Process of Media Planning
1.) Environmental Analysis
Environment analysis is the first step taken by the advertiser at the time of media planning. This analysis is done by taking a review of internal or external factors. The advertiser has to analyze
1.) Who is the Target Customer
2.) Internal and external factors.
3.) Time for delivering the message.
2.) Media Objective
Media objective means what is the purpose of communicating the message. The purpose is to spread awareness, change the attitude of the customer, increase sales, recall the product, etc. The objective decides the type of media to be selected or the nature of the advertising.
3.) Developing and Implementing Media Strategies
a.) Media MIX
b.) Scheduling
c.) Creative Aspects
d.) Flexibility
a.) Media MIX
Media mix means that advertisers have to choose one effective media from all the alternatives or to create a correlation between them that all the media alternatives are used in an optimal manner. This depends upon the nature of the product, type of advertising, size of the budget, etc.
b.) Scheduling
Scheduling means the number of times an advertisement ( once or ten times in a day, morning, or evening time ) appears in each medium, the size of advertisements, the date or month at which the ads are to appear. Proper time and selection of media are required to make the advertising effective.
c.) Creative Aspects
Creativity is the most important aspect as there is a lot of competition in the market. It is the most efficient way to create memorable, long-lasting impressions for your target customers. If your ads have creativity customers will spend time on it. Experiments observed that creative messages get more attention and change attitudes about the products being advertised.
d.) Flexibility
If a company and advertiser want effective advertisement, then there must be some flexibility in it. In today's time, the internal and external environment changes rapidly, so the advertiser has to change there policy as per the changing environment. It requires flexibility in advertising whenever it is required.
4.) Implementation Media Plan
Implementation is the process of converting strategies and plans into actions to achieve strategic objectives and goals. In this stage, the media planner implements the media plan. All the strategies should be implemented effectively so that advertiser gets a favorable result.
5.) Evaluation and Follow-up
After implementation, it is the last step to follow up on the media plan and to evaluates its effectiveness to know that media planning has contributed to achieving overall advertising objectives. It will help the advertiser to know the success or failure of the advertising campaign. If media planning is not effective then proper action is taken in the future to fulfill the gap.
Problems in Media Planning
1.) Insufficient Information
2.) Time Pressure
3.) Difficulty in Audience Measurement
4.) Difficulty in Cost Comparison
5.) Inadequate Expertise
1.) Insufficient Information
Media planning requires huge information regarding target customers. It includes the information of age, taste, attitude, education level, geographical area, etc. The advertiser also needs information about the strategies of competitors. Advertising company requires information about advertising agency rates, Image, rating, etc for selecting the best agency.
2.) Time Pressure
Change in the environment is sudden and quick. These sudden changes require quick decisions by the advertiser regarding advertisements. If media planning is made without proper analysis then all the efforts get wasted. It creates a lot of time pressure on advertisers because they have to make quick decisions at the appropriate time.
3.) Difficulty in Audience Measurement
Audience measurement means the number of persons who spend most of their time on a particular media. It is very difficult to know the number of audiences on a particular media, mostly in broadcast media. For example, it is difficult to know how many watch a particular television program. If the number of audiences of a media is known, still it is very difficult to know the number of target customers out of them.
4.) Difficulty in Cost Comparison
While estimating the cost of different media it creates trouble for the right selection because the cost of different media is available on a different basis.
For example -
1. cost per word or square centimeter is known in the case of print media.
2. In the case of broadcast media, cost per second is known.
5.) Inadequate Expertise
Media planning is not an easy task it requires expert those have deep knowledge for selecting the right media. It requires the services of talented, experienced, and skilled advertisers. If the advertisers do not have sufficient knowledge, experience, talent then media decisions may go wrong and effort gets wasted.
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