6 Factors to consider for successful Media Planning

A level playing field has somewhat arrived. The days of wide spectrum, and i use that term lightly, advertising being only reserved to the big budget established leviathans of any given industry are slowly fading. In todays market, the smart and creative marketer takes full advantage of a large number of options when embarking on media planning.

What are some of these options?

-Social (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, etc.)
-Television ( TVC, television commercial)
-Radio (AM, FM, XM, Pandora, Spotify)
-Newspapers Magazines (consumer and trade)
-Outdoor billboards
-Ambient experiential
-Public transportation
-Direct Media (DM) Digital advertising (such as web-based, mobile and mobile applications)
-Search Engine Marketing (SEM, keyword marketing in search engines)
-Specialty advertising (on items such as matchbooks, pencils, calendars, telephone pads, shopping -bags and so on)
-Other media (catalogs, samples, handouts, brochures, newsletters and so on)

Navigating through this minefield of options may be daunting, but by understanding the client, and the target market well, a clear path can be found.

Expressed as a percentage, reach is the number of individuals (or homes) to expose the product to through media scheduled over a period of time.

Using specific media, how many times, on average, should the individuals in the target audience be exposed to the advertising message? It takes an average of three or more exposures to an advertising message before consumers take action.

How much will it cost to reach a thousand prospective customers (a method used in comparing print media)? To determine a publication's cost per thousand, also known as CPM, divide the cost of the advertising by the publication's circulation in thousands.

How much will it cost to buy one rating point of your target audience, a method used in comparing broadcast media. One rating point equals 1 percent of the target audience. Divide the cost of the schedule being considered by the number of rating points it delivers.

Does the medium in question offer full opportunities for appealing to the appropriate senses, such as sight and hearing, in its graphic design and production quality?

to what degree can the message be restricted to those people who are known to be the most logical prospects?

In media planning, reach is one of the most important factors, as the whole media planning is all about reach. The Purpose of the reach is exposure of brand. The higher the reach; the higher the brand exposure and of course, higher exposure means high chances of new customers. When it comes to media planning most of the businesses decide well in advanced what their target market would be.

They choose their target market on the assumption that they already know who their customers would be, even though, choosing a target market for reach in media planning could be a very successful way to get to the potential customers of the brand, but this method leaves out potential customers outside of the target market; Customers the brand thought were not important to reach to.

Smart businesses also reach outside of their targeted market in order to know other segments that could be targeted. Therefore, starting with a broader reach and then choosing target markets would be a much informed decision; derived from actual data rater than just assumption. A broader reach is also beneficial for general brand awareness, otherwise many people outside of the targeted market never even get to hear about the brand.