Nuzzle the Ear of your Audience.
We were about to use a headline that said something like "Message Delivery for
the late '90s," but we decided you'd probably never read the copy underneath.
So we regrouped.
Television, Radio, Newspapers, Magazines, Outdoor and Transit. These are the major
delivery systems that carry hot creative to target audience brains.
Add one more to the list above -- Interactive Media -- by far the fastest-growing
media alternative, destined for inclusion among the majors any minute, if not any
second. In fact, there it is now.
Every medium is different, and every one takes a backlog of experience in evaluation,
methods of comparison, time and space placement protocols, credit establishment, terms,
values, relationships, and administrative handling.
The Magic of Reach and Frequency.
All media avenues reach a target audience in certain numbers, and at a certain cost.
But what sounds simple enough on the surface hides a discipline which is actually far
more complex than it seems.
Reach and frequency were once the major bywords of media planning and buying --
and were almost the sole basis for media buys. The idea was to find the right media mix
for a given budget that would deliver the longest possible reach into a target audience,
and at the greatest level of repetition. While reach and frequency are still highly
significant in quantifying individual buys, there's more to media than reach and frequency
alone.
Playing the Numbers.
It used to be just a numbers game. Mass marketing was the automatic key to success,
and broadcasting was the automatic key to mass marketing, which played right to the numbers.
The numbers are still important, of course. But today, "Narrowcasting" is outdistancing
"Broadcasting" as we are fast gaining an ability to be HIGHLY precise in terms of message
delivery. New cable channels are launched every day. New special-interest magazines,
newsletters, etc., often in both hard-copy and electronic, online versions, are hitting
the streets and the E-Mail boxes of global audiences. So the numbers are still there.
But the emphasis is changing.
The concept of "Narrowcasting" carries budget effectiveness implications, as we become
more interested in delivering smaller groups of highly qualified prospects rather than
much larger groups of homogeneous, highly UNqualified prospects.
Media planners and buyers need to juggle a number of functions at once. Relationships
as well as "buys;" costs as well as editorial credibility; short-term considerations vs.
long-term ones; audience QUALity vs. audience QUANtity. And yes, reach vs. frequency.
And more.
What goes with the territory.
Media Planning and Buying is an art -- not just a science. In literal terms, here are just a few
of the many jobs of good media planners and buyers:
In always varying degrees, they need to A) Identify the BALANCE of media that best fits both
the creative strategy of the message and the warchest of the advertiser; B) Identify the stations,
publications, net locations, etc., which (within their own categories) deliver the best
combination of editorial environment, brand credibility, and reasonable cost; C) Negotiate
specific "Package" costs of flighted media to fit the marketing plan and budget; D) Arrange for specific
placements in time and space for spots and ads, so they carry the advantage of timing and added
value when in the proximity of certain editorial coverage; E) Administer the buys, not just
through client approvals, but coordinating the actual ordering, recording, verifying, billing
and payment through appropriate channels.
It's like building a friendship.
As mentioned elsewhere in our perspectives, we believe that building good communication is
like building a good friendship. It's often done best over a series of positive engagements,
a little at a time, in careful, often personal ways.
How do you get right into the heads of your audience? First, know your audience, and know
them well. Know who they are, what they believe, how they regard your category and your brand,
how far they'll drive, how much they'll pay, etc. Because knowing audience demographics is only
the first baby step in the process of understanding your audience well enough to effectively
deliver your message.
Then know your creative. Find out what the product is about. Find out about the message strategy.
Match the product and the message to the media. Know which segments of your campaign are the
strongest, and go with your strength. "Flight" your campaign disclosure to span a broader time
frame.
There's more. But we can't tell you ALL of our secrets here.
The New Media.
The New Media is Interactive media, involving Internet presence, world wide web Home Pages and
presentations, websites, inTRAnet concepts, CD Publishing, etc., and interface design as applied
to all of the above.
It's a huge new form of narrowcasting. The delivery of electronic messages to specific audiences,
and only to those audiences. Paying only for what you really want, and not paying for audiences
you really didn't want. What a concept.
Website Design and Implementation have become specialties from Day One.
While it is widely assumed that Website Design is an HTML-driven discipline,
it's not. Knowledge of the basic HTML language is necessary, of course. But in the same way
the knowledge of how to push buttons and pull levers doesn't qualify a person to fly a jet, the
HTML coding language and knowledge thereof isn't really what "makes" a good website.
The real Value of a Website.
The real value in a good website comes from an understanding and a degree of experience in each one
of at least these four other disciplines: Marketing, Design, Computing, and Interface Design. These have
been our core disciplines for years -- the ones we've depended on heavily for the insight we think
it takes to most impactfully and sensitively import a client's existing persona into the New Media.
More about Media from Day One is always on the way.
Meanwhile, click the right-hand arrow button below to go on to "Analysis,"
or click the Red Check Mark below to return to the Main Tools Menu.
©1996 Day One, Santa Barbara, CA USA