Successful ad campaigns depend on effective media planning and media buying using an integrated approach across traditional, digital, and social media channels. That’s why our team includes experienced integrated media planners and buyers. Delivering advertising messages to audiences where they consume media – across multiple devices – will increase brand awareness and drive qualified visitors to your website.

Every advertising campaign should be planned with the measurable results in mind

Cost-effective ad campaign development begins with the desired result in mind, whether that’s to inform, persuade, or remind consumers about your product or service. Media research guides our strategic advertising plans, while real-time campaign reporting and evaluations guide ongoing optimizations to produce even further cost efficiencies.

Our media buying approach and process

Better media strategies and buying negotiations lead to greater campaign results. To launch and manage advertising campaigns, we follow this media planning process:

1. Campaign brief. We do our research and ask the right questions to understand your strategic initiatives and clarify long-term and short-term advertising goals. We define your target audience(s), allocate the advertising budget, and set the desired key performance indicators (KPIs) needed to achieve your objectives with the paid media campaign. We start with a discovery session with you to dive deep on audience targets and analyze current program performance, so that we can find opportunities for improvements. A campaign brief encapsulates what we hear and what we see as the path forward to get buy-in for the media plan.

2. Media research and planning. We use media research against the target audience(s) to determine media usage, how media will perform with the target(s), and how it’s performed in the past to choose the correct channels for ad placement. We construct a media plan unique to each target audience and its respective media goals. This includes creative specs for smooth ad production, as well as the campaign deployment schedule. Media plans are fine-tuned collaboratively prior to final approval before entering the ad negotiation and ad buying stage. Media plans include:

1. Campaign overview – Background, goals, objectives
2. Audience targets – Primary and secondary, along with any demographics
3. Advertising campaign strategy – Rationale and approach for the entire media campaign
4. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) – Outlined by media channel
5. Media mix recommendation – Including budget breakouts and KPI benchmarks by media channel, as well as rationales for media considered and not used. The mix may include:
   –  Traditional media (TV, radio, OOH)
   –  Digital media (programmatic)
   –  Social media with social platform specific targeting tactics outlined
6. Campaign flight dates – Including schedule for production deadlines
7. Campaign buying approach – Including negotiation tactics for partnerships, content syndication, etc.
8. Media campaign optimization plan – Including shifting budget between channels depending on performance
9. Media campaign creative – messaging plan and ad specifications by medium

3. Media negotiation and buying. Strong negotiation lies at the core of media buying competency. Our media buyers have the relationships and experience to negotiate directly with publishers and partner with media. We have the certifications and know-how to purchase media direct-to-media for traditional and direct-to-platform for digital (demand side platform/DSP) and social. Our buying is not outsourced nor managed by media subsidiaries which adds to the cost of media purchased and reduces control. We provide the most efficient, hands-on, optimized real-time, efficient media placements and media partnerships for clients.

4. Media code. We always ensure the media tracking code is properly tested and/or added in advance of ad placements to capture performance against the KPIs. In addition to the media tracking code, we help ensure your social profiles are up to date for proper ad placement capabilities. Due to privacy updates on the platforms, business verifications at the admin level are often needed.

5. Media ad placement. If ads aren’t placed and tagged correctly, they can’t run nor be tracked correctly. We manage the ad placement, code setup, and tracking capabilities of ads with the media publishers and platforms purchased.

6. Media data collection. We use media buying software to aggregate the media buy data so performance can be monitored across all multi-media channels. Our software collects publishers’ data and tracks the performance of each media buying campaign.

7. Media data analysis. Using universal pixels, we use this quality first-party web traffic data to grow engagement through custom audiences and retargeting to lead an audience from one action to another—based on your conversion goals.

8. Media optimizations and placement monitoring. For digital and social media, we continually apply manual, artificial intelligence (AI), and machine learning or a combination of all three to optimize media buys. AI in digital advertising generates better outcomes for campaigns by using predictive modeling to find and optimize audiences and placements that are more likely to convert. AI and machine learning optimizations allow us to:

• Reduce ad spend waste to optimize media.
• Increase conversions with best device type, placement, and price.
• Reduce the tedious manual optimizations that can cause errors, so we can spend more time on all-up media campaign strategy.

Optimizations are based on unique campaign goals and adjust throughout the campaign to allow for maximum efficiencies and media performance. For traditional media, all placements are monitored for accuracy and deliverability, requesting makegoods on anything that underperforms.

9. Media invoicing and billing. We intake all media invoices, reconcile for accuracy and deliverability, manage under-deliveries and makegoods (if any), and corollate with metrics reporting.

10. Media metrics reporting. For each campaign, we build key online behaviors as ‘online events’ in website analytics. We provide media metrics reports using an automated API customized client-facing reporting dashboard at agreed upon intervals (real-time for digital/monthly for traditional) providing consistent reporting to showcase campaign performance, and help the entire team make media strategy, planning, buying, and creative modifications based on performance metrics. Media metrics are at the heart of integrated media campaigns success. The metrics to track and demonstrate success for your advertising campaign will be determined during strategy and planning.

For brand awareness and consideration, media channel KPIs include:

• Total media impressions (purchased vs. delivered)
• Cost per impression (CPM/eCPM)
• Impressions won (digital and social)
• Total clicks
• Click Through Rate (CTR)
• Cost Per Click (CPC)
• Audio completes
• Video starts and quartile %s completes (viewed 25%, 50%, 75%, 100%)
• View Through Rate (VTR)
• Engagements for social media
• Contextual insights report (to find additional targeting opportunities and tactics)
• Ad creative report (to fine-tune messaging by segment)
• Brand lift

For acquisition and conversions, KPIs opportunities include:

• Click Through Rate (CTR) (vs. awareness CTRs) to gauge retargeting tactics
• Cost per Click (CPC) (vs. awareness) to monitor retargeting tactics
• Cost per Acquisition/Lead (CPA/CPL)
• Click Through Completion (CTC) by segment
• View Through Completion (VTC) by segment

For all-up media campaigns, KPIs may include:

• Return on Investment (ROI)
• Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) if available

With so many options for advertising placement including traditional, digital, and social media channels, media planning is more complex than ever. You need a team that knows how to deliver a media mix that will have impact by guiding your ideal prospect through the customer journey.

Want to learn more about our approach to planning media campaigns?
Contact us.