The success of advertising communications largely depends on the correct selection of methods and means by which advertising messages are delivered. Correct implementation of this strategy not only increases the number of potential clients, but also increases the effectiveness of the impact on them, affects the volume of necessary investments in advertising and, ultimately, determines the overall effectiveness of these investments.
The process of developing a system of channels for distributing advertising materials is called media planning. It involves the strategic distribution of advertising messages based on the analysis of objective data. In modern media planning, the concepts of reach and frequency play a key role.
Advertising channels can shopify website design be classified according to various criteria, distinguishing between general categories and specific media.
- A media channel (or media category) is a group of similar media that convey information in a similar way and are perceived by the audience in a similar way. Examples of such media include print media, outdoor advertising, television, and brochures.
- Media carrier (or advertising carrier) is a specific element within a media channel that serves to transmit an advertising message. For example, if we talk about television as a media channel, then a specific program that is a media carrier could be "Taboo" on the "1+1" channel.
The media planning process can be divided into several key stages.
- At the beginning, at the preparatory stage, it is important to clearly define the customer's marketing and advertising goals. By this time, it is also necessary to identify the target segment and audience to which the message is addressed.
- At the next stage, an audience coverage strategy is developed and the required number of advertising contacts is determined.
- At the third stage, media channels and media carriers are analyzed and selected, and then a detailed plan for the placement of advertising materials is formed.
At the first stage of media planning, the main tasks are usually solved by specialists from the marketing department of the client companies or research groups of advertising agencies. During this process, a detailed "portrait" of the target audience is created, including both quantitative and qualitative characteristics of both the entire segment and its "average" representative.
The effect of an advertising message on the target audience depends to a large extent on the reach of the message and the number of contacts that representatives of the target group establish with it. These aspects are of primary importance in the second stage of media planning.
The reach of an advertising medium is defined as the percentage of the total population or target audience that interacts with the advertising message at least once in a given period. This means that unduplicated reach counts each person in the target group only once, regardless of the number of interactions with the advertisement.
Exposure frequency shows the percentage of the target audience that was exposed to the advertising message. Frequency can range from 0 to the total number of impressions in the planned pattern and is usually denoted by the letter "r".
According to the frequency model, there are several important aspects related to media planning:
There is a threshold frequency below which advertising is not perceived, which results in no response (region 0-a).
Increasing the frequency above the threshold causes a positive response, which reaches its peak with further increase in frequency (area a-b). The frequency at which the highest positive effect is achieved is considered optimal.
When the frequency exceeds the optimal, the level of positive reaction begins to decrease and approaches zero (area b-c). This indicates that too frequent repetition of the same message can lead to ignoring the advertisement - such a frequency is called critical.
With a further increase in frequency (area after point c), negative reactions begin to prevail, turning advertising into anti-advertising.