7 Cardinal Virtues of Media Buyers
Posted by Jessie Johnson on Mon, Aug 30, 2010 @ 01:34 AM
The things we shouldn’t do and the hellfire consequences that follow always make for a good read, something like the 7 Deadly Sins of {insert Marketing Tactic or Business Practice}. These posts list the gotchas of implementing our plans and programs, letting us know that yes, someone else has been there, too.
This isn’t one of those posts. Instead, it’s a list of habits and characteristics that make for highly effective and efficient media buying— 7 “virtues” that prevent a visit to one of the 9 Circles of Media Buying Hell (yep, already published “that post”).
7 Cardinal Virtues of Media Buyers
1. Hope. Know your advertising objectives or those of your client. Don’t leave the meeting to start planning without being sure of what results the advertising campaign is meant to drive.
2. Faith. Set goals according to these objectives, use them to guide the media planning process, and have faith that the campaign will be on target.
3. Love. Do market research as though it were a hobby you love. (Maybe it is?) Whether buying in a new or familiar market, know every advertising opportunity available, including unrated stations, alternative publications, local websites and blogs, and every park bench.
4. Fortitude. Be specific in your RFP, and ask upfront for what you need (CPP goal, certain placements, flighting, etc.).
5. Temperance. Streamline your communications as much as possible. Wait until you’ve reviewed all advertising proposals before you start responding. Get organized. Get tools.
6. Justice. Measure the advertising campaign across media channels to gauge the cost of reaching a target audience by medium and overall. Multi-channel advertising can be measured by CPM, or cost per thousand: cost/(audience/1,000)=CPM.
7. Prudence. Guard time wisely, and control the communication frequency and touch points with media sellers during both active campaign planning and relationship building. After all, time is money.
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