this stage that a media plan is developed. What mix of television, radio, print and new media advertising will reach the largest segment of the target audience? What specific channels and program times are most likely to reach that target audience, and how often should the message be repeated?
The answers to those questions form the media plan, and the next step is to execute the plan by airing commercials and advertisements. Throughout the entire process, media planners and media buyers carefully measure their successes and failures, and adjust the media plan accordingly.
Determining the Media Mix
As stated previously, “media mix” is the proportion of television, radio, print and other forms of advertising used in a particular campaign.
The "best" mix for a particular campaign is a combination of the product or service, the marketing objectives, target audience and budget. That information often helps media planners first decide what media types would be ineffective in reaching the target audience.
For example, if the target audience is male, daytime television is generally not the best vehicle. If the marketing budget is small, or if the target audience is very narrow, television may not be a viable option at all. Media planners could opt instead for a print campaign focused on the target audience's interests and hobbies.
Creative constraints may eliminate one or more media options. For a new product that must be demonstrated, radio would be a bad option because the listener can't see the product.
Also, the client's main goal for a marketing campaign may be to build a customer database. In that case a direct response campaign would likely be the best option.
Researching a competitor's marketing and media activity may help uncover new opportunities. These could either consist of media that a competitor has ignored, or media that has to be a part of the mix to compete for share-of-mind with the competitor's existing advertising.
“Media quintiles” are a useful tool for visualizing the target audience's media habits. Quintile analysis divides a target audience into five categories from the heaviest users to the lightest users. If the heaviest users of a product tend to get their news from magazines and radio, then those elements should have a higher proportion of the media mix than television.
A media planner needs to construct a quantitative defense of his media mix recommendations. In fact, this is a good habit to form in any case.
Media planners are spending someone else's money. That is a big responsibility and planners need to have the numbers to back up every decision and recommendation they make.
Advertising cost figures can be calculated from cost per thousand (CPM) or cost per unit (CPU) figures from various outlets. Ratings data is available from companies such as Nielsen (television) and Arbitron (radio). Media planners can find data on competitive activity from sources such as AdSpender and Stradegy. | |
A media plan only needs to make sense within the context of the media objectives and media strategies. There are no right or wrong answers. Media planners should present to the client any ideas or plans that they can back up with the facts.
Creating the media plan itself is a three-step process:
- Step One: Determine media types and/or TV dayparts to be used or considered.
- Step Two: Create framework for the media plan.
- Step Three: Determine and plot out the appropriate levels of activity in each media vehicle and daypart used.
Step One: Media Selection Rationale
In selecting the media for an advertising campaign, the following factors need to be considered:
- Cost efficiency (CPM)
- Targetability
- Reach potential
- Tactics
- Environmental considerations
- Creative considerations
- Historical & competitive media utilization
Each is discussed in more depth below.
Cost Efficiency (CPM)
Clients want and need to get the most value out of their marketing and advertising spending. Often, cost factors are the first component investigated in any marketing plan. If the client does not have the budget for a prime time ad campaign, there is little point in devising one.
Cost is most often calculated using cost per thousand (CPM) figures. This is how much money it costs to reach 1,000 people in the target audience.
Targetability
The marketing plan has a target audience – the group thought most likely to purchase a particular product or service in a quantity likely to generate profits. Obviously, any advertising campaign needs to reach the people in the target audience.
Reach Potential
Reach potential is the amount of the target audience that a particular medium is likely to draw. Media planners use this information to determine not only what media outlets to use, but when to place ads.
Media planners look at the percentage the target audience composes of a medium's total audience to understand the effectiveness of advertising in various media choices.
Tactics
Certain tactical considerations may lead media planners to consider time slots or media that are not specifically geared toward a target audience.
For example, if the client has a short lead time before a new product introduction, generating a broad product awareness via more mainstream television channels may give the product a boost in awareness for the launch followed my more targeted advertising later.
Environment
As with tactics, the environment on a particular media vehicle may make it attractive as a part of a media plan. For example, a client looking to advertise a new heartburn medication may get better results during a cooking show.
Creative Considerations
Sometimes, the message itself dictates what media vehicle is most appropriate. If the client needs to send a complicated message, a print medium will work better than television.
