Chapter 9: Planning Media Strategy

Exam 3

Media planning

Process of choosing the best media channels to reach the right audience at the right time; matters because it controls most of the budget (80–85%); ex: using TikTok ads to reach Gen Z

Importance of media planing

Ensures ads reach the right people efficiently; poor planning wastes money and hurts brand image; ex: ads shown to the wrong audience.

Media Challanges

Audience fragmentation, rising costs, complexity, competition; makes targeting harder; ex: splitting budget across many platforms.

Media Objectives

Goals for how media will be used (who, when, where, how often); guides strategy; ex: reach 60% of audience 5 times.

Audience Objective

Defines who to target (geo, demo, psycho, behavior); Ensures ads reach the right people. Example: targeting college students in Florida.

Message distribution objective

Defines when, where, how often ads run; controls exposure; ex: ads during peak social media hours.

Gross Impressions

Total possible exposures (audience × number of times ad runs). Measures scale. Example: 1M viewers × 5 ads = 5M impressions.

GRPs (Gross Rating Points)

% of homes exposed (sum of ratings). Used for larger budgets. Example: TV rating of 20 = 20% of homes watching.

Reach

Total number of unique people exposed in a time period. Measures audience size. Example: 10,000 different people see an ad.

Frequency

Number of times a person is exposed. Important because repetition (3–10 times) builds memory. Example: seeing the same ad 5 times

continuity

Duration and timing of ads over a campaign. Helps sustain memory across seasons. Example: more ads before peak sales season.

5 ms of media mix

Markets (who), Money (budget), Media (channels), Mechanics (formats/timing; 30-second tv ad), Methodology (overall strategy); organizes planning; ex: more budget to Instagram.

continuous schedule

Ads run steadily; good for everyday products; ex: toothpaste ads year-round.

Fighting Schedule

Bursts of ads + no ads in between; good for seasonal; ex: tax services.

Pulsing Schedule

Steady ads + peaks during key times; balances reach & cost; ex: soda ads all year, more in summer.

Media Flow chart

Visual schedule of when/where ads run; helps planning; ex: calendar of media placements.

Message-Distribution Objective

Defines when, where, and how often ads appear. Controls ad exposure. Example: running ads during weekends and evenings.

Message Weight

Total size of audience reached in a campaign. Shows overall exposure level. Example: total viewers across all ads.

Exposure, Attention, Motivation

Media effectiveness depends on exposure and attention. Higher exposure when media uses more senses, demands attention, provides info, targets specific audiences, and has good placement. Example: video ads (sight + sound) get more attention.

attention value

Increases when audience is more involved, content is specialized, fewer competitors, audience familiarity, and high-quality ads. Example: niche podcast ads with fewer competitors.