Consumers have long been exposed to a tremendous amount of advertisements daily, but today they are spread across as many as 20 different media platforms. With linear TV, streaming CTV/OTT, radio, out-of-home, podcasts and a wide variety of paid search, digital outreach and social media options, it’s increasingly challenging for companies to know what to do.
According to Nielsen’s recent analysis of more than 100,000 brands, an optimal media mix across advertisers does not exist. The best way to narrow down your options is by drilling down on four core questions that should guide every buy: who are your typical customers, what is your main goal, what is your budget and how do you measure success? Once that’s done, utilizing an experienced, customer-focused agency to help you navigate your choices and keep things turnkey makes things even better!
Let’s use a fake company called ComfyCute Couches to help us navigate the following questions:
- Who are your typical customers?
One of the most important pieces of information in media buying is who you are trying to reach, and the more specific the better. For instance, while a large group of homeowners and renters could use couches, it’s helpful to home in on the “ideal” customer, especially when working with limited budgets. For instance, ComfyCute might focus on younger homeowners 35-44, with a household income of $80,000 that live within 20 miles of its stores and are furnishing a new home or planning an interior refresh.
That information will go a long way in determining your media choices. With a narrowly defined target and limited budget, highly targeted digital tactics like addressable digital outreach or pre-roll advertising would likely be prioritized over broader-reach media such as radio or broadcast TV.
- What is your main goal?
For ComfyCute, as well as most businesses, the ultimate goal is certainly sales. But it’s critical to further define your goals whenever possible. If ComfyCute is a new business, the strategy likely needs to begin with building brand awareness, which would typically utilize a broader advertising approach and require more money. Or perhaps ComfyCute is established and only focused on generating online sales, making paid search, digital outreach and social media particularly helpful to prompt click throughs.
Not only does the end goal matter, but your goals should also include a timeline and be realistic. For example, even if ComfyCute is an established business, increasing sales by 30% in two months is not very doable.
One more thing businesses must consider is that an effective media plan can and should lead ideal prospects to you, but it is not responsible for sales conversions (unless it’s lead-based). Essentially, ComfyCute must also ensure their website is user-friendly with an easy check-out process.
- What is your budget?
Budgets help determine what types of advertising are best suited for goals, how broadly and consistently you can reach your ideal customers and for how long. One of the few benefits of media fragmentation is that there are many more affordable choices out there. Gone are the days where ComfyCute would have to spend a fortune on Sunday newspaper ads or linear TV.
As you set your budget, consider both production and media space costs. For example, if ComfyCute’s goal is building brand awareness and they feel CTV/OTT streaming TV would be ideal for showing their product, they must factor in that TV production is more costly than creating digital ads.
Whenever budget allows, some sort of media mix is ideal. In fact, that same Neilsen report found that cross-media strategies could yield a 5X improvement in on-target reach. The key is not to include too many mediums or stretch the budget too thinly over too long of a time period. Here are two tiered illustrative examples for ComfyCute in building their online sales:
$10,000 / 3-month plan: Offers several digital choices and allows for optimization between mediums as plan progresses
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- Digital display/pre-roll video: $4,500
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- Paid Search: $3,000
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- Social: $2,500
$50,000 / 6-month plan: Offers varied digital choices and, with more dollars, can be supported by streaming CTV/OTT to expand reach, build awareness and help drive consumers to visit the website
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- Digital display + pre-roll: $12,000
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- Paid Search: $15,000
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- Social: $8,000
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- Streaming CTV/OTT: $15,000
- How do you measure success?
Measuring different levels of metrics, including what we’ll call “bonus” metrics, is key. Let’s say ComfyCute was going for a 10% increase in online sales in a six-month period. They should also be measuring the number of website visits and engagement rate of those visits. Bonus metrics might include increases in social media followers or the store’s foot traffic. Analysis of metrics not only determines the value of the buy you just completed but helps inform future decisions.
How the right agency can help:
While we certainly hope this article will help you look at any media buys in a more strategic way, the best and easiest way to level is up your media buys is by using an experienced agency like Daigle Creative. We bring more than 25 years of strategy, market knowledge and trusted media vendors to the table. We also negotiate good pricing for premium products and have a long history of implementing added-value when possible. Plus, we analyze buys in real-time so we can adjust where needed, and we provide user-friendly post-campaign reporting. Best of all, we make sure the entire process is turnkey.
Let us help you determine which choices deserve your dollars and why. Reach out at info@daiglecreative.com or call 904.880.9595.