As an entrepreneur, company director, brand manager, or marketing professional, no one knows better than you the importance of effective advertising for driving your business forward. You might lead the way with your products, services, and industry expertise, but without a well-crafted and skillfully-executed media strategy, your company is forever at risk of being left behind by the competition.
Whilst the significance of effective advertising is well-established, for startups, small businesses, and those without in-house marketing teams, navigating the ever-changing marketing landscape can seem like a daunting, expensive, and potentially risky task.
- Perhaps you’ve had bad luck with your previous advertising endeavours? You ran a series of expensive ads that didn’t produce results, or you hit a wall trying to access the media platforms which you knew were best for your brand.
- Maybe you’re a startup, and you’ve tried boosting your presence and brand visibility through social media channels. But aside from a few extra followers and a lot of lost time, you don’t have much to show for all that hard work.
- Or it may be the opposite: despite a steep learning curve, your marketing efforts have really helped establish your brand! The trouble is, as your business has grown, so too have your commitments; you want to keep that momentum, but with less time and a bigger pool of potential customers, you’re unclear which marketing strategy to adopt.
Sound familiar? If so, you might want to consider investing a portion of your ad spend in the services of a dedicated media planning and buying agency like The Bank.
At The Bank, we like to think we do things a little differently. From our base in the North East, we work closely with ambitious brands of all sizes from across the United Kingdom. We take a meticulous approach to client relations and campaign strategy development, allowing us to deliver creative and profitable marketing solutions that connect with customers and help brands achieve their goals.
Keep reading for more info on the work we do and how we do it, or contact us today to arrange a meeting with your new dedicated account manager.
Media Planning and Media Buying – What Are They?
Media planning and buying are simple concepts, but ones that don’t carry a lot of meaning outside the world of marketing.
For the uninitiated:
Media Planning
In the simplest terms, media planning is the process of deciding where, when, and how to deploy advertising media in order to achieve maximum return on investment.
Though straightforward in principle, media planning can be a complex, painstaking task, often involving extensive demographic research, data-driven market analysis, performance modelling, and creative problem-solving.
Media Buying
Where media planning is about strategising, media buying is about implementation. Media buyers serve to bridge the gap between advertisers and media publishers, working on behalf of their clients to negotiate the best possible deals for advertising space.
A notoriously competitive and opaque industry, media buying is a shadowy process which often comes down to personal relationships as much as it does to numbers.
Why Do I Need a Media Planner or Media Buying Agency?
When it comes to retaining the services of a dedicated media agency, many companies are understandably sceptical about the potential return on investment; after all, why pay someone to do something which you could do yourself?
Whilst it’s certainly true that for many companies – particularly those in relevant industries – paying for a premium media planning and buying service may be an unnecessary expense, for others, the benefits of working with an agency can be significant.
Research
Media planning is a highly specialised, ever-changing field, and one which requires constant vigilance to stay abreast of the latest industry trends.
A good media agency will draw upon the collective experience of its planning team, analysing target audience, ad space availability, ad reach, penetration, frequency, and budget, as well as defining key metrics for campaign success and performance.
Rates
Media buyers frequently bring in high volumes of business for their partnered media outlets. This gives them considerable power when it comes to ad rate negotiation.
Large businesses running national campaigns may be granted access to preferential rates and deals from publishers, but for most firms, working with an independent media buyer will be the only way to secure these kinds of deals.
Reports
A reputable media agency will always be transparent with its clients, providing regular reports and feedback on campaign progress, ad performance, and return on investment.
These reports not only help to keep you in the loop but also give you a valuable opportunity to provide input and direction for future campaigns.
Media Agencies: The Old Way vs. The Bank Way
For too long, the media planning and buying industries have remained largely unchanged, with the same old approaches and manners of working dominating the market year after year.
As we said, at The Bank, we like to do things differently…
The Old Way
Fragmented
Traditionally, media buying agencies were divided into two distinct categories:
- Physical: Physical media buyers would purchase ad space in newspapers, on billboards, and so on.
- Digital: Digital media buyers would purchase ad space online, on websites, and social media platforms.
The result of this was a highly fragmented industry, with clients often having to defer to two separate media department strategies for their marketing.
Closed
Media buying is a complex process that requires expert knowledge and understanding, as well as relationships with publishers that often take years to foster.
In the past, this meant that planning and buying agency services were often closed off, with all but the largest brands feeling they were worthy of radio or TV advertising.
Unfair
With so many media owners relying on opaque client relationships to sell their media, media buyers would often purchase ad space without really knowing how effective it would be.
The result was an archaic, inefficient system of billable hours, commission-based payments, ad fraud, scattered advertising, and kickbacks masquerading as “preferential rates”.
The Bank Way
Unified
A modern business should have consistent marketing across all media channels, from out-of-home (OOH) and physical campaigns to online and digital advertising, all the way down to their social media campaigns. We lead by example.
An overarching strategy to media planning, buying, implementation, and optimisation leaves the door open for your business to expand and grow, with the option to target audiences via new channels as the opportunities present themselves.
Open
The digital revolution levelled the playing field for advertisers in many ways, granting them direct access to worldwide audiences, and giving them the ability to track the success of their campaigns in real-time.
We argue that this increased opportunity should be reflected by media planners and buying agency professionals, giving startups, sole traders, and small businesses the same access to radio stations, television networks, and high-footfall billboards.
Independent
The Bank are an independent media agency – we aren’t tied to any media owners, and we don’t push our clients to devote their advertising spend to places that don’t create added value.
We pride ourselves on openness and transparency, and you can trust that we’ll always give you an honest appraisal of the best way to spend your advertising budget.
Accountable
It’s an unfortunate fact, but there are no guarantees in the world of marketing – even the biggest household names have seen their expensive media plan fall flat.
With The Bank, the performance of your business is the performance of ours. As your media agency, we’ll use a range of performance analytics and data-driven technology to report true reflections of your campaign performance; if we fall short of your marketing goals or expectations, our team will work tirelessly to put it right.
Our Media Planning and Buying Agency Services
Media Planning
We offer a fully independent media planning service, including:
- Audience targeting and market analysis.
- Budgeting and ad spend prioritisation.
- Paid search, paid social, and PPC strategies.
- Conversion and engagement goals.
- Campaign length and message frequency.
- Campaign reach and expected impact.
- Performance metrics and benchmarks for success.
Media Buying
Our small team of experienced media buyers have industry-wide contacts, offering paid and owned media buying services:
Out-of-Home (OOH)
- Print Signage: billboards; posters; construction hoardings; pitchside boards
- Digital Signage: billboards; display terminals; LED signage
- Transit: transport terminals; bus wraps; train wraps; taxi advertising; mobile billboards
- Street Furniture: bus shelters; phone boxes; litter bins
Entertainment Media
- Traditional Media: television; radio; cinema; product placement; ad creative
- New Media: SVoD; TVoD; YouTube; Spotify; podcast; web radio
Digital and Social Media
- Paid Search: PPC; Google Ads; Bing Ads; Amazon Ads
- Paid Social: Facebook; Instagram; LinkedIn; Twitter
- Display Advertising: banner ads; interstitial display ads; programmatic and real-time bidding (RTB)
- Landing Page Optimisation: SEO; content creation
The Bank: Your New Independent Media Agency
We don’t know you (yet!), but we think we can guess what you want:
You want an independent media planning and buying agency, which provides an honest, transparent service, and which delivers maximum exposure to a relevant audience at the right price.
Were we right? Give us a call today; we can’t wait to get to work creating your new campaign.
