Media Dilemma

Planning a killer online media strategy

Media alternatives today can be described in a single word: Crowded! All too often, media planners put together too many media in a strategy. Most of the times this poses a serious threat when it comes to online media buying or selling. The strategies chalked out are often not in sync with what the client wanted/expected. This may lead to serious trouble between the agency and the client.

Traditional media planning differs greatly from its online counterpart. Elements of the traditional media mix can also be effectively integrated into the online media plan.

The elements of the traditional media strategy document are:

• Marketing Objectives and Strategies
  
• Media Objectives and Strategies
  
• Target Audience
  
• Plan Considerations
  
• Considered Vehicles
  
• Budget

The traditional strategy document kicks off with a statement of marketing objectives and strategies, followed immediately by a discussion of the media objectives and strategies. What differs when an agency adds interactive media to the mix? Not much. However, one important distinction is that the interactive effort is likely to be much more trackable than a traditional advertising campaign. Keeping this in mind always helps while setting quantified goals for the campaign.

A traditional media objective attempts to generate as many sales of a product as possible, whereas an interactive media objective should spell out exactly how many sales the marketer should aim for with this campaign. This makes it easier to gauge success during and after the campaign.

Right at the outset since objectives have been stated, it becomes appropriate to show the client how the agency might purchase the media in order to attain the objectives of those goals. For instance, if the agency efforts hope to achieve a target of hundred cars being sold through the campaign for the Bombay dealership, then accordingly the budget and the target cost per sale can be determined. In either case, the agency needs to discuss a buying strategy with the client to reassure him that his money is not being squandered away.

Demonstrate to your client that you know who the target is for his product or service, and how to reach them effectively and efficiently. Taking into consideration the geography of the effort, the target's surfing habits, and the different ways to use ad servers to target ads to your audience, show the client exactly how you would reach his audience online.

For instance, a campaign for an automobile dealership in Bombay might use an IP address aiming to minimise the number of ads seen outside Bombay. Additionally, you would likely want to keep ads focused by serving them on related sites, to maximise the chance of addressing a new car buyer while he's researching his purchase.

The discussion of considered media vehicles should be more detailed than it might be in a traditional media strategy document. Not only does the agency need to show specific media vehicles like ChaloMumbai and Afternoon.com, but it also needs to discuss the editorial environments within each media vehicle that would be appropriate for the client's message.

Once again, if the campaign is for a Bombay car dealership, you as an agency would have to list the different content areas within Excite and other such websites that are appropriate, such as the automobile category and the keywords "car," "Lexus," "Porsche," and so on.

It's always important to remember that technology can target only upto a limit. There's no substitute for contextual relevance in advertising.

Related reading:

1. "Media Buying Today -- The Way it Really Is"; Willhoft, Gene; Strategic Media Planning and Buying; Feb 2001
2. "Hot Air"; Avila, Emily & Sherwin, Greg; Connecting Online; Feb 2000
3. "Media on the edge of transformation"; Dignam, Conor; Marketing; Nov 1999