Advice for creating a good media plan

Step 1: define the exact needs of your customer. Consider the following points:

• What budget does the client have?
• What are their target markets?
• Will there be product launches during the campaign period?
• Does the customer know the advertising investment of their competitors?
• Does the customer already have an idea of the media they would like to select?
• Will the customer participate in trade fairs during the campaign?
• What proportion of the budget does the customer want to spend on Online, Social Networks and Print advertising?

Step 2: identify the relevant media to build your media plan.

To do this you should make a short list of the media that you think best suits the target market, you can use the following sources of information to help:

• The database Top 1000 media
• Former or current media plan
• Top 1000 Media Alexa Reach
• SEO analysis with Google (Search Engine Optimization)
• Advice from one of your colleagues
• Trade fair media partners
• Trade Show Directory like: https://www.eventseye.com/
• Media kits

During this process you should check the following sources of information to help inform your decision.

• The current circulation for Print & Digital (OJD - BPA, Business Publications Audit of Circulation, Inc), Readership details
• The numbers of Monthly Visitors (Alexa Ranking to compare between the reality and their data) * for websites
• The numbers of subscribers for E-Newsletters
• Main topics of the editorial programs
• Leads or Click statistics in previous or current media plan
• The participation of the media in the most important trade fair

Step 3: How to negotiate with the media

Create your media plan by estimating the Net Cost you would like to pay for each media. Reminders:

• Net Cost = Mepax Cost
• Cost = Costumer Cost (Generally the Cost x 0,85 = the Mepax Net Cost)
• Rate Card = Media kit Cost
• Direct negotiations should be carried out by email or phone

Be careful not to fall into the trap of discounts displayed in the media kit (the risk could be to block negotiation on the rates which do not interest us). To avoid wasting time and making mistakes, negotiate the net cost directly with the advertising manager, trying to get closer to the cost you estimated. When you receive their offer, if it does not satisfy you, do not hesitate to let the media know and ask them for a better offer. Don't forget Mepax's strong position.

Step 4: Formalization, uploading into the DB & online presentation to the costumer

At this point it is obligatory to create, update & check the following information stored in the database:

• Circulation data you have found
• Advertisements sizes
• The editorials issues with the right dates
• The right Technicals Contacts
• Once the advertising campaign has been uploaded into the database, you now have the opportunity to present it online to your client for approval.
• http://mymepax.com/modules/media_plan/schedule.php?p=663

Example of an online presentation: By clicking under your media plan dashboard on view schedule as displayed below in red and blue.