While the media planning process for both traditional and new media types must continue to evolve and adapt to be effective, certain timing and calendar considerations remain constant to ensure that you maximize your budget and secure the most efficient rates.
Essential items to keep in mind for optimal execution of your media campaign:
Inventory Demand/Inventory Management:
Knowing how stations manage ad inventory and forecast ad revenue within the traditional media space can be extremely useful in negotiations and obtaining the best rates. January/February, for example, can often be purchased at significantly lower rates.
Certain Q4 weeks can have significantly lower inventory demand, allowing up to double the opportunity for added-value opportunities—no-charge weeks and additional ROS.
Political: Knowing the political climate of the markets or regions being purchased and the critical political window dates allows for the maximization of ad spend, avoids major issues with preemptions, and helps gauge how much political timing and activity may affect one market more than another.
Key Events: Planning, negotiating, and bookmarking for broadcast placements within major events well in advance helps to avoid later increases in spot rate, avoid sell-out scenarios, and ensure placements in the most high-rated events and programming—the Superbowl, Award Shows, Playoffs, March Madness, Premieres, and Olympics, to name a few.
The overall media planning process is an intricate mix of strategy, metrics, media types, habits, and audience targeting. By keeping in mind timing considerations and regular calendar events, you can make your ad spend more efficient and vendor negotiations more beneficial, resulting in a more cohesive media plan.
