When to use a media agency and how to select
the media mix?
· What is a media agency?
Media agencies
advise companies on how and where to advertise, and on how to present a
positive picture of themselves to the public. Primary services include advertising,
public
relations and other forms of media management.
Media
agencies were first launched with their main focus being the transaction of
media space more efficiently than the mainstream advertising agencies, which
had previously managed the process of media buying. A media
agency ensures that a marketing message appeals to consumers, appears in the
right place, at the right time and that the advertiser pays the best possible
price.
· When to use a media agency?
Using a PR
agency doesn't come cheap - we're talking at least several hundred to a couple
of thousand pounds - but there are certain circumstances when it will become
absolutely invaluable for your business.
Launching
your business :
· Start by defining the objectives of
your launch - whether you want customer to interact with your product, or you
want them to find out about the business through media, or so on.
· If you want some media attention
when you launch your business, a PR agency, though costly, is by far your
safest bet.
· PR is possibly the most effective
way of drawing people to your business and getting your brand out there.
· It is also typically more
cost-effective than advertising on a large scale.
· A PR agency already has an
established network of media contacts that can hopefully guarantee some
coverage, where, unless you come from a journalistic background, it will be
much, much tougher to get the same attention yourself.
· They also know how to pull stories
out of new launches to excite the press.
· You can use an agency just for your
launch. Balance the costs against how much you are overall spending on your
launch and what your objectives for it are. If you're planning to publicise
your business purely through PR, there's no harm dedicating 85% plus of your
launch budget to paying for a PR agency.
· Remember to maintain relationships,
as it's often preferable to use the same agency for other projects further down
the line than starting with a completely new one from scratch.
Launching a
product or range you have invested heavily in:
· If you've gone to a lot of expense
to develop a new product or stock it, you want people to know about it.
· Again, unless you have mature media
contacts and relationships, an agency is going to get you far more media
attention than you're likely to yourself.
· Budget for the agency again
according to your overall marketing and sales objectives for the product.
· If it's a product of new service
that hasn't cost you that much or that you feel your customers will discover in
ways other than through the press, consider simply writing your own press
releases as a support to the other means you're using to save money.
As a very
general rule of thumb, if your PR budget is more than £10,000 annually, you're
probably at about the level where you need to bring in an agency to help out,
as this is a significant budget to handle on top of other activities. Obviously
this figure will vary though, and you'll probably be able to tell intuitively
when it's time to bring in an agency - either when PR is simply taking up too
much of your time, or when you can see very healthy ROIs that you know would
make it worthwhile investing properly in someone professional to handle it.
If you're
going to need ongoing, sustained publicity for your business, consider bringing
in a dedicated PR person within your business to handle things. This may be
cheaper in the long-run than using an agency full-time and an employee of your
business is likely to be more dedicated and knowledgeable about your brand and
products than an outsourced agency.
If you use
another marketing or communications agency:
· They may recommend the use of a PR
agency, or they may offer it as part of their services.
· Always ask whether they offer PR
services when you're trying to find a communications or marketing agency to
begin with as using the same company for both can save you cash further down
the line.
· If you're using a professional
marketing agency, it's likely you're at the level where you need to outsource
your PR management too, depending on what your overall marketing objectives
are.
If you're
uncomfortable handling the press or are low on time. Establishing and handling
press relationships, making contact with journalists, writing press releases,
organising stunts and following all that up all takes times and effort. If
you're struggling, a low-cost agency with experience of small businesses can
really help.
Your own
endeavours aren't working out. When you keep writing press releases and get
absolutely no results, it's time to throw in the towel and leave it to the
professionals - otherwise you're just wasting your own precious time. If your
objectives are to get media coverage, it's also well worth the investment if
you can't manage it yourself.
If you want
to use an agency, you have to make sure:
· Your business or product is
completely ready. There's no point publicising something only for members of
the public to go to find out more about it and it be incomplete. They won't
come back a second time.
· You know exactly who your target
customer is and you know your market. It's not a PR company's job to research
your target market. You need to have an idea of their demographics and
interests so the agency can identify the publications they're most likely to
read or the types of media they respond best to.
· How to select the right media mix?
I think
it’s a fair assumption that single-channel marketing is a thing of the past.
Gone are the days of direct mail only, even for old-school publishers.
Today’s media mix has to bridge a broad variety of channels that might include
old-school outdoor and direct mail, as well as new fast-growing channels like
mobile, social and every digital channel in between.
So how can
chief marketers determine the right mix for their organization across this
ever-expanding set of options? Here are few guidelines to follow:
· Find your audience: The first step is to go to the data and find out where your
audience is, both in terms of content consumption and devices used. Your
audience’s consumption habits should guide your media mix: if they’re
Millennials consuming hours of streaming video, video ads should have a
prominent place within your mix. Are they big on news sites? Targeted display
might be smart to add. Consider rich mobile ads for audiences who spend a lot
of time on smart phones and tablets.
B2B
marketers may face more of a challenge identifying the consumption habits of
their target audience, and may want to spend more to track them down. But don’t
overlook the treasure in your own backyard – recent breakthroughs in marketing
technology let advertisers build a targetable audience profile based on the
advertiser’s in-house CRM data. Why guess what your audience looks like when
the answer is already in the numbers?
· Align Product and Channel: Once you’ve located your audience, you’ll want to ensure that the
product your promoting makes sense for the channel you’re considering. For
example, brands like Starbucks and Jiffy Lube are natural fits for mobile, as
they’re targeting clients on the go. The Maytag Man and Stanley Steemer might
be better suited to the traditional web.
· Consider Social: Social media is also a smart consideration for brands targeting
Millennials and other audiences that flock to social sites. Social data can be
an extremely valuable targeting tool, and social sharing is a very effective
way to spread a message and grow an audience. But consider what you’re
marketing and whether it’s appropriate for sharing: Products like trendy
hand-bags and events like the Tough Mudder race will do well with social
sharing, as people are proud to promote their engagement with the products.
Anti-itch cream? Not so much.
· Thinking about video? Video is also great when you’re asking more of an audience. To use the
Tough Mudder example again, showing exciting footage from past races in an ad
will probably inspire interested viewers to sign up for the next race – even if
the registration form is two pages long and will require them to pull out their
credit cards.
· Brand safety: If brand safety is a concern for you or your client, you’ll want to
consider that as you build your mix out, too. In this instance, private
exchange marketplace buys with trusted online publishers is the best way to
ensure your ads only run on sites that align with your brand’s values. If you
conduct these buys through a full-service marketing platform, you’ll also get
deep analytic insights about the audience that you can apply to future
campaigns.
Once you’ve
identified your optimal mix, I recommend testing channels to understand which
channel is contributing the most to conversion events. Take a measured,
scientific approach. Raise budgets on channels one at a time, starting with the
one that makes the most sense for your audience. Test, measure and analyze
results with surgical precision, then optimize your campaigns to better reach
your goals.
To sum it
up simply, your audience and product need to guide your media mix. Offer
valuable, relevant content for each channel you are testing. That’s the key to
finding the right media mix!
Sources
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