Media Buying

Media buying is a crucial step in connecting consumers with brands. After building up your creative vision and putting it through the production process. You’ll need an ironclad media strategy and a media buyer with the right know-how to get your adverts in front of the consumers that will love your brand.

But what exactly is media buying? Why do I need to get a media buyer? And how do I get the best results for my budget? These are some of the questions you might be asking yourself before your big media buy. We want to take you through the whole media buying process, so that you know exactly what to expect before you begin.

What is media buying?

Media buying is all about space. Not black holes or the cosmos but advertising space. There are the traditional spaces where we’re used to consuming marketing, such as a TV advertisement or an out of home (OOH) billboard display on the freeway. These are still very effective forms of marketing but there is also the growing power of internet advertising, which has opened up the opportunity to reach further than ever before. These online spaces are constantly evolving with new advertising options appearing week by week, giving us more and more chances to reach our audience.

And that’s what it’s all about. Reaching your audience. This is the key aim of any media buyer worth their salt. They look at the brand, their creative vision and the content they have created to find the perfect space where they can hit their ideal target audience. They need to find the right spots at the right times to make sure your content makes the right impact on the public at large. They will also be working to help you achieve your campaign goals, whether that’s driving more people to the website or promoting a brand new product.

Types of Media Buying

There are three main methods for you to organize your media buy. These are manual bidding, programmatic media buying, and direct buying options. The right option for your strategy will depend on how you want your content to be placed and released on each platform.

Manual bidding is the traditional way of getting advertising space. This is achieved by a buying team bidding for space on each channel individually. It doesn’t involve any 3rd party services but is often made possible through digital media buying platforms. The big advantage for you is there is no middle man to deal with but you also lose their expertise in the deal.

Programmatic media buying is an automated media buying ecosystem that will take your campaign to the next level. This is a logistical system that happens in real time between media buyers and publishers. This method of media buying is super-focussed on consumer impressions and fueling a campaign not just on gut instincts but on data and metrics. By using demand-side platform (DSP) software, you can track your campaign performance, make changes when needed and allow it to evolve over time.

Direct buying is when a media buyer will approach individual advertisers to negotiate ad space directly. This is a great option if you want to have control over how your content is broadcast, negotiating all the details with each channel and keeping a close eye on when and where your content goes out. It can be a rewarding option for advertisers but will usually come at a time and energy cost.

What are the best media channels for my brand?

These methods of media buying can be used across all types of media. Here are a few of the most popular spaces to advertise on:

Television – This is one of the oldest forms of advertising space and still one of the most effective. TV commercials have been used by brands for the best part of a century and are constantly evolving to meet the needs of the modern consumer.

Online Advertising – If you’ve ever clicked on an ad while using the internet then you’ll have experienced online digital advertising. This can happen on any space online, from the Google ads that appear when you use a search engine to display advertising that is on your favorite website.

Social Media Advertising – This has become a multi-billion dollar industry with the potential scope for advertisers being endless. There are a wide range of ways to get your message out across all the main social channels and become a part of the everyday conversation of people’s lives.

Out of Home (OOH) – This a classic method of advertising that can still work today. The big billboard splashes you spy on your daily commute is the most obvious way to say hello to customers who know you and plenty who don’t.

Print – As the digital era continues to grow, printed media influence is waning but it can still have a solid impact. Combined with other forms of media, you can use print to great effect in magazines and newspapers as well as your own leaflets, mailers and other post friendly media.

Radio – The effectiveness of radio advertising is renowned as a great way to reach new audiences with a friendlier budget price. Now with the rise of podcasts, you’ll be able to find the consumers with interests that perfectly match your brand. That means more conversions, simple as that.

Live Events – Where there are large gatherings of people, advertising is never far behind. This might be adding your brand name as a sponsor of massive national sporting events or hosting your own industry event where you can strengthen your brand from the inside.

