Media plan: What is it and how to come up with the perfect one for your business

Don’t give it another thought. Here are the 12 keys to come up with the perfect media plan for your business. Everything you need to know!

If you manage a business or brand, we are here to help you. As well as our super online marketing dictionary, we are constantly writing articles to support you in building your brand; promoting your eCommerce; your marketing plan; your email marketing strategy; and now your media plan.

Every good communication strategy starts with a well thought-out media plan. At the heart of the strategy is the content you want to communicate, what you want people to know about your brand. However, the way in which you disseminate this content must be set out in the media plan.

What is a media plan

The media plan is the strategic planning of the channels you will use in your marketing plan.

To begin with, the question you should ask yourself is: What media will you use to communicate with your different audiences?

To answer this question, you have to take into account:

• The target audience that the message is addressed to, who you want to communicate with
• The objectives of the campaign
• The budget you have
• The planned schedule, in other words, the time you have at your disposal

Direct Marketing defines a media plan as:

“Planning and scheduling of the advertising media selected for the dissemination of a communication campaign.”

Why is it important to draw up a media plan?

• Often the media you want to use are not entirely at your disposal. You must adapt to its scheduling and availability.
• The big media (the more traditional ones) have specific dates to contract guidelines and ads. They also often have significant discounts on contracts for those who pre-purchase.
• Whatever you are going to publish – on whatever channel – requires planning and production. The more time you have to come up with good content, the greater the impact the message will have.
• It enables you to plan your budget and manage it in a much more efficient way.
• If, from the outset, you have a much clearer map of the media you have available, you will be able to reflect on the importance of each one for your audience and take advantage of the wide range of available channels.
• Leaves you much more leeway to negotiate prices and your investment.
• It enables you to take advantage of seasonalities: dates that may be important to your audiences. If this is of interest, check out our marketing calendar.
• If you start early, you gain precious time that you can spend on dealing with your other business tasks.
• You can associate key metrics to the media plan to subsequently measure the return on investment.

What channels can you include in your media plan

The new media division that is currently being made usually takes into account:

1. Traditional media (outbound marketing): television, radio, press, advertisements, theatre, cinema, billboards, events, street activities, etc.
2. Digital media (inbound marketing): social networks, website, online advertising, email marketing, SEM, etc.