The 3 Stages of Media Buying You Need to Know

Jun 27, 2022

<a href="https://www.ewrdigital.com/author/geoffcampbell" target="_self">Geoff Campbell</a>

Geoff Campbell

Geoff Campbell is a PPC and Paid Media Manager for eCommerce, Industrial, and Enterprise brands.
Media marketing is vital for businesses. When done correctly, it targets the right audience, letting them know what a brand offers. But many business owners make poor advertising decisions because they don’t understand media buying basics. Some even find media buying challenging and get confused by today’s numerous online marketing options. Before investing in digital marketing, it’s crucial to understand the concept of media buying so you know how to get the most from it.   Media buying is the process of negotiating and purchasing advertising on mediums such as websites, mobile apps, television, newspapers, and radio. Normally, a buyer gets an ad space for a specific period, after which the advertising medium  will take the ad down unless the contract is renewed. The goal of media buying is to secure placements on channels that are most relevant to your brand’s audience at the lowest price. Media buying involves having an impressive ad copy and selecting placement; it requires extensive media planning. Media planning helps you identify the right time, place, and context to deliver ads to your target audience and increase brand awareness, sales, or conversion rates. Without media planning, you may not effectively convey your brand’s message to your target audience or achieve whatever digital campaign goal you set. You can hire a media planning specialist to help make your media buying journey easier. There are three primary stages of media buying: pre-launch, launch, and post-launch. You should pay attention to all three stages to achieve the best results. This guide will take you through each phase of media buying in digital marketing so you’ll be well equipped for the process.  

Media Buying Stage One: Pre-Launch 

This is the planning or decision-making phase where you reach vital media decisions. Planning is essential for every business decision because it helps you know the resources you need and weigh all available options. When buying media, create time to meticulously outline every factor that matters in your media choices to reduce the risk of failure. Pre-launch is the most time-consuming phase of media planning, and it requires in-depth research. The main focus at this point is to ensure that you choose a media outlet that aligns with your advertising objectives. Here’s what you need in your pre-launching stage:

  • Identify Your Target Market

Identifying your target market is the first step of your media buying pre-launch. It gives you a clear picture of who you’ll be reaching and shapes other aspects of your campaign. Ask yourself who you want your brand’s message to reach. Segment your prospective audience based on demographics such as gender, age, occupation, marital, and social status. Also, group them by their habits, interests, and geographical location.   

  • Understand Your Target Audience

After identifying your target audience, learn about their typical behavior, especially what they usually do online. Find out what online platforms and devices they use and the websites they regularly visit.  Mastering their online behavior will help you decide the best place to place your ad. A media planning specialist can guide you through this process. Alternatively, use free or paid market research tools online.  

  • Consider How To Reach Your Target Audience

Once you’ve gained insight into your target group, figure out the best way to reach them with your ads. For instance, if a more significant percentage of your target group is active on a particular social network, consider placing your ads there so they can easily see them. If they usually purchase items from specific websites, consider getting placements for your ads on those websites. 

  • Research the Competition

You’re not the only brand trying to get the attention of your target group. Chances are, some of your competitors have a grasp of media buying than you and are excelling at it. So, research the competition and find out what worked for them and what did not. Look at the audience they’re targeting, how they’re buying media, where they place their ads, and what platforms use in running their campaigns. With this information, you’ll learn from their experiences and save time and resources you would have spent on the wrong campaigns. You will also know how to compete favorably in the market.    

  • Develop Your Media Buying Strategy

After researching and knowing what worked for your competition, it’s time to come up with your own media strategy. Remember, you’re not supposed to copy their strategy because your campaign goals may be different from theirs.  Create a unique media buying strategy by finding out the type of advertising that corresponds with your brand and campaign goals. Next, think about how you’ll execute your media buying, the challenges you may encounter along the way, and how to overcome them.  

  • Choose Your Media Channel

There are various online marketing channels to choose from, such as social media marketing and third-party websites. Some media buyers stick to one channel, while others buy ad spaces simultaneously on different channels. If you opt for multiple channels, you may need to develop content with a personally tailored message for each one. This is because what works on one channel may not work for others.  

  • Select Your Media Outlets and Negotiate on Price

After you’ve chosen the channel you intend to use; it’s time to search for the media outlet you’ll be buying ad space from. Look at their price offerings and ask about their bonuses or discounts. If you’re using a media planning specialist, this wouldn’t be challenging since they already know what’s obtainable in the market.  

