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The Changing Face of Media Buying

by Paul McDonald | Nov 9, 2018 | Media

Media buying is changing. A recently published Nielsen report looked at the changing face of media buying. And while there are some givens that the report brought out, like the fact that digital advertising spending has now eclipsed traditional channels, there are some other insights that were a little more unexpected.

After reading through the report, I came up with two valuable take-aways. The first is that there is a consensus that ROI (Return On Investment) is difficult to track, whether it be with traditional media or with digital media. For digital media, new challenges are surfacing that never had to be considered before. For example, something called “digital media hygiene” suggests that the primary causes of digital campaign waste include non-viewable impressions, invalid or fraudulent traffic, and brand safety issues.

Data challenges also occur in the ability to quantify digital media ROI; is it being measured accurately? Response data is abundant, but is it interpreted correctly? Having the data is good — but knowing what it means is most important. The consensus is that attribution and measurement are still trying to catch up to actual media consumption. And finally, while the data is extremely granular, how does it impact the brand or the final sale?

Facebook and Google have developed the moniker of “walled garden channels.” This is because they are “closed” media ecosystems that tend to leave a neutral to unsatisfactory impression with media buyers, mostly because of lack of transparency around data and performance. However, they are viewed as being effective at granular audience targeting.

Even though there are hurdles to overcome, digital media spending will increase in the foreseeable future. That being said, television still continues to rank highest as the traditional channel that has the most perceived importance and effectiveness. And radio still continues to lead all channels in terms of weekly reach in the US. A full 45% of respondents consider radio to be an effective channel.

Another key take-away from the report was a concept called omnichannel marketing: using any and all media that will best support the effort to reach the clients’ goals. If customer acquisition is the goal, digital media channels, like social, search, and email, would be the most favored media. For brand building, including brand awareness, recall, and favorability, more traditional media like broadcast TV and radio or even direct mail, would be the choice of marketers. While only four years ago only 30% of marketers were using the omnichannel approach, now over 60% are using it.

According to the respondents of the report, the highest campaign objective was customer acquisition, followed by brand awareness, customer loyalty, customer advocacy, and reducing customer churn or turnover, all with at least 60% of the respondents considering each of these objectives important.

Infinity Concepts has been a pioneer of the omnichannel marketing approach, strategically choosing the media channel that will work best to reach the goals of the client. We make—and adjust—our media plans with our clients’ objectives in mind, continually reviewing the data to achieve best outcomes and the best ROI.

Let Infinity Concepts help you reach your media goals. Contact Us Today!

Paul McDonald
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