SUMMARY KOMUNIKASI PEMASARAN

CHAPTER 10

Media Planning and Strategy

Basic Terms and Concepts

Media planning is the series of decisions involved in delivering the promotional message to the prospective purchasers and/or users of the product or brand. The media plan is the guide for media selection. It requires development of specific media objectives and specific media strategies (plans of action) designed to attain these objectives.

The medium is the general category of available delivery systems, which includes broadcast media (like TV and radio), print media (like newspapers and magazines), direct mail, outdoor advertising, and other support media. The media vehicle is the specific carrier within a medium category. Reach is a measure of the number of different audience members exposed at least once to a media vehicle in a given period of time. Coverage refers to the potential audience that might receive the message through a vehicle. Finally, frequency refers to the number of times the receiver is exposed to the media vehicle in a specified period.

• Media Planning: the series of decisions involved in delivering the message to the target audience.
• Media Plan: the actual document detailing these decisions.
• Media Objectives: the objectives sought by the media plan.
• Media Strategies: the plans of action designed to attain the media objectives.
• Medium: the general category of media channels such as broadcast, print, etc.
• Media Vehicle: the specific carrier in a media category (TV, Radio, etc.)
• Reach: the number of potential audience member exposed at least once to a media vehicle in a given period of time (often in %).
• Coverage: the potential audience that might receive a message through a vehicle (often in %)
• Frequency: the number of times the receiver is exposed to the media vehicle in a given time period.

Problems in Media Planning

Insufficient Information

While a great deal of information about markets and the media exists; media planners often require more than is available. Some data are just not measured, either because they cannot be or because measuring them would be too expensive.

 

Inconsistent Terminologies

Problems arise because the cost bases used by different media often vary and the standards of measurement used to establish these costs are not always consistent.

 

Time Pressures

It seems that advertisers are always in a hurry—sometimes because they need to be; other times because they think they need to be. Actions by a competitor require immediate response.

 

Difficulty Measuring Effectiveness

Because it is so hard to measure the effectiveness of advertising and promotions in general, it is also difficult to determine the relative effectiveness of various media or media vehicles.

 

Developing and Implementing Media Strategies

The Media Mix

A wide variety of media and media vehicles are available to advertisers. While it is possible that only one medium and/or vehicle might be employed, it is much more likely that a number of alternatives will be used. The objectives sought, the characteristics of the product or service, the size of the budget, and individual preferences are just some of the factors that determine what combination of media will be used.

 

Target Market Coverage

The media planner determines which target markets should receive the most media emphasis. Developing media strategies involves matching the most appropriate media to this market by asking, “Through which media and media vehicles can I best get my message to prospective buyers?

 

Geographic Coverage

The objective of weighting certain geographic areas more than others makes sense, and the strategy of exerting more promotional efforts and dollars in those areas follows naturally.

 

Scheduling

The primary objective of scheduling is to time promotional efforts so that they will coincide with the highest potential buying times. For some products these times are not easy to identify; for others they are very obvious. Three scheduling methods available to the media planner are - continuity, flighting, and pulsing.

 

Reach versus Frequency

Since advertisers have a variety of objectives and face budget constraints, they usually must trade off reach and frequency. They must decide whether to have the message be seen or heard by more people (reach) or by fewer people more often (frequency).

Creative Aspects and Mood

The context of the medium in which the ad is placed may also affect viewers’ perceptions. A specific creative strategy may require certain media. Because TV provides both sight and sound, it may be more effective in generating emotions than other media; magazines may create different perceptions from newspapers. In developing a media strategy, marketers must consider both creativity and mood factors.

 

Flexibility

An effective media strategy requires a degree of flexibility. Because of the rapidly changing marketing environment, strategies may need to be modified. If the plan has not built in some flexibility, opportunities may be lost and/or the company may not be able to address new threats. Flexibility may be needed to address market opportunities and threat, availability of media and changes in media.

 

Budget Considerations

One of the more important decisions in the development of media strategy is cost estimating. The value of any strategy can be determined by how well it delivers the message to the audience with the lowest cost and the least waste.