Media buying should be a significant part of your advertising strategy since it can magnify your investment and maximize the impact of your campaign. Even if you have no deep understanding of how advertising works, you still have an idea that primetime spots command premium prices.

What is Media Buying and why is It crucial to your advertising journey

Have you ever wondered how companies choose a primetime spot or even the radio or TV station where they will place their ad? Truth is, they don’t. These companies have hired experts who crunch the numbers and pore over all the data to find that sweet spot to generate action at the least cost. 

In marketing parlance, this is called cost per action. And you want to keep the amount as low as possible to trigger a positive response from the audience.

It’s even more crucial nowadays with the sea of platforms to place your advertisements. Aside from traditional channels, such as TV, radio, billboards, newspapers, and magazines, you also have digital platforms like websites, social media, online forums, search engines, and emails. 

But one rookie mistake of companies is considering traditional and digital platforms as mutually exclusive where they must choose one or the other. 

In fact, blending platforms—such as Google display advertising running in tandem with a TV spot—can drive amazing results. 

You can buy media through the following methods:

1Direct

As an advertiser, you can purchase a spot to publish your materials at a specific time or space by talking directly with the channel or outlet. 

 

2Network

In this method, you will bid for ad space through supply-side and demand-side platforms. However, prepare to engage in a bidding war with other advertisers for a prime spot.

3Programmatic

Programmatic media buying involves automating the entire process of purchasing digital space. It involves combining algorithms and big data to deliver ads to the target audience at the right moment.

Top Reasons Why Your Marketing Strategy Must Include Media Buying 

Here are some arguments that justify hiring a media buyer to handle your digital or traditional advertising campaign.  

It rationalizes your advertising budget

At the start of the budget cycle, you only allocate a percentage of your capital on marketing without any detailed plan. As a result, you have already run out of money midway through the year, forcing you to stop advertising spending.

In contrast, media planning is a crucial component of media buying. It serves as a blueprint to ensure you do not go rogue from the original strategy. With a media plan, you are not shooting blindly as you spend recklessly, praying your investment will yield returns. 

Reduce risks

Media buyers utilize real-time analytics, so you start your media buying journey with a map in hand to ensure that you are on the right track. The insights gained from mining data allow you to identify your target audience, determine their pain points, and establish their tendencies and buying behavior to reduce the risks of wasting your advertising investment. 

More importantly, media buyers also perform metrics to track impressions. This way, they can shift strategies for underperforming or non-performing ads. For example, they can decide whether to boost these ads or design another campaign using your input. 

As you can see, you don’t have to continue placing advertisements on one channel that do not deliver the type of numbers you want. Instead, you can funnel your resources to other areas that bring the highest returns.

Get the best deal possible

When you work with a media buying agency, you essentially bring in expert negotiators who know their craft. You cannot be bullied into accepting the first offer from the publisher or media outlet to buy advertising spots. For instance, the marketing executive will give you 5% off their original advertising rates, and you would be very grateful for the gesture that you close the deal immediately. 

However, there are several ways to skin the cat, as they say. First, if that’s the bottom price the agency can give you, the media buyer can negotiate for other add-ons that eventually sweeten the deal. 

The media buyer can convince the publisher to give you one extra day of running your ad before taking it down. You may also get a free press release on a prime spot, which provides you with more mileage.

Generate the most leads out of your investment

Media buying agencies are adept at ad placements and timing. Here are some foods for thought to consider:

  • Do you know your prospects’ pain points and motivations to act? 
  • At what time of the day will they likely consume content, and at what point should you reach them? 
  • How do you prevent your ad from being annoying rather than a welcome distraction? 
  • Should you use a traditional channel or digital platform to run your ad? Can your budget absorb the expected blow if you choose both? 

The media buyer will help answer these questions and design a plan around them. Media buying starts and ends with analytics, so the results will dictate your strategy. For instance, they are experts at ad placements, frequency, and timing to prompt your target market to take action. Even with a limited marketing budget, you know you are spending each dollar to generate maximum impact.

Optimum Control

The media buyer will help you take the reins of your advertising strategy and spending. The expert will spotlight your path so that you can avoid walking blindly in the dark. For instance, you can rationalize your ad inventory by buying spots from a publisher after factoring in the essential elements like ratings, KPIs, keywords, demographics, time, frequency, and location. 

As a result, you will not be swayed by sweet words from marketing executives who may try to persuade you into advertising on their channel or platform. Instead, you can design a blueprint that you can tweak regularly depending on audience impression, ad impact, market forces, and current trends. 

The Media Buying value chain

The media buying value chain involves several crucial steps. 

  • You must first decide the percentage of your marketing budget that you can spend on media buying. You must establish short-term and long-term goals, specifically your advertising inventory. Which of your ads will be rolled out in case your resources thin out, and which will make the cutting floor? A media plan will outline your strategy and prepare you for any eventuality.
  • After you have established your budget, you can now begin sending requests for proposals to various traditional channels or digital platforms for their ad quotations. In some instances, some outlets both have digital and traditional channels, so it’s a good idea to ask for a package deal rate. 
  • Begin designing your ads and other peripherals that will comprise your marketing campaign. These copies will be circulated across different channels and platforms.  
  • Reach an agreement with the publisher to publish your ads. This process is called an insertion order. If you have no experience in advertising, better hire a media buyer who will do all the negotiations for you so you can get the best deal for your money. 
  • The media buyer will also utilize metrics to gauge the results of your ad’s first run. You can also request a report from your partner media channel on the insights of your ads. The initial numbers are crucial to determining the impact of your ads. You can also use the results for A/B testing or KPIs to further hone your copy for optimum impression.
  • Revisit your media buying budget and pit it against revenues, impressions, click-through rates, and generated leads. 
  • Renegotiate with media channels or find new approaches for under-delivering or non-performing ads. 

The media buying journey is never over. Even if you seem to think that the end is in sight, what you think is the last stop is only a crossroad that leads you to new paths. 

Can you handle the Media Buying task on your own?

It’s not against the rule for businesses or organizations to take over the media buying campaign. After all, TV or print marketers will talk to you if you can bring money to their outlets. In fact, they look forward to talking to an inexperienced prospect rather than a media buyer who can lower the ad rates to the bottom price or add some sweeteners to the deal on your behalf. 

Besides, it’s moot and academic if you don’t even have a clue about the best platform to place your ads to funnel the audience to your site. So, with a media buyer by your side, you can:

  • Design an impactful advertising campaign that factors into your budget limitations 
  • Promote brand identity by circulating the right message 
  • An expert guide who ensures that you do not go astray from the plan
  • Always keep track of your performance so you know you are on the right path

In the end, the media buyer will help optimize your ad spend without compromising your business and marketing goals.

Meet The Author

Stephanie Brown

Stephanie Brown is a graphic web developer, content writer, digital marketing pioneer, and all-around animal lover. Stephanie often enjoys inspiring and empowering people to create marketing strategies that customers will love, igniting real results for businesses.