An ad is said to be successful if it reaches the right audience at the right time through the right channel. This 3-way grid of marrying the audience with the channel at the precise moment is what media planning essentially involves. Planning, negotiating and executing form the crucial three steps to delivering a great ad experience to the target audience. Here’s a primer on the game changer that is media planning.

What is media buying?

In advertising industry, one of the most critical and renowned terms is Media buying, which, in simple words, can be defined as the attainment of media inventory. Media inventory is nothing but the online or offline space for advertisers and marketers to convey their marketing message.

How does it work?

Media buying typically intends to strategize, negotiate and procure the advertising space and audience targeted time for the impressions of the ads to appear. The transactions happen through real-time bidding and via myriad of sales channels.

The advertising space can be narrowed down to 4 categories namely:

• Premium guaranteed
• Audience targeted
• Sponsorships
• Remnant

Premium guaranteed media space is exclusively provided for a single buyer with fixed price and factors in the prioritization in the ad server, transparency to the buyer and data usage as well.

Audience targeted space hinges upon the type of audience you want to reach out to, and the media space associated with them. This is the most preferred space and involves multiple processes of screening, to flaunt your ad impressions right there.

Sponsorships are primarily sought by advertisers who do not have sumptuous budget for their advertisements. Remnant is an advertising space that’s unsold and can be bound with ad networks or exchanges to eventually sell it across.

Key factors to success

The crux of media buying lies in the procurement of profitable ad space and time-slot. Hence, it falls into “paid” media genre. The subsequent elements are the most integral ones in the success of media buying:

Networking: To obtain the optimal inventory and time-slot, it requires lot more than mere efforts, which is nothing but getting to know the right people to usher you throughout the process. For instance, if your ads appear in a space and time-slot where none gets to see your ad, it’s an inevitable loss and all your efforts will have been in vain.

Cognizance: In order to make your advertising efforts thrive, you need to stay on top of the recent trends and amendments of the process. Besides, you also need to be abreast of the upcoming recommendations and venues of distribution.

Commercial terms: It’s essential to be well-versed with the intrinsic nature of various media properties to be adept at negotiation. The cost-benefit matrix must be the leading factor of consideration so that your ads receive maximum exposure at optimum cost and lead to a profitable closure.

Therefore, identifying the right space and time for your ads to appear, finding the optimal channel to buy them and negotiating a cost-effective purchase are the 3 key factors for your advertisement to turn around the anticipated ROI.

Failing at any of the above may not end up giving you the best returns out of your investment. Hence, approaching an expert agency would help you simplify the whole process and beget imperial results.

We, at Urja communications, have been into media buying over a decade and can fetch you the desired outcome for your advertising efforts. To know more about how we can assist you, feel free to contact us here.