Media planning is ... Media planning in advertising. Media Planning: Examples

Media planning is an important part of any process of product promotion on the market, whether it is a new and unknown product or a popular brand.

The essence of advertising campaign planning

Fundamentals of media planning mean a literate approach to the creation, placement and promotion of advertising messages through the classical media and other
Channels of distribution. In other words, this is a set of measures that allows to distribute the advertising budget in such a way as to achieve maximum benefit in accordance with the main goals underlying the advertising campaign. In addition, media planning is one of the stages in the overall organization of the activities of any company, but at the same time it is not only the process of choosing the most optimal means of placing an advertising message, but also a multifaceted activity for the psychological and economic reinforcement of all campaigns. Only by observing these rules can we expect maximum efficiency.

The very concept of media planning consists in drawing up a media plan that takes into account the placement of advertising in the media, taking into account the achievement of its maximum effectiveness.

Stages of media planning

Before you start planning an advertising campaign, you need to determine the main and secondary goals. Traditionally, the main is the promotion of a service or product on the market, stimulating sales growth, increasing recognition or consumer loyalty to a product or brand, forming the image of a product, company or person. Goals are expressed in specific indicators (numerical or percentage), which can be characterized by the level of sales, loyalty or awareness of the target audience, as well as the response from potential customers. After formulating tasks, you can start writing the media plan itself.

Drawing up a media plan

The media plan consists of the following items:

- Full description of the selected type of advertising.

As a rule, this item is the most extensive. Here the approach to the solution of the advertising problem is chosen (whether the advertisement is rational or emotional), the nature of the planning of the promotion (media, non-media, complex), the advertisement (soft or hard forms), the degree of use of the image of the advertising product (direct, indirect, hidden) etc.

All these parameters are determined by the life cycle of the product and the awareness of the main part of the target audience about the product or service, the desired end result and financial capabilities.

Also in this paragraph, the type of advertising is described based on which placement channel will be used to implement the intended one. This can be printed products, video or audio clips, exhibition or PR-action.

In the same paragraph, all individual characteristics are indicated, including the parameters of the target audience, the nature of the object of advertising, its geographical distribution and the intensity of the impact on the consumer.

- Definition of the channel or distribution channels.

Classic media, advertising on the Internet, BTL, etc.

- Determining the timing of placement.

In addition to the total duration of all events, this item includes scheduling the broadcast of an advertisement on television or radio, indicating the date of publication of the message in print, the timing of participation in exhibitions and other temporary characteristics of the campaign.

- Determining the cost of an advertising campaign.

In this part of the media plan all the financial costs of creating, posting and promoting a message are signed.

- Determination of payment methods.

You can pay for advertising space in a batch way, one-time, barter, on the basis of sponsorship, etc.

Efficiency.

The effectiveness of the advertising campaign is determined by the indicator of achievement of the set goals.

What are the tasks of media planning?

The tasks of media planning include the following:

- analytical activities (definition of all parameters of the target audience, market situation, competitors, marketing opportunities, etc.);

- formulation of advertising campaign goals;

- planning stages and setting time frames for their implementation;

- Definition of channels of distribution of the advertising message;

- determination of the desired efficiency based on the main indicators of media planning;

- budget allocation.

Media Planning Options

Media planning in advertising can be theoretical and practical. The theoretical part includes the calculation of the effectiveness of the advertising campaign, the collection of necessary data and the processing of all secondary parameters based on modern statistical methods.

Practical part implies already direct work with client companies, implementation and maintenance of all planned events within the advertising campaign. A qualitative approach to practical media planning helps to save the budget, while achieving all the goals set. Thanks to these researches, advertising messages are divided into categories by duration of campaigns, groups of goods, time of display, which further provides the most competent approach to creating the media plan itself.

Key indicators of media planning

- Rating or value TVR - percentage ratio of the whole target audience, which saw the unit of the media event at a certain moment, to the one that could see it.

- Reach & Cover (coverage and coverage) - an indicator of the total number of people who could see or hear an advertising message within the same campaign.

- TRP - the total rating calculated for this target category.

- OTS is an indicator of the potential number of times that a given message could be seen.

- GRP - the sum of the ratings of all outputs of the advertising message in all media during one advertising campaign.

- Frequency (the purity of contacts) - the number of advertising messages with which each person from the intended target audience will be contacted.

- Index T / U (index of compliance) - percentage ratio of the audience of the publication from the target group to the general audience of the publication.

- CPP - the cost of the item rating, the cost of its achievement.

- CPT is an indicator of the cost of thousands of contacts.

New trend in media planning

One of the newer elements of media planning is advertising on the Internet. In this context, the Internet can be considered as one of the sites for placing an advertising message. With its popularization and extensive penetration into our daily life, it has become almost one of the key points included in media planning. Examples of the use of this distribution channel are diverse. This can be both contextual advertising, and placement of banners, pop-up and much more. Media planning is a complex of promotional activities, a meaningful approach to which is the fundamental component of successful product promotion.

What does media planning look like in action?

Media planning is an important part of any advertising activity. And a properly composed media plan is the key to the success of achieving the set goals. How does media planning look like in action? For example, let's plan the placement of an advertising message about an upcoming event on the radio. We need to inform the public about the opening of the supermarket. Before we can decide which radio station will be our site for placement, we need to analyze its target audience and understand how it meets our criteria.

As a rule, the opening of a supermarket is of more interest to family people of any age. More such advertising is designed for a female audience. Hence, based on this, we are interested in radio stations that are focused on women. This audience will be divided into two segments: housewives and working ladies. Both of them listen to the radio during the day, while they work in the office or at home, so it is useless to spend more time on prime time. Here, greater efficiency can be achieved by repeating the frequency. To save money, you can also refuse advertising on weekends or minimize the number of repetitions.

Traditionally, it's better to start advertising on the radio at least two weeks before the official event. In the media plan, this item is mandatory, because it is the number of days multiplied by the number of repetitions during one of them that determines the amount of the basic expenses. In the cost item, you also need to specify the cost of creating the ad.

To optimize the costs of the advertising campaign, it is also possible to offer radio stations a full or partial barter. For example, you can offer them a broadcast in your supermarket for a certain period of time. In turn, they can agree to reduce the cost of a single spot (broadcast) for your audio or to place your ad for free.

After conducting an advertising campaign , its effectiveness is determined in accordance with the goals set and the level of their achievement.