Media Management – Target Group Definition

One of the most important aspects of a media strategy or plan is to know, WHO is your audience? Without knowing whom your audience is, and making an advertisement, is like aiming in the dark! If at all, you succeed in achieving the aim, it will be purely on the basis of luck. You have to be certain whom you want your advertisement to reach.

An advertisement is a diligently made piece of art. There is so much time and energy invested in it. It is well crafted and made in a way that will prove to be beneficial for the brand. But what is the point if it does not reach the people it should? Even worse, if you have no clue about whom it should reach?

You can’t simply use any vehicle to carry your advertisement without a thought, it’s not only waste of money and resources but also waste of advertising space, since you don’t know if your audience has seen it or not!

Therefore it is important to define whom your audience. The audience is selected on various types of segmentations. The segmentations are as follows:-

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Psychographic Segmentation: Psychographic segmentation is nothing but division based on the lifestyles, attitudes, activities, interest and opinions.

Example

If I my product is the a yoga class, I will aim at those who are interested in yoga and select media vehicles accordingly.

Demographic Segmentation: Demographic segmentation is dividing on the basis of income, age, gender, family size, and occupation.

Example

I am selling geometric boxes for school children. Now the users are every well defined, they are the students. So the media vehicle that will be selected has to be such that the advertisement should reach the children (as they make the choice) and parents (as they are those who will pay).

Or

If I have to advertise for agricultural products, I will try and choose media vehicles that will reach farmers, producers, shops selling agricultural material etc.

Geographic Segmentation: This is segmentation of the audience based on their geographic location.

Example

This is probably the most used example for geographic segmentation. If you have to sell sweaters you would sell it in a region, which is cold. Thus advertising in a region which has heavy users of the product.

Ethnicity Segmentation: Just as the name suggests, it is divided on the basis of ethnicity. These are products that are preferred by ethnic groups.

Example

For instance if my product is ‘Navari Sari’ I will aim it mostly towards the Maharastrian crowd. It doesn’t mean that non-maharastrian’s won’t buy it but it is simply that maharastrian’s will be heavy users of the product.

Life-stage Segmentation:  In this type of segmentation, it is divided on the basis of life stages

Example.
Baby Diapers would be a classic example. The audience is very clearly parents of infants. Those are the people who are likely to buy your product, hence the medium through which the ad is dispersed should be such that, it aims exactly at the target audience.

Most people try and aim at the heavier users than light users of the products. For most brands the target audience is heavy users and potential users

Identifying and defining the target audience is the first step to make a media strategy or plan. Segmenting the audience helps to get optimum results

Will back soon with the second step! :)

Media management – Media strategy

The advertisement is made. It’s ready to be sent out to the media. Now, what? What next?

The advertisement has to be circulated so that its customers and potential customers see it. The idea of having an advertisement in the first place is to get visibility! What is the point is no one sees it? It won’t meet the purpose!

Media planning and Advertisements are like the chicken and the egg, you can’t have an egg without the chicken and you can’t have the chicken without the egg!

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Hence, we arrive at our first step. Making a media strategy. A media strategy in simple words is the plan of action to achieve the desired aim and goal. Every product has a different aim/goal and a strategy has to be made in order to achieve it. Every strategy is customized on the basis of what the client wants at the end of the day.

The goal that is set by the brand can be achieved  in various ways and processes. There is never just one option that is available. It thus helps to formulate the benchmarks and parameters against which the media buys and plans can be compared and judged against. A media strategy thus helps you weigh your options and choose the best available.

Most companies have a limited budget, which they have to abide by. You can’t go overboard. They want the most they can get out of that budget and of course thoda aur chalega (a little extra will do). The job of the media planner is to give the most in whatever the budget is. However in order to achieve this it is important to know what are the options and solutions. A media strategy provides these options. You cannot decide what is best for the brand unless you have had something to compare it with.

Thus a media strategy can be defined as, “A series of compromises you are willing to make in order to achieve the desired objectives in the given budget” (from- Media Planning and Buying by Arpita Menon)

The media plan helps you decide whom you want to target, when and where through which media vehicle/s and how much. the key components that help to make a media strategy are:-

1. Defining the target group
2. Media prioritization
3. Media weights
4. Media mix
5. Media scheduling

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The media strategy forms the base of media plan.

When an advertisement is made it is crucial that it is placed correctly. You have to keep in mind the target audience and their preferences. It is only then, that you can make a good strategy, which would result in positive outcomes.  Media planning helps to use the money (budget) wisely with optimum results. Sometimes even more than what was expected with the given budget.

Getting more than what you should, is always better, no? :P

Media Management - Introductory Post

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At this very point if you look around you, in all the possible directions, you are bound to find at least one advertisement, big or small. The times today are such that, believe it or not, we are always surrounded by brands. Irrespective of where you are or what you do, some or the other kind of advertisement is always around us. It is simply impossible to isolate advertisements from our day-to-day life. We may not realize this but according to reports, an average person views about 3000 advertising messages in a day! That is massive.

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Given the amount of advertising messages that we are exposed to, the question arises that, how do brands manage to stand out from that clutter! It very often said that, ‘To be seen you have to be different!’ But is being different, sufficient to make an impact on the target group? Is it only the creative’s that help an advertisement stand out?

You may have a good ad but, what is the point if the people who are meant to see it, don’t see it and even if they do, they don’t see it often enough to remember the ad?

The point I am trying to make here is that, creative ideas are important and so is the media vehicle. Being an advertising student and now a student of public relation I realize the importance and need of a brand to stand out from the ‘crowd’, to be ‘seen’ and ‘recognized’. I believe that advertising and media management compliment each other, to stand out the brand requires not only a smart creative advertisement but also a well planned and executed media plan.

 ‘The right message at the right time at the right place’ is the formula to a successful advertising campaign.

Media management is nothing but media planning, buying and selling. It is very often said, ‘if you fail to plan, you plan to fail’ and I believe that this is true in this case. To achieve the desired effect, it is important to plan the time, space and vehicles that will be used for the advertising campaign.

In my blog on media management, I will be discussing the various aspects and process of media management.

Till then farewell!  :)