Complete Guide to Campaign And Media Planning

Introduction

Prior to kickstarting any digital marketing campaign, it's important to have a clear media plan in mind. Media planning helps your team strategize and identify promising digital media execution strategies that will achieve your marketing goals.

As you develop your media plan, answer the following:

• Who is your target audience?
• What are you trying to achieve?
• Which channels should the ads be placed on? 
• How should you allocate your budget initially? 

What is a Campaign? 

A campaign is an advertising term commonly used to describe a collection of messages that convey a singular overarching idea and theme. These messages can be displayed in multiple formats including images, videos and text. Campaigns are designed to reach target audiences across different media channels and devices over a fixed time period.

Types of Campaigns:

1. Brand awareness: Increase brand visibility among your potential customers. 
   
   
2. Reach: Maximize the number of people exposed to your ads. 
   
   
3. Traffic: Drive visitors to a destination, such as a website, app, or messaging conversation.
   
   
4. Video Views: Promote videos (e.g. product launches, customer stories, behind-the-scene footage, etc.) to encourage more people to discover your brand.
   
   
5. Post Engagement: Increase your post visibility.
   
   
6. Lead Generation: Identify and engage potential customers who have shown interest in your products/services by collecting their details. 
   
   
7. Conversions: Direct people to your website to take actions that are valuable to your business.
   
   
8. Catalog Sales: Increase your sales by automatically showcasing relevant products from your catalog to your target audience. 

In order to run effective campaigns, it is important to understand the marketing funnel and determine which stage is most relevant to your business needs. 

Marketing Funnel

A marketing funnel is a visual representation of a customer's journey, from initial awareness of your product to final purchase. The pool of potential customers decreases at each stage of the journey, giving it a funnel-like shape. 

The top level of the funnel is known as Awareness, which is the initial point of contact between a potential customer and your brand. The main goal at this level is to maximize your reach and attract the widest possible audience. 

As your prospects become more aware of your company's presence in the market and engage with your content (e.g. subscribe to your newsletters), they enter the mid-level of the funnel, known as Consideration. At this stage, you can focus on creating ads that target prospects based on their interests, driving further engagement with your product. 

The final stage in the marketing funnel is Conversion where your potential customers are most likely to make a purchase. In this stage, personalized messaging is crucial to converting your prospects into loyal customers.

Media Planning

Step 1. Identify your Campaign Objective 

Clearly define what goals you wish to achieve with your campaign, whether it's to increase brand awareness, generate leads, or boost sales.

Step 2. Identify your Target Audience 

Determine your ideal target audience by considering factors such as demographics (e.g. age, gender, etc.), interests, and behaviors. 

The image below illustrates how different target audience groups progress through the marketing funnel:

Step 3. Identify Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

Set realistic KPIs that align with your campaign objectives. It is recommended to establish a primary KPI along with other supporting metrics. For example, a campaign with the Lead Generation objective may designate the Number of Leads as its primary KPI, followed by Cost Per Lead (CPL) and Lead Quality Score as its supporting metrics. 

The image below illustrates how different KPIs progress through the marketing funnel:

Step 4. Build your Media Plan 

Develop a comprehensive media plan that integrates campaign details, such as:

• Media channels
• Budget allocation
• Geographic coverage
• Campaign duration
• Targeting strategies
• Creative development specifications

The image below illustrates how media channels, budget allocation, and creative messages progress through the marketing funnel: