Media Buying: What is Media Buying and How Do It Work?


In recent years merely designing fascinating slogans and having a good product is not the solution for business. To get higher sales and RIO, you must show off your products to the buyer and brag about them. On top of that, you have to be mindful of your buyer’s habits.

Media Buying helps you to buy the advertisement slots on specific media platforms where your customer is found. So you set the budget, time, and slot on media handles, and that’s all.

Facebook, YouTube, Mobile Apps, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram advertisements are a few examples of the marketing techniques you follow while buying media.

What is Media Buying?

Media buying is a key part of any advertising campaign that works. For your ads to have the most effect, they must show at the best time and place. The best cost-per-action can be reached by buying ads at times and on channels where most people interested in your business will see them.

You can buy both digital and analog forms of media. Digital channels include websites, social media, streaming services, and mobile apps. Traditional media include TV, radio, newspapers, and billboards. When making purchases, media buyers usually think about the advertising environment.

Let’s have an example of a business producing make-up products for females. Their target audience will be mostly on Instagram of all social media. So, while setting the budget, a media buyer will focus more on Instagram advertising.

Instagram is a social media handle where most users are young ladies interested in buying those products. Therefore, a business with ladies-oriented products will invest more in Instagram advertising than in others. A key driver of this trend is the enormous success of influencers on Instagram, particularly those who target female audiences. As these influencers become more influential, companies are eager to get their messages across through sponsored posts and ads featuring them.

This has led to a surge of competition among businesses looking to place their content on the platform. Resultantly more slots will be needed on Instagram for a higher budget. 

Media planners and buyers work together to create a media strategy showing how the campaign will reach its goals. You may have to negotiate with more than one media outlet or advertising channel to get placements at the time and number of times you want within the budget you’ve set for the campaign.

How Does Media Buying Work?

To understand how it works, we need to understand who is a media buyer, what types of media buying exist, and what the procedure and benefits of media buying are. In the end, I’ll also give you some tips for buying media.

Who is a Media Buyer?

Most of the time, a media buyer is in charge of media buying. They look for ways to change the ad’s message to fit each platform where it will be shown. A media buyer might put an ad for a face cream next to content on a beauty website or can employ Instagram advertising that talks about the top ten most effective ingredients for face creams.

Types of Media Buying

Now that you have a basic understanding of media buying, let’s go deeper into the various ad placement options. 

There are several types of media buys available to companies that depend on their specific needs and budget. Some popular types include broadcast, digital, print, out-of-home (OOH) and direct mail.

Broadcast media includes television commercials, radio ads and streaming services such as Hulu or Netflix. Print advertising refers to traditional newspaper or magazine ads while OOH includes billboards, buses and other public transit displays as well as transport posters in airports or train stations.

Digital media covers all forms of online marketing from search engine optimization (SEO) to pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns. However, there is a much-expanded variety of advertising options available through digital media networks.

  •  Display ads or billboards
  •  Social Media Ads
  • TV advertisement
  •  Radio Advertisement
  •  Digital Ad ( OOH )
  • Mobile App Ads
  • Video Ads

The Procedure of Media Buying

Media Buying Works in a procedural form, and there are a few steps to be followed to do effective media buying and get maximum ROI. I have all the steps below.

Strategy for Media Buying

Firstly, a media buyer needs to set a strategy for how many slots are needed and what budget will be invested in each slot. This is all done while considering the audience for the specific business and the potential customers’ buying habits. Even the habits not related to purchase need to be considered as they affect the buying decision.

Planning for Media Buying

The second step is to have a plan to invest in media buying. In this step, a media buyer decides how much time he will run the strategy and how the data will be collected and analyzed.

Placement of Ads in Slots

The third step is crucial as ROI mostly depends on this. You choose the time to run the ads on a specific slot and divide your budget among all the potential slots so that there is a maximum chance of reaching customer touchpoints.

Data Collection of all Running Campaigns

Fourthly, results are collected, and a refined database is formed. This database describes all the funding for various slots on different media platforms and the sales via them.

Data Analysis

Data analysts thoroughly analyze that data and decide which platform performs better. Even the time to have more clicks and purchase via a specific ad on the same platform is recorded.

As per our previous example, a business selling beauty products will analyze its data and have results from Instagram advertisements.

Optimizing the Campaigns Based on Results

All the campaigns are optimized, and strategies are revised as per the results of the data analysis. If the results are desired, there is no need to change the campaign.

What are the Benefits of Media Buying?

Depending on the media you use, your campaign may or may not be successful. More than text and pictures alone are needed to make a point. Advertisements must be shown at the right times, in the right places, and often enough for the right people to see them.

People who buy media can buy advertisements in digital and traditional formats. Advertisers can get the most attention by using traditional and new media forms, such as radio, digital media, and even Instagram display ads.

  • Get as many people as possible to see your ads while spending as little.
  •  Your ad might get a prime spot.
  •  Use free “value-added” impressions to get the most out of your campaign. For example, a brand may get a certain number of digital impressions on top of the impressions it usually gets from Instagram advertisements.
  • Sales can be predicted and planned for longer times
  • Discounted slots are available through media buying.
  • Opportunity for novice media advertisers.

How Can You Do Better Media Buying?

To successfully pick profitable forms of media in which to invest requires a significant amount of forethought and good luck. The following is some advice that will assist you in getting the most out of the funds set aside for advertising purposes.

Watch Out for Your Brand Reputation

Suppose a company wants to outsource its media buying. In that case, it should only do so with a credible agency. And the agency should have experience working with customers compared to its own in the past and has formed mutually beneficial agreements with media outlets and publishers.

Working with digital organizations that have a good reputation is essential. Not only is it necessary to maintain the reputation of a company’s brand, but it’s also essential to do it carefully.

Make the Most of Your Money Spent While Media Buying

One strategy for optimizing your system and preventing access to particular websites is to vary the frequency with which you place bids and the amount you offer. One of the many advantages of using programmatic methods to purchase advertisements is the ability to optimize settings automatically. You should check to see that the parameters for your programmatic programs are right.

Maintain Coherence

To get the most out of your advertisements, you should ensure that the creative aspect and the marketing mix are distinct. Instead of disseminating individual messages and creatives, you should present one cohesive tale across your many media outlets.

Focus on the Most Important Indicators

Your ability to discover the techniques and creatives that provide the best return on investment will determine your campaign’s success. One of the benefits of digital media buying is the opportunity to monitor and make adjustments to your campaign in real-time, as opposed to waiting for the final results.

Video Marketing

The great majority of marketers are already aware of the importance of video marketing to the accomplishment of any modern-day campaign. Over ninety-three percent of marketers report that they have some video marketing strategy in the works for the future.

When deciding how much budget to put toward various other media types, buyers of advertising space should consider the growing popularity of video marketing and its impact. Using an audio waveform generator, you can make your videos more dynamic and engaging, which will help them stand out in the stream and capture viewers’ attention.

Conclusion

In the modern marketing landscape, a strong focus is placed on the significance of purchasing advertising space in various media. Not only is media buying required for a company to acquire media for advertisement, but it is also necessary for the firm to strategize its advertising campaign and gather and review the data with acute eyes.
Before any more action is taken, the tactics should be modified in the future in light of the data and only then put into effect. Increasing sales and achieving miraculous results are possible outcomes that might be achieved by purchasing media in the appropriate method.