Don’t buy media based only on price. Do this instead.

An effective ad campaign starts with a strategic media plan and savvy media buying. Determining the target audience and creating effective messaging are foundational components of media planning. Then, media buying takes over, ensuring that your ads are seen by your target audience. Many people think that you need to have the lowest rate to have a good advertising program. But dayparts, days of the week, and the big picture dictate what will be a “good” price for your business.

Cost is obviously important, but you want to be more strategic than just “get me the lowest rate.” Stations still sell what is referred to as “drive time,” but drive time “times” vary by station and medium, so you need to find out when customers are in their cars or at home to best target the ads. Due to COVID-19 and more people working from home, consumer habits have changed even more over the past year. Effective media buying should pinpoint when potential customers will have an openness to your message. 

If you’re selling mulch, for example, you may want to concentrate your message towards the weekend when people are out shopping for mulch. If you’re selling Romanburgers, you may want to concentrate around mealtimes when cravings hit. This is not to say that all your media should hit only these dayparts. However, there may be times that you utilize media buying in this way to make a bigger impact, depending on when your customer is in the market; however, these times may not necessarily be the cheapest.

Media buying based on cost alone also leads to another common mistake: missing the big picture. For example, let’s say you buy media with the key demographic of Adults 25-54 in the top two or three stations in that demographic. You would probably feel like you’ve covered all bases. The problem is, it could be that the top two or three stations may all lean older or younger, or more male or more female. You could buy media based on what you think is a mix of stations, when in fact, it skews 75 percent female and 25 percent male, or vice versa, or 80 percent over 40 years of age – neither of which is the demographic you want to target.

Only a seasoned, professional buyer knows how to break these numbers down and know that you need to add a station to your media buying mix that ranks seventh in Adults 25-54 but also ranks first for Women 25-34 to reach your desired demographic. These types of nuances show why you can’t rely solely on the price outlined in a first proposal or a stations’ ratings information. This data doesn’t provide the complete picture.  

If you’re selling a commodity, financial services, automobiles, sandwiches, or home improvement, it’s important to follow these steps when buying media: 

• First, find your audience. 
• Then, focus on the cost of commercials.
• Finally, look at where these commercials are placed on the media of choice.  

At this point, your budget will drive some of the decisions. However, a savvy media buying approach that looks at dayparts, time of day and the big picture will drive the success of the campaign and get you more customers.