Media mix – This is a common term used for advertisers when a combination of the above channels have been blended for a campaign. This will mine down into where the best advertising spaces are, how long the ads need to run and how much money will be devoted to the various channels. This is often how brands will build up their marketing campaign and should be decided as part of the media planning stage.

How important is Media Planning?

This is how you create an overall strategy for your advertising campaign. Even the most basic campaign will need some form of plan. It can be an overwhelming prospect for any company to map out their entire campaign but with the right plan you’ll see the right results. But how important is media buying really?

If you’ve sat down with your little ones to watch cartoons you’ll soon understand the basic notion of media planning. It will be quite clear that the endless toy promotions mixed with family insurance commercials has a clear audience in mind. This is because the brands have laid out their marketing plan and highlighted the best place to sell their toys would be on a channel where only children and their parents will be watching.

The best media plan will follow the following step by step process. This would include researching your target audience, outlining a marketing budget, setting out conversion goals, tracking success parameters, scheduling message frequency and message reach. This can be a time consuming process for those who have little experience but will ultimately save you time and money in the long run. Once your plan is in place all you need to do is execute it.

Why do I need a media buyer?

If your strategy is laid out you’ll need to put it in action. That means reaching out to sales associates, account executives and media representatives. Negotiating the terms and prices for each media channel you plan to use. There are also rising concerns around brand safety and advertising fraud, which might lead to complications further down the line. This is where your media buying team can step in and help you out.

Media buyers are experts with the knowledge and contacts to make the process seamless. The process of media buying can become complicated and will often need adjusting as the campaign progresses. It’s not just as easy as placing an advert either, there are often various conditions and requirements that need to be met for each broadcaster or platform. Our media buying team has the knowledge and network to launch your campaign and steer it to success.

When the wheels are in motion, they can make the right adjustments to make sure you stay on track. This might involve a content tune up or a switch from a TV focus to online channels depending on how your campaign is performing. A media buyer will be able to tell you if certain media or creatives are going to work on certain channels. They will understand impressions and return of investment (ROI) on the platforms you want to use. And most importantly they’ll have the experience to change direction to boost your campaign.

Work with Epic Light Media

We specialize in media and buying is a big part of our process. Whether you need to put out your next TV commercial across all the biggest broadcasters or if you want a boutique style social campaign, we have the media buying skills you need. We can build your creative, produce your content and take it direct to the right spaces to fit your marketing strategy. Say hello and let’s get your campaign started.

Common Questions

What is a media buying platform?

This is a place where you can hook into the various channels and online platforms where you need to place your media. These digital platforms are an important tool for the modern marketer, who needs access to a vast range of outlets for their media campaign. These media buying tools are essential in the internet age due to the sheer vastness of the options available. If you need to spread your budget out and touch on various spaces then working on a media buying platform will be the best option.

What are the three most important rules of media buying?

First up you need to find your target audience. This will inform the rest of your campaign and ensure you stay on the right track the whole way through to the end. Next up is pick the right media for your campaign goals. If you know who your audience is, you’ll have the right insights into their viewing habits and be able to choose the right type of media. For example, if you’re selling life insurance then the traditional outlets will be best suited to your middle-aged audience rather than a hip new social media app. Finally, you need to run the advert at the right time. Getting your broadcast timings right will be so important to having a successful campaign.

How much does a 30 second TV advert cost to air?

This is a tricky one to answer. The easy answer is that the average cost for a 30 second spot on a national network will set you back around $105,000.00. The honest answer is that it depends on a lot of factors to determine your final cost for a media buy. This includes the time of day it airs, what channels, networks, and platforms you want to use, the programming that is on at this time (see Superbowl adverts), how long your commercial will run, and even at what part of the commercial break it features (start, middle or end). Another big consideration will be the number of impacts you will have with any given audience, which is essentially the amount of reach your advert can achieve at any given time. As you can tell this is a very complicated process that requires a lot of knowledge and understanding to get the best results possible.