An advertising media plan is a strategy for marketing your business through certain media channels to achieve a business goal, such as raising brand awareness to obtain new customers. Maximizing your chances of success depends on careful research and implementation, as well as your knowledge of media buying and basic marketing strategies.
Function
The main function of a media plan is to create an advertising campaign that will achieve your strategic objective. Specifically, an advertising media plan defines your strategic marketing objectives, chooses media channels suitable for achieving those objectives and identifies the specific advertising tactics that will achieve your objectives given the limitations of the chosen media channels.
Strategic Marketing Objectives
Without a clear objective, you can’t form a marketing plan, according to “Marketing Plans: How to Prepare Them, How to Use Them.” a book by Malcolm McDonald and Hugh Wilson. A typical marketing objective is to gain new customers, but companies sometimes have other goals, such as to restore goodwill after a scandal, announce a name change or declare a new philanthropic commitment. The marketing objective is the guiding force of your campaign, so each subsequent choice must take your overall objective into account.
Choosing Media Channels
If you don’t target the right people, it won’t matter how well you execute other elements of your plan, according to “Advertising Media Planning: A Brand Management Approach,” a book by Larry D. Kelley and Donald W. Jugenheimer. Consider your intended audience while choosing media channels. For example, if your goal is to catch the attention of young housewives, magazines that cater to the elderly are unsuitable. Instead, you might use market research to identify radio and television shows that young housewives enjoy so you can buy advertising time. Other examples of media channels include billboards, newspapers, direct mail advertisements, brochures and branded items, such as matchbooks, pens or refrigerator magnets emblazoned with your marketing message.
Tactics
Your choice of specific tactics for example, the wording, color and location of a print advertisement depends on the general requirements and limitations of the medium. Consequently, unless you have extensive experience, hire a marketing consultant or advertising agency to obtain expert insight. For example, to conjure an image for the listening audience, a radio advertisement might require sound effects, background music, an expert announcer and evocative writing, according to “Marketing Communications.” a book by Ludi Koekemoer and Steve Bird. Each element requires expert insight to ensure it conforms to the radio station’s specifications as well as supporting effective marketing strategies.