Media planning is the process of cost effectively delivering the right message to the right people, at the right time, in the right place, at the right price.

Use these eight steps, together with the Media Brief (in the column opposite) to develop your plan:

1. Situation analysis
   
   
   • Start by understanding the marketing problem.
   • Consider the current market situation, as it affects the media planning.
   • What is the competition doing?  Do a competition analysis 
   • Consider the impact of external factors (PEST).
2. Objectives
   
   
   • Review the communications objectives.
     
     
     • Do you have cognitive-oriented objectives (awareness, recall)?
     • Affective-oriented objectives (interest, brand positioning, brand development, brand management)? or
     • Conative-oriented objectives (purchase intentions, customer loyalty)?
   • Confirm the media objectives.

     Agree if/how your media objectives are constrained by the media budget and what the consequences might be.

     What impact must the media plan achieve amongst your target audience?

     How important is reach/coverage and frequency to the achievement of your objectives?  See Gross Rating Point.

3. Target group analysis/research/insight and selection

   These are the individuals to whom the communications are directed and whom you must reach with your media plan. This audience may or may not be your existing target market.

   • Review your segmented target market/target audience.
   • Should you define your core target groups based on:
     
     
     • Demographic characteristics (consumer or business)?
     • Their location (geographic)
     • Need (consumer need or business need)?
     • Psychographic characteristics (consumer or business)?
     • Socio-economic characteristics (occupation, social status, income, buying power)?
     • Behavioural characteristics such as buying behaviour/decision-making (consumer or business)?
   • How fundamental is geographic coverage (to achieve the required reach)?
   • How is each segmented audience profiled (consumer profile or business profile)?
   • How might TGI (or its equivalent) give you additional insight?

     What data from other marketing information companies will be insightful?

   • Would developing a pen portrait or a day-in-his/her-life be valuable to your media planner?
   • Are these people similar to your 'best customers'?

     Knowing this helps you to calculate how much you can spend on media to recruit each new customer.

   • How do they respond to different media? What are their media habits? Which media do they trust?

     What is their preferred response format (printed application form, telephone, email, text)?

     How important is two-way interaction with this audience?

   • Which channels have historically delivered the highest return on your media investment?
4. Strategic media planning/media selection
   
   

   This is the allocation of the media budget to the most appropriate classes of media and within them to the most cost effective individual media vehicles.

   • Review/discuss the overall communication strategy.
   • Consider how content marketing should be included within your plan.
   • Review/discuss how your digital strategy will be used to achieve your objectives.
   • Discuss if the proposition should be reflected in the media strategy.
   • Agree if/how the plan should support the campaign's creative approach
   • Define the campaign's duration and timing.  
   • Develop an appropriate test strategy  Discuss testing options.

     Agree which media are to be trialed.

   • Agree on the required type of media schedule.
   • Agree the rationale for the frequency and media spend for each vehicle.

     Prioritise the use/spend on each vehicle by its cost effectiveness at achieving the media objectives.

   • Estimate the advertising response/return for each vehicle.
   • Agree how each channel will integrate within the overall plan.
5. Detail planning/scheduling.
   
   

   This is about determining the most appropriate times for advertising to take place across different media, selecting the sequence and timing of outbound communications (such as email or direct mail).

   • Consider the contact strategy.
   • Create a detailed plan (flow chart) for each media channel.

     When will the campaign start and finish?

   • Agree how each vehicle will be coded (for analysis/evaluation)
   • Find out about availability (e.g. dates of the publication or time slots).

     What are the key dates on the schedule, for example copy dates, key decision dates or options on late cancellation?

   • Discuss the position of the ad (e.g. within the magazine or during the commercial break).  Example key points.
6. Media buying and deployment.
   
   

   This is about buying the media - obtaining the best deals in terms of getting the right audience of the right size for the right price.

   • What discounts are available/negotiable? Do existing agreements exist?
   • Check the booking procedure (order management, production plans).
   • Job handling (e.g. the supply of artwork, tapes).
   • Rescheduling/optimization.
7. Evaluation/control.
   
   

   This is the vital need to measure, analyse and act on your results.

   • How will your media strategy be evaluated.
   • What is the CPM for each vehicle?
   • What tracking tools/analysis will be used?

See this academic guide to media planning.

A media plan - example

Five principles of your communications strategy

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See also

• An academic guide to media planning.
• This academic introduction to media neutral planning.
• The pros and cons of different media
• Internal marketing communications.
• The academic introduction to creating a communications strategy.
• How to align your communications strategy to your marketing strategy and your corporate strategy.
• How your marketing communications produces a competitive advantage.
• The strategic aims of your marketing communications.
• The global/international aspects of marketing communication.
• The role of marketing communications in the context of B2B and international marketing.