The Ultimate Guide to Media Buying in 2022

What is Media Buying?

Media buying is the process of purchasing time and space on various media platforms to be used for advertising. Examples include buying space on radio stations, television channels, magazine and print space, billboards, podcasts and so much more. Media buying involves both digital platforms and more traditional offline outlets. The aim of media buying is to give brands the best chance to connect their advertising to their target audience, and to deliver ad messages at the best times.

Media Planning and Media Buying

To be successful at media buying, you must go through the process of media planning, which involves marketers and advertisers deciding how they will schedule their ads to create an effective and engaging message delivered at the right time. This often involves a collaboration between brands and media buying agencies to create a strategy. The media buying strategy includes how long an ad will run, where and when, who it is for, and measurable goals.

Types of Media Buying

It's important to match your advertising with the right outlet to maximise your target audience seeing your message. The different media buying networks you can purchase include:

• Radio — The airwaves remain a powerful advertising tool, having evolved from their traditional roots into a truly digital force that includes streaming platforms and DAB+, a digital audio broadcasting service. Ad space is purchased as 'spots', which are pre-recorded ads played live on the air or 'live reads' spoken aloud by presenters. These typically come in 5, 10, 15 or 30 second lengths. In Melbourne, the broadcasts of radio stations such as 3AW, Gold and Nova continue to reach a large daily audience.
• Television — Practically every home in Melbourne has at least one TV, making television the most effective advertising platform. TV advertising has many streams, including free-to-air, video on demand services, and connected TV. Streaming platforms, including broadcast video-on-demand (BVOD) like 9Now and 7Plus, are a rapidly growing area of media viewing, providing new TV advertising opportunities and making it a more robust and feasible path for brands.
• Outdoor and Print — A great number of ads occur in physical space, such as magazines and newspapers, billboards, retail or rail ads. The creation of digital screens has also revolutionised outdoor advertising, with ads able to be programmed to appear at specific days and times. They can effectively reach a mass audience or a local viewership depending on the screen placement. Additionally, many people still enjoy the tactility and disconnection afforded by print magazines and papers, enabling them to remain a viable advertising space.

Media Buying Agencies

While brands can purchase media directly from networks, it is often much easier to work with a media buying agency. Agencies work on behalf of their clients to buy the different ad space that is relevant for their client's marketing and advertising strategy, with an eye towards being cost-effective. Agencies can similarly help their clients develop an effective advertising strategy and media buying plan.

The alternative to agencies is a process known as programmatic media buying, which is the use of automated digital technologies to buy available ad space on different outlets. Advertisers set their budget, define their target audience, and an automated program finds and bids on appropriate ad space. However, this process lacks the personal touch and unique relationships that are utilised when working with an agency.

If you want the best rates and an unbiased perspective, you'll opt to use a media buying agency where they can leverage their expertise and experience to ensure your ads are placed in premium space at the best price.

Media Buying Process

1. Preparation — The first step is evaluating who your target audience is. How old are they? Where are they from and where do they live? What else interests them? Figure out who you want to reach and then use this to determine what the most effective message is and how you can make a creative campaign. Once you have your audience and message, determine your goals. Make these measurable — like earning more website clicks or improving your conversion rate with purchases — so that you can evaluate later how successful you were.
2. Strategy — Plan what media ad space you want to acquire, based on which platforms and outlets are most likely to be used by your target audience. Prioritise buying ad space where you are going to reach your audience organically, not where they are going to have to search hard to find you. Build a realistic budget around this knowledge, and buy the space that you believe will be most effective at reaching them.
3. Execution — The fun part! Release your ads to your purchased ad spaces, and consider what time and what days will be best. This is where all of your media planning is made worthwhile, with your ads reaching the eyes and ears of your target audience.
4. Collection & Optimisation — Find out whether your ads are working how you want by collecting data and analysing it next to the campaign goals that you previously set. Observe whether your ads generating the awareness, clicks or engagement that you wanted. Keep in mind that good advertising takes time to be fully effective. The results might not be apparent overnight, but you can use your collected data to rework your campaign, reprioritise your media channels, and optimise performance.

How We Can Help You

Media Exchange is ready to help you take the next steps in your advertising and marketing. Our media planning and buying process is backed up by dedicated expertise and strong relationships from years of experience.

If you're struggling to find the right place to put your ad, or even how to craft the right ad, our services can help. We are the media buying agency that will make sure your voice is heard, your message gets read, and your brand stands out.

Written by Clint Chambers, Founder and Director at Media Exchange.