For example, pharmaceutical companies are often required to release data on side effects and risks for a new medication. Most of that data would be unwieldy in a television commercial, so they often opt for print.
Historical & Competitive Media Utilization
Often, past advertising efforts dictate media for a future campaign. Or, if a competitor has a regular presence on a particular channel, media planners may want to consider placing some ads there to counter the competitor's efforts.
Step Two: Building the Framework
The framework of the plan has two basic elements:
- Number of weeks on the air
- Flighting patterns
Ideally, an advertising message runs all year. This maintains a consistent message and presence. In reality, the typical marketing budget precludes a constant media presence. Flighting is a strategy of periodically placing ads to gain some of the benefits of a constant presence without the costs.
The media planner's job is to tailor the frequency and flighting to both the budget, and the marketing and media objectives. For example, a strategy to keep a brand top of mind at all times to encourage impulse purchases (i.e. Coke) would give greater priority to the number of weeks an ad (this is on air to maintain a presence. New brands may sacrifice a long-term weeks-on-air strategy in favor of building awareness with a more concentrated campaign at launch.
One popular use of flighting is "blinking" or "pulsing." With this strategy, a marketing message is on air one week, off the next, and on again the following week. This way, the message almost has the illusion of being on air constantly, since the audience will remember seeing it before, but without the costs.
Generally, devising the flighting strategy is a combination of four factors:
- Overall media strategy
- Tactical considerations
- Seasonality
- Budget constraints
Overall Media Strategy: If the goal is maintaining a brand presence or maintaining market share, the flighting will be evenly spread throughout the year. During a new product introduction, the frequency of airing will be higher than at other times.
Tactical Considerations: Periodically, media planners may adjust the frequency of advertising to support a promotional campaign, take advantage of media efficiencies or to advertise during periods when competitors are less aggressive, or heavily advertising.
Seasonality: Toy companies advertise more heavily before Christmas shopping begins. The Cadbury bunny only shows up before Easter. Back-to-School ads air in August.
Budget Constraints: Advertising activity may change to reflect quarterly or semi-annual financial needs of the client.
Step Three: Determine Appropriate Levels
Appropriate levels of activity in each recommended daypart or medium are determined based on:
- Industry standards
- Client preferences
- Historical levels
- Competitive levels
- Common sense
Each is discussed in more detail below.
Industry Standards
Frequency-oriented dayparts/medium: By advertising at certain times, such as during daytime, or on radio, media planners can increase the number of times a message is aired.
Reach-oriented dayparts/medium: By advertising at certain times, such as during prime time, planners can still reach the needed number of the target audience, but air a message fewer times.
Magazines: In general, schedule at least four to six insertions in a monthly magazine over a 12-month period, to ensure that the reader is exposed to the ad on a frequent enough basis for the communication to sink in.
Radio: At a bare minimum, never schedule less than 50 GRPs per week in order to include enough stations to cover all target segments and begin building reach.
Client Preferences
A client may want to maximize its presence in a certain time period because of the cost efficiency, for example. Also, a client may want to "own" a time period by scheduling one spot per day during morning or evening news shows, for example.
Historical Levels
A client has advertised at a certain time in the past with good results, so he wants to continue with that strategy. Be aware that changes in objectives, the media marketplace or the competitive environment may warrant changes.
Competitive Levels
Clients may want to copy strategies that are giving a competitor an advantage. Alternatively, a client may want to take advantage of opportunities a competitor has neglected.
Common Sense
Based on experience, does the campaign feel right?
Some questions to ask when comparing media plan options:
- Are the selected media vehicles the most effective for reaching this target?
- Are the weight levels high enough in each medium to be effective (R/F, # spots)?
- Are the hiatus periods too long?
- Have you diluted the effort by using too many media vehicles?
- What are the limitations and strengths of each plan developed?
- Is the budget sufficient to attain the awareness or response goals?
Be sure to tailor each one to the specific circumstances such as the marketing and media objectives, market conditions, and competitor activity.
Remember, no media plan is right or wrong if it is devised keeping the marketing and media objectives at the forefront. No plan is perfect either, so constantly question assumptions, and constantly measure results.
source
| |
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar