What is media buying?

Choice of advertising spaces can be the key element that will guarantee the success of your marketing campaign by ensuring that it is well received by your target. It is, therefore, necessary to understand the steps to take to proceed with media buying that will meet all the objectives that your advertising must achieve.

Summary of the article: What is media buying?

1. Media buying: definition
2. The stages of media buying

Media buying is one of the key stages of an advertising campaign, during which an advertiser must make choices that determine the success of its advertising: 

• broadcast medium;
• location;
• date of broadcasting.

It is also during this stage that the advertiser must try to obtain the advertising spaces able to transmit its message to its marketing target at the best prices.

Media buying can refer to the purchase of advertising space on both traditional media (television, radio ad, print, billboards, etc.) and digital media (website display, social networks, Google Ads, YouTube Ads, etc.).  

>>> What is advertising? Definition, purpose, current trends

Before the media purchase

Before rushing headlong into buying advertising spaces, it is important to start by establishing an advertising strategy by developing a media plan. This will allow you to gather all the information that will help you acquire the most relevant advertising spaces for your campaign, such as:

• the objective;
• the audience;
• the duration;
• the period of diffusion;
• the advertising budget;
• constraints;
• the combination of media to use.

>>> Find out what a media plan is.

During the media buy

The way in which you buy your advertising space is mainly linked to the nature of the medium, which supports the campaign:

• directly: from advertising agencies or from an agency like Adintime for most traditional media;
• online: from dedicated platforms for most digital media and recently for programmatic TV ads.

Since the advertising agencies are independent, you must send proposals to each of them and determine which ones best meet the objectives set with regard to the budget allocated to the media purchase. If you intend to launch your campaign on several media, you will have to negotiate media rates with each of the agencies.

In order to simplify this process, Adintime has more than 2,000 advertising spaces on its platform and constantly negotiates media prices for its clients. And the advertising agencies benefit from preferential rates compared to independent advertisers. Furthermore, the purchase of advertising spaces is the core business of the agencies, so they have the expertise to optimize the media purchase in order to maximize the profitability of a campaign.

During the campaign

Media buying doesn't stop at the launch of your advertising campaign. During the broadcast period, make sure that your advertising message is visible on all the media you have purchased and that everything is in place so that you can measure the impact of your campaign. As for traditional media, you can ask the advertising agencies to provide you with proof that your ad has been broadcast or published (billboard photos, magazines, TV spots...).

Also, track the response and reactions of the audience to your campaign. This can allow you to make adjustments in case of a misstep.

After the campaign

Once your campaign is over, it's time to take stock. Analyze the data collected to evaluate the success of your strategy and the relevance of the media you have chosen. Note that just because the advertising action does not immediately impact your sales does not mean that the media you selected were ineffective. They may very well have increased your awareness or introduced your services/products to consumers.