It's no secret that just creating advertisements does not guarantee brand success; advertisements must be properly positioned in front of the appropriate audiences.

You're also aware that advertising isn't what it used to be in this day and age.

There is more competition than ever before, as well as more customers with specific interests to whom you may tailor your message and more channels through which to reach them.

In many respects, we are living in a revolutionary period, with tremendous opportunities to be imaginative, tactical, and dynamic; nevertheless, in other ways, we are living in a terrifying, intimidating, and competitive period.

Now, let's dive into the basics.

What Is Media Planning?

It is the process of finding the best way to spread a marketing message through different media sources. Doing research, finding, comparing, evaluating, planning, and working with a brand's budget are all part of the job.

What Is Media Buying?

Media Buying is a supplementary, secondary process in which an individual or agency uses insights gained from the media planner to discover and negotiate the purchase of advertising space across the many media channels that have been identified.

This may either be automated or done manually, based on your preferences, aims, target audience, budget, and other factors, among other things.

What Is a Media Plan?

A Media Plan is the overall, cumulative outcome of both of the preceding activities, as well as a final review of the campaign's efficacy.

The Process of Media Planning

One way to think about media planning is as the first line of defense for a marketing campaign that is about to be launched. The media planner is in charge of the fundamentals, which include:

Internal Market Research - Market research that is conducted within an organization. Prior to beginning work with a company or brand, a skilled media planner would consult with them thoroughly to understand the major objectives and goals of their marketing campaign, and to determine who the target audience is or should be. External Market research will be carried out as a result of this.

External Market Research – During the external research stage, a media planner will gather and evaluate information about the market as a whole, examine industry trends, evaluate the competition, identify target audiences, and discover where those consumers are most engaged with advertising content. Here is where the marketer must go deeply into the intricacies of a certain target group in order to establish their habits, where they go for information, what items they care about and why they care about them, and what media channels they are accessing at various times throughout the day. From this point on, it is feasible to identify media goals.

Defining Media Objectives– After doing a thorough study of the market and target audience, a media planner will go deep into the media landscape to decide which channels will be the most successful for reaching the target demographic in question.

·       Are we talking about traditional media outlets such as television and radio, print ads in magazines, billboards, or newspapers, or something else entirely?

·       Or will it be digital media such as mobile, social media, video, and search engine marketing (SEM)?

Consumers get and interact with material in a variety of ways, both traditional and digital, in a variety of formats. As a result, the primary goal of a media planner is to identify the optimal media mix for reaching their client's target demographic across all media channels.

Following the selection of channels, the media planner will indicate interest in the inventory of suppliers by issuing Requests for Proposals (RFPs) (requests for proposals).

Adequate Budgeting — As with any company arrangement, maintaining within budget and optimizing the use of a given budget is account management 101. As a media planner, it is critical that you not only assess how to best communicate a brand's message, but also that you distribute cash in the most cost-effective manner. Going above and above the budget isn't the only factor here, of course. A thorough study should equip a media planner with the knowledge necessary to determine how to allocate the money.

Will they allocate 50 percent of their budget to social media, 25 percent to mobile commercials, 10 percent to billboards, and the remaining 30 percent to radio advertising? What do they propose in terms of acquiring assured inventory against RTB (real-time bidding) as the best option? They will make the decision, but they must ensure that it is a considered decision!

It's time to pass the ball to the media buyer.

The Process of Media Buying

In marketing, media buying is the process of getting a plan off the paper and putting it into action in the real world. In this sense, a media buyer may be referred to as "The Executor" [in the best possible sense] because they are accountable for seeing the plan through to completion.

Have you ever seen footage of a stockbroker or trader on the floor of a financial institution? It's complete chaos! An exhilarating blast of energy! It's exhilarating to watch, but it's infamously difficult to live.

While media buying isn't exactly as dramatic as it appears on the surface, it is all about negotiating. That's on top of the connections. A media buyer is responsible for the following:

Establishing Connections - Establishing connection with others. A media buyer, like any effective salesperson, should be well-versed in the development and maintenance of relationships with media providers (publishers and channel owners). As automated techniques for acquiring ad inventory become more popular, the direct need to manage a media vendor relationship is becoming less typical. However, it is still a valuable skill to possess.

Negotiating and Buying – As soon as the ads are ready for distribution and the RFPs have been sent out, it is time to begin negotiating the purchase of advertising space. There are a variety of elements that influence the price of advertising space, the most important of which are traffic and exposure. If the media planner has done their job well, the potential will more than compensate for the cost. This means that the media buyer must make every effort to obtain ad space at a price that is comparable with, or lower than, the amount of money that has been set aside for the purchase. A media planner may advise customers to acquire guaranteed inventory or to purchase non-guaranteed inventory [also known as RTB] according on their specific needs.

Monitoring and Optimizing - The monitoring and optimization of the performance of ads is one of the most important tasks. It is the media buyer's obligation to monitor the advertising throughout their campaign cycle and guarantee that they are being optimized once ad space has been negotiated and paid. If this is not the case, it is necessary to rethink the media approach.

What Role Will Media Planning Play in the Future?

If you want to ensure that your advertisement appears on the radar of your target audience, media planning and purchase are essential.

It is clear that the trend of automation in the marketing sector is on the upward slope.

As programmatic buying has grown in popularity over the last decade, there is every indication that the demand to integrate automation across conventional, digital, owned, earned, and paid media will only increase in the future.