Media Buying + Media Planning
Media planning and media buying are two critical components of the advertising industry that are often confused with each other. While both functions are essential to creating effective advertising campaigns, they involve different skills, processes, and responsibilities.
Understanding the difference between media planning and buying is crucial for advertisers, as it helps them choose the right approach for their specific needs and goals. In this article, we will explore the key differences between media planning and media buying, their respective responsibilities, and the skills and qualities required for success in each role.
Media planning is the act of outlining advertising campaign activities prior to launch. It involves research, budget forecasting, audience identification, segmentation, and channel and media mix selection.
A media planner handles the media planning. Their work is essential because it creates the foundation for campaigns, including how much to spend, how long to operate the campaign, and what KPIs to meet.
Once the media planner's campaign plan is complete, they pass it on to the media buyer.
Media buying is the execution of a media plan. This includes procuring ad space by negotiating with suppliers (data providers, ad space vendors, managed services, etc.) to meet campaign budget and expectations.
Teams and agencies tend to hire a media buyer or outsource to a media buying agency or media execution partner.
Media buyers execute the plan that the media planners outline.
This means if the media planner suggests using an integrated media approach and wants to place ads in magazines, on billboards, and as native ads in the Google Ad Network; the media buyer will make this happen and purchase the ad inventory space.
Media buyers can purchase ad space in a few different ways. They might personally reach out to ad inventory vendors and broker deals to field their content or purchase ad space through Google Ads or other programmatic platforms. These ad-buying platforms use the ad exchange and artificial intelligence to bid on ad space in real time.
Media buyers are also responsible for fielding ads on time, setting bid maximums, and tracking specific metrics for attribution and optimization, all without overspending on budget.
"Media planning activities form the blueprint on paper of how to execute the campaign, while media buying is the execution of the blueprint." - Cortland Fondon, Cheif Services Officer
Media buyers and media planners have different roles, each requiring a unique set of qualities contributing to their success in their respective positions.
Media Buyers are responsible for purchasing advertising space or time on behalf of their clients. They use their negotiation skills to secure the best rates for media placements. They have a deep understanding of the advertising landscape, including available media channels, target audiences, and pricing models. The following qualities are often associated with successful media buyers:
Strong negotiation skills
Knowledge of the advertising industry and media channels
Ability to understand and analyze data and market trends
Strong relationship-building skills
Attention to detail and strong organizational skills
On the other hand, media planners are responsible for developing and executing a comprehensive media plan for their clients. They research the best target audience and the most influential media channels to reach that audience. The following qualities are often associated with successful media planners:
Strategic thinking and problem-solving skills
Knowledge of target audiences and media channels
Ability to analyze data and market trends
Strong communication and presentation skills
Creative thinking and ability to develop innovative solutions
In summary, media buyers and media planners both play critical roles, but their focus and skill sets differ. Media buyers are responsible for purchasing media, while media planners are responsible for developing and executing media plans.
"Despite the differences between media planning and media buying, planners still lean on buyers to help inform the planning process. Buyers can provide real-time data from the other campaigns they are executing, helping adjust forecasts.
In turn, buyers will typically work with planners to understand the strategy, goals, and reporting expectations to inform their decision-making (optimizations) throughout the campaign."
Media planners and buyers have the same objective: to run a successful campaign that meets the campaign goals. However, they have different roles in meeting these goals.
The media planner wants to spur campaign success by crafting a robust strategy that outlines who to target, what platforms to use, cost, duration, and the ideal media mix of the campaign.
“Media planners must have a deep understanding of the business objective for the campaign and which part of the funnel they want to push. While also taking into account the KPIs the campaign will impact, their value, and what metrics to tie them to. These critical pieces of info are necessary to build a successful media plan.”
The media buyer sees success as taking this media content and ensuring it appears at the right place, at the right time, and in accordance with the media plan. When given a budget, they must also maximize it to the fullest, ensuring each ad dollar is spent and goes towards driving conversions.
The media planning and buying processes feed into each other: the media planner does the upfront, birds-eye-view planning of the campaign, while the media buyer is in the weeds, handling negotiation and digital placements of ad content.
We can break this overall media planning and buying process into ten steps from beginning to end.
Media Planning Process
Campaign outline
The media planner identifies why the team is doing the campaign and what KPIs they want to meet, nailing down the campaign's value proposition and message.
Target audience identification
This step syncs with the campaign outline by framing the target audience and picking the digital channels where they tend to reside.
Budget and timeline definition
Campaigns should have a definitive life cycle for proper data collection and optimization. If the campaign has a budget, the planner should consider how they can best allocate funds throughout the defined period. Media planners developing programmatic campaigns should also identify the total budget range and minimum/maximum bid prices they are willing to pay.
Platforms and delivery method selection
There are many platforms and delivery methods at the disposal of media planners and buyers. Planners should select the channels that best align with their target audience.
