Media Buying and Media Planning: The MBC Group Guide

Every company needs to create and distribute media content from images to podcasts to social media posts with its target audience. Your media content is an enormous part of how you improve brand recognition, sales, and revenue.

The best way to stand out from your competition is by media planning and buying marketing strategies.

What is Media Buying?

Media buying is part of paid media, which means purchasing advertisements or advertising space on different platforms or paying to distribute tailored promotions and ads.

When ad space has been acquired or content distribution has been developed, there must be a media plan to bring the media to your target audience.

The 4 Steps to Create a Media Plan

Below are the basic considerations to take when drawing up a media plan.

1. Establish your media goals

Keep a goal or more in mind while creating a media plan. A marketing goal may be to increase brand awareness. Knowing the key goal of the campaign will determine how it operates and it’s messaging.

Once specific goals have been set, marketers will research industry dynamics and competitive landscapes. Research can provide insight into where specific brands and strategies have achieved success in the past and which platforms and channels are useful for your media content.

2. Research your target audience

Meeting customer needs and creating purposeful customer interactions are important in marketing. Demographic data and audience segmentation can create content and ads for channel distribution to get the best results.

3. Determine the frequency & reach

Reach and frequency are crucial in media plans. Reach applies to how many people the advertisement is likely to be in front of a given amount of time.

Frequency refers to the number of times the user is exposed to the advertising. There are a few common strategies that advertisers use when choosing a frequency. For example, two ads a week may be a successful idea for seasonal items or for those with a smaller ad budget.

4. Choose the right media channels

There are several media channels that marketers can select from. They range from offline media such as TV and magazines to online media like social media and PPC. Ensure that you are tracking the conversions and other marketing data in your offline and online media.