How a media buyer can assist you

When does it make financial sense to hire a media buying company?

Financially, hiring a media-buying agency to work with you, your marketing director, or other appointed advertising team member is most likely a sound decision, no matter what size your company is. Most media-buying companies earn their profits on a commission basis, based on your advertising spend, and the majority of these commissions are paid by the advertising vehicles they are buying, not adding additional dollars to your media budget. This way, you do not acquire human resource expenses and as your business cycle ebbs and flows. You can adjust your advertising spend accordingly, without a fixed cost tied to it. And, you will have an expert team working on your behalf to identify new appropriate opportunities.

Beyond the financial reasons, strategically it might make more sense to go out of house for media buying services. Start by asking yourself: "Who is my primary target audience?" and "How do I best reach them?" Really, answering these two key questions is not easy, especially if your primary job function entails running your business, managing operations, or is not necessarily strictly dedicated to media planning.

The goal will always be to get the greatest ROI on our advertising spend. How do you spend the least amount for the greatest exposure?

Knowledge from specialists

A media buying agency's sole function is to purchase advertising. As specialists, we purchase all media across multiple markets. Our role is to know what opportunities exist, how they perform, what mediums are best suited to reach specific audiences, and how to effectively allocate your budget across the media mix. Ultimately, we use our collective minds and experience to design media plans that increase your sales.

Some media agencies specialize in one or two types of media, but most buy all types of advertising, traditional and interactive, including outdoor, radio, television, print, online, mobile, social, new media, and unique specialty advertising. Your needs may vary. Perhaps you want an experts advice on radio stations' audiences that best match your business' target audiences. You might be interested in search advertising on Google so that potential customers can more easily find your Web site. Or, if you are like most businesses, a comprehensive, multi-media, layered approach suits your needs the best.

As a service industry, agencies focus on you, the client, throughout the development of a media plan. An agency will analyze your needs and goals, and set campaign objectives. They will assess the demographics of your target audience and evaluate media options.

A salesperson's focus is to convince you that the products they sell are the most effective in the market, that you need their solutions. A media buying company is hands-on management that sifts through all of the options based on empirical evidence, rather than persuasion. They will select the most effective advertising elements for your needs, and then layer them together for a cohesive advertising plan, where all of the media works together to increase reach and frequency to your target audience. A good media plan creates many ways for consumers to engage with your brand.

Cost efficiencies

Media buying agencies subscribe to various research providers, staying on top of the most recent market data. Agencies use specific software to determine reach, frequency, and gross impressions, along with other relevant metrics, to determine how effective your advertising will be. Increased reach and frequency to your target demographic results in stronger performing campaigns. Research and media buying software is costly for an individual business. Working with an agency will give you access to relevant industry data, without the purchase investment and without the training required to interpret the data.

Relationships and economies of scale

Not only do agencies offer years of experience and a broad depth of industry knowledge, oftentimes individuals at agencies bring years of business relationships with media. Long-term relationships can result in ease of negotiations, first looks at new advertising options, bonus placements, trade opportunities, or even added-value promotions. Additionally, agencies have the ability to negotiate while representing a multitude of clients, making it in the sales reps' best interest on a grander scale to ensure the clients are satisfied with the campaign.

Engagement opportunities

Depending on what professional media company you hire and what their forte is, the agency may develop creative media plans that incorporate unique advertising opportunities to generate engagement with your brand beyond the standard ad. An agency may offer added value and promotion elements in the campaign, or even include opportunities you may not be aware exist.

Monitoring and reporting

Once your ads run, are you verifying that the ads actually ran when they were scheduled? Did the promotion air? What was the value? Did your online impressions serve in full? What impressions served to each market? Was the click-thru Rate good? Did you receive bonus spots? What was the ROI?

Not only will an agency provide your campaign results, a large part of the service provided is monitoring the campaign. Ultimately, a great deal of time goes into ensuring all elements run on schedule and as ordered. If errors happen on the vendor end, and they do occur frequently, the agency is there to catch the variation in schedule and negotiate makegoods.

If you do not have the time to dedicate to monitoring on-air and online schedules, confirming print run dates, analyzing reports, valuing the completed campaign and presenting results, you may consider using a professional agency.

Know who you are hiring

If you want cheap advertising, there are companies who buy cheap advertising, or you can negotiate cheap rates, a great deal. If you want to know what times your spots will run, work with reliable vendors, be confident that your advertising will air when you really need it to air, run before your sale, or reach actual potential customers, you may want to invest in quality. Interview your potential agencies, learn their strengths, and find the best fit for your company. Take the time to select a media-buying firm that will take the time to understand your company's objectives and meet your needs. Call their clients, call their Sales Reps, find out who they really are, and request testimonials and case studies, so that you can be confident in their services.

When does it make financial sense for your company to use a media-buying agency? It makes sense when your company is spending money on advertising, no matter if it is $10,000 or $10 million.

Laura Partridge is president of Creative Concepts Media + Marketing. Contact her through www.creativeconceptsmedia.net.