If the target audience is Gen Z, they may choose to select a media platform like social media or methods like native ads on shopping sites.
Media planners may think of other supporting platforms and extensions to enhance the campaign, like data tracking code, third-party media posting software, media planning tools, or dynamic search ads.
Media content selection and creation
The last element of media planning looks at what exact content the media buyer will plug into the ad inventory space. This includes graphics, videos, audio, and text. They can create this content in-house or via an external vendor. The content's message should be concise and have a solid call to action.
The media planning process ends at this point, passing the media plan over to the media buyer. At this point, the bulk of the media planner's work is done. Still, they maintain involvement with the media buying process, advising the media buyer how to execute their campaign section best.
Media Buying Process
Media plan review
The first thing a media buyer does is review the media plan that the media planner prepares. This helps them get in touch with the goals and scope of the campaign.
Buying strategy development and approval
With the media plan in mind, the buyer will develop a strategy for executing the buying portion. The media planner may provide strict details on navigating this process, or it will be left entirely up to the buyer.
When the buyer formulates their plan, they will get any necessary approval from the media planner or other team members.
Strategy calibration
Once the buyer has the green light to execute the media buying, they will do this based on the original plan. If they run more traditional campaigns, the buyer will reach out to connections and negotiate physical ad placements. If the campaign uses programmatic technology, the buyer may just set up the campaign and plug in all necessary target info within the software.
Buying execution
This is when everything is ready to go, and the buyer presses go on the campaign, turning it live.
Review and optimization
After the campaign comes to fruition, the media buyer and planner should analyze the metrics and data recorded to gain insights into what went well and what didn't.
Media planning and buying are critical to run digital media campaigns, but they are individually tricky to navigate.
For media planning, it is easier said than done when coming up with the "ideal" action plan a team should take. This step in the marketing process takes lots of research, data, and prior knowledge to boost the chances of success.
The buyer's success in media buying depends on their knowledge of ad space inventory locations and connections with space vendors. Those well-versed in programmatic platforms may need help to maximize their budget and tag the correct information.
How the media planner and buyer see the campaign coming to fruition can also differ. The planner may think one method and media mix is optimal, while the buyer may vary in opinion or deem the plan impossible to execute correctly.
A final challenge that firms encounter – particularly when outsourcing media planning and buying – is that they confuse these services with media execution.
“Media execution is strategizing at the digital tactic level, tracking, analytics, bidding techniques, audience identification, optimization, creative trafficking, tagging, pacing, and all other aspects of deploying a successful digital campaign.
Media execution encapsulates media planning and buying and is a comprehensive service that manages clients' campaigns from beginning to end.” - William Lapointe, CEO
However, some media planning and buying agencies may only handle a specific part of this process. Media buying agencies, for example, only specialize in buying. Therefore they are unwilling or unable to address any other planning or optimization tasks.
This causes a problem where the client is paying for media buying but expecting complete media execution. So before hiring a media planner or buyer, know what extent of execution they will manage.
Media Challenges
The biggest challenge for media planners is aligning with the client on KPIs and media metrics. One of the struggles, particularly with digital media, is the double edge sword of measurement. Because you're able to measure everything, you should be able to impact everything. In reality, having a clear focus around a single business KPI when planning can help the value of the plan. It forces the team to evaluate all aspects of the client's funnel rather than focusing on impacting a single portion of the funnel.
That's not to say agencies and media can't support multiple touchpoints within a brand's funnel, but those should be separate plans for each touchpoint. I've seen this struggle for many years between agencies and clients.
As a result of this lack of alignment during the planning process, it has a massive impact on the buyer. They're often chasing and adjusting campaigns based on multiple KPIs, not allowing them to focus on and test levers on a single metric they can have an actual impact against with the investment.
Teams hesitant to manage their media planning or buying in-house should consider using a media execution partner; these partners are advantageous because they have planning and buying activation skills.
Teams that take advantage of a media execution partner have access to a formalized team of planners and buyers who can step in and actively help with campaign implementation. If the planner is struggling with deciding the marketing mix for the campaign or the buyer needs help understanding the technical minutia of ad buying, the execution partner will assist.
Another advantage of media execution partners is that they are not like traditional consultants who tell the team what to do better or step in and try to make changes without cross-training employees.
Media execution partners try to put people first and help them not only with their execution but tailoring the systems and processes they use for future success. Partners, like Pathlabs, also tend to be platform or practice-agnostic. They develop specific solutions based on the client's budget and preferences.
Understanding the difference between media planning and buying is crucial for advertisers, as it helps them choose the best approach for their specific needs and goals. Effective advertising campaigns require a well-thought-out strategy and a clear understanding of target audiences and media channels, whether through media planning, buying, or combining both.
Are you interested in exploring your options with media planning and buying? Reach out to Pathlabs to see how we can become an extension of your team.