  • Track Offers From Competition

Find out the prices other publishers are offering to have an idea of the market price and make a comparison. If it’s not good enough, activate your bargaining skills. Don’t be afraid to negotiate regardless of the publisher. To give yourself a negotiation advantage, think about anything the media owner stands to benefit from you and put it on the table. They’ll likely be willing to offer you a significant discount if they consider it a win-win deal.  Media owners often offer discounts to regular investors. So, consider creating a long-term relationship with them. If you work with a media owner but don’t achieve your desired result at the first attempt, don’t bailout. Consider giving them a second chance and allowing them to tweak their approach a bit. They could perform better this time and gladly offer you the service at a better price. 

  • Allocate Your Campaign Budget

After you’ve identified your publisher, set your campaign budget based on your expected return on investment. Your return on investment should be based on your online marketing goals. It could be to get more clicks, sign-ups, or conversions. You could also be looking at getting your website’s visitors who put items in their carts to complete their purchases. Whatever the goals you want to achieve through media buying, make sure you assign a budget for them. 

  • Estimate Your Expenditures

Estimate your expenditures on media buying for a specific time frame: daily, monthly, or yearly. If you use multiple channels, spread your expenditure estimate across all channels. When estimating expenditures for pay-per-click ads, make provisions for unforeseen expenses since the amount you pay is not predetermined. Above all, remember only to invest your money when there’s a potential of getting returns. Estimate Expenditures  

Media Buying Stage Two: Launch

After completing your pre-launch, it’s time to dive into the campaign launch. In the launch phase, your primary focus should be to ensure that you effectively deliver your ad and monitor its performance.  You may discover things you do not speculate about during the planning phase. If that’s the case, make necessary adjustments to ensure a smooth running of your media campaign. You should pay attention to the following during your campaign launch:

Ensure Efficient Media Delivery

Your media buying can only be successful when your ad reaches the right people (your target audience). So, you must ensure that the advert you pay for appears in the desired location, at the right time, and in the proper context.  The message you deliver should be relevant to your target audience. They should perceive it as something that brings them value rather than a disturbance. This would depend on the ad space you’re using and the kind of people that use it. No matter how compelling or appealing your message sounds, the wrong audience will not appreciate it. That’s why you must use the appropriate ad space.  

Monitor Your Audience’s Behavior and Competitor Activities

Once your ad is out there, try to track your progress and how customers are engaging with the ads. Sometimes, media buyers discover that their potential customers aren’t interacting with their ads as desired. Perhaps, they aren’t getting the number of clicks, sign-ups, purchases, or calls they anticipated. In that case, find out the possible reasons. Maybe the message is unclear, or the keywords you used aren’t relevant to your brand or what you’re advertising. You should also watch your competitors’ performances and keep up with industry trends.

Make Adjustments

After observing how your prospective clients respond to your ad and taking note of the possible reasons, it’s time to make adjustments. It’s not unusual to make a few mistakes before getting your ads right. Many brands with the best ads had the same experiences at first.  Be flexible and adapt quickly if your ads aren’t meeting the initial objectives. You may need to tweak your ad copy a bit or completely redo it. In some cases, you’ll require a budget adjustment. It’s essential you set up a time for regular reassessment and review of your campaign. 

Media Buying Stage Three: Post-Launch  

Your post-launch phase is the time to reflect on the entire campaign. You should check how well it delivered your brand’s message, generated a return on investment, and how much customer engagement it brought. Even if the campaign is over at this point, you must draw the correct conclusions based on accurate data. This will give you insights to aid your subsequent media planning. Here’s what you need to do during your post-launch:

Gather Data

Data is a beneficial tool in digital marketing. So, gather as much data as possible. You can collate data using an analytics platform or look at the number of sales or email sign-ups you had while your ad was running.  You can also check the number of internet users that visited your website after clicking on the ad link and completing a purchase. The goal should be to aggregate all data that are relevant to your business and your campaign goals. 

Analyze the Performance of the Campaign

Once you have all the statistics in place, it is time to use them. Look at the major and minor trends in the data and compare them with how they were before launching your campaign. Pinpoint the strengths and weaknesses of the campaign based on your findings and document them.  Now would also be an excellent time to look through the comments left on your website or social media pages while your ad was running. Find out whether they were primarily positive or negative. If they were positive, it means you got your campaign right and reached the correct audience with a relevant message. If you have mostly negative comments, try to find out why. The beauty of such comments is that some of them bluntly tell you your weaknesses. You can leverage that as a pedestal for improvement. Another area to analyze at this point is your finances. Find out the total cost of your campaign and if you exceed your initial budget at the end. Also, take note of the setbacks you encountered during your campaign. Ask yourself if they could have been avoided or if they are typical challenges in media buying.  

Draw Conclusions

After analyzing your data, draw insights from them. If you used multiple media owners or media channels, find out which of them performed best. With this, you’ll know which channel or publisher to use for your next media marketing campaign.  Try to look at the data from different angles and, if possible, get someone else to share their perspective. If you hire a media planning specialist, they can help you analyze your campaign data and draw helpful conclusions.
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