Before you select your media mix, you need to have a clear idea of what you want to accomplish with your campaign and how you will measure your success. Your campaign goals should be SMART: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. Your metrics should align with your goals and reflect the outcomes you want to see, such as awareness, engagement, conversions, or loyalty. For example, if your goal is to increase brand awareness among a new segment, you might use metrics like reach, impressions, frequency, or recall.
In my experience, defining campaign goals and metrics is paramount in selecting the optimal media mix. Start by outlining clear, measurable objectives—whether it's brand awareness, lead generation, or sales. Next, determine key performance indicators (KPIs) like website traffic, conversion rates, or social media engagement tailored to these goals. This precision allows for effective allocation of budget across channels that best reach your target audience, ensuring every dollar contributes towards achieving your defined outcomes. Remember, a goal-oriented approach is your compass in navigating the vast media landscape.
In my experience, its good to know/identify the target audience but also its also key to segment them according to their psychographic and demographic. Once you have this, it will easier to do a targeted media mix
The most effective media mix aligns channels and budget to your campaign goals and audience. Start by defining SMART objectives and KPIs that connect to desired outcomes. Then map your target audience's media habits through research and data-driven insights. Audit your options across paid, owned, earned and shared media based on strengths. Always devote a portion to test innovative emerging formats. There is no universal perfect media mix—the ideal blend stems from your specific strategy, audience, and objectives. Rigorously match media to campaign needs.
It’s very easy to get carried away by media options which may not be the best for the objective. It’s important to have a fair & objective comparison between all. Any type of people should be evaluated broadly basis two types of metrics: 1. Effectiveness - the result it generates. For example if you goal is leads then number of leads or if it is awareness then reach. 2. Efficiency - How much does it cost to generate above mentioned results. (Cost per lead, Cost per reach, Cost per click etc.) Any media option can be evaluated basis above - including owned and earned. There is a third consideration to select between paid, owned & earned media - Time required to achieve these results. It is usually in this order: Owned > Earned > Paid
Interesting topic/question! for me the best media mix is a result of a complete strategic media planning process, a) understanding the market enviroment and dynamic, b) the position and performance of your brand in a competitive situation, c) indetify or valdiate clearly your target/audience/consumer from a qualitative and quantative perspective and based on all these steps, d) identify which mix of media maximize your media goals on target (KPIs; reach/engagement/conversations etc) and is able to achive your communication and marketing objetives.
Next, you need to understand who your target audience is and how they consume media. You can use data from your own sources, such as website analytics, customer surveys, or CRM systems, or from external sources, such as market research, industry reports, or social media insights. You should create audience personas that describe their demographics, psychographics, behaviors, needs, and preferences. You should also map out their customer journey and identify the touchpoints where they interact with your brand or category. This will help you choose the media channels and platforms that can reach them effectively and efficiently.
Selecting the ideal media mix involves evaluating both your budget and your understanding of the target audience. Analyzing your audience's media habits is essential, as it dictates where and how to allocate resources. Consider whether your audience engages with social media, traditional channels, or digital platforms. By aligning your media mix with their preferences and behavior, you can effectively reach and engage your audience while optimizing your budget allocation for maximum impact. Consider guerrilla marketing tactics, leverage user-generated content, and experiment with niche platforms. Creativity can engage your audience effectively within budget constraints.
Identifying your target audience and understanding their media habits is crucial for effective marketing and communication strategies. Here are some steps to help you in the process: Define your product or service Conduct market research Define your buyer personas Analyze existing customers Use social media analytics Engage in online communities Monitor industry publications Analyze competitors Test and iterate Remember that understanding your target audience and their media habits is an ongoing process. Regularly review and update your knowledge to stay relevant in a dynamic market environment.
In today’s day and age, where technology is advancing way faster than, let’s be honest, us. It’s imperative to embrace decentralized tech and emerging platforms (NFT Marketing, blockchain-based social media and metaverse media tactics.) Regular data analysis and decentralized tactical deep dives are key for optimization.
Now that you know your goals, metrics, and audience, you can explore the different media options available to you and their strengths. There are three main types of media: owned, earned, and paid. Owned media are the channels and platforms that you control, such as your website, blog, email, or social media accounts. Earned media are the exposure and coverage that you get from others, such as word-of-mouth, reviews, ratings, or PR. Paid media are the advertising and promotion that you pay for, such as TV, radio, print, online, or outdoor. Each type of media has its own advantages and disadvantages, depending on your campaign objectives, budget, and audience. For example, owned media can help you build trust and loyalty, but they may have limited reach and scalability. Earned media can boost your credibility and awareness, but they may be hard to control and measure. Paid media can increase your visibility and conversions, but they may be costly and competitive.
Once you have assessed your media options and their strengths, you can create your media mix and budget allocation. Your media mix should reflect your campaign goals and metrics, your target audience and their media habits, and your media options and their strengths. You should also consider the synergy and integration between different media channels and platforms, and how they can complement and reinforce each other. Your budget allocation should be based on the expected return on investment (ROI) of each media option, as well as the costs and risks involved. You can use tools like media planning models, media mix optimization, or media attribution to help you optimize your media mix and budget allocation.
In a fragmented media landscape, to make the media mix and budget allocation truly efficient, there is no way around measuring the cross-media net reach and frequency of your campaigns. It'll give you a picture of how the reach in your target group builds up across various channels; when reach curves start to flatten out; on which channels you're over or under the desired contact frequency; whether the target groups you intended to reach are actually being reached; and most importantly, the incremental reach contribution of each channel to the overall net reach. This way you'll recognise the channels that work more efficiently in building reach than others: an evidence-based foundation for future budget allocation decisions.
Finally, you should test and adjust your media mix and budget allocation as you execute your campaign and monitor your results. You should track and analyze your metrics and KPIs regularly, and compare them with your goals and benchmarks. You should also collect feedback from your audience and stakeholders, and identify what works and what doesn't. You should then make adjustments to your media mix and budget allocation accordingly, and experiment with different variations and scenarios. You should also be flexible and adaptable to changing market conditions and customer needs.
Selecting the ideal media mix involves understanding your target audience's preferences and behavior. Allocate budget based on platform effectiveness and audience presence. A test-and-learn approach is crucial, allowing experimentation with different channels, messaging, and creatives. Regularly analyze performance metrics to identify what resonates best. This iterative process ensures optimization over time, maximizing impact within budget constraints. It helps adapt strategies to changing consumer behaviors and emerging trends, fostering continuous improvement and effective resource allocation in the dynamic landscape of media planning.
Clearly defined objectives from the start of the process must be aligned to by everyone involved. Without that, the process shouldn't continue.
Media planning today is complex but it starts with understanding the problem being solved and the opportunity. One thing I believe it - at the end of the day it is really how a brand shows up. Buying 100 daily GRPS or 10000 impressions is not the opportunity. How you influence, reach or connect with your audience is. And that requires interdependencies in media, tech, creative and availability. The what and the how are equally important.