Five Reasons to Hire a Media Planning and Buying Agency
Understanding the nuances of paid media is challenging for most business owners and CMOs. Despite what you may have heard about the value of earned versus owned media, when it comes to getting your message in front of the right audience, paid media is unbeatable.
Many companies are reluctant to enlist the services of a media buying agency, either because they aren’t exactly sure about what media planners and buyers do, or because they believe bringing those services in-house would be more beneficial to the company from a cost-savings analysis. The truth is there are huge benefits to working with a media buying agency. Here are five of them.
1. THEY HAVE YEARS OF EXPERIENCE
Would you rather have a heart or brain surgeon fresh out of medical school or one that has performed hundreds of procedures over the course of decades? Experienced media agencies understand not only how to plan and negotiate media, but they have proven media strategies for optimizing current campaigns or building go-to-market strategies for new clients. The expense associated with hiring a media agency is offset by a realized savings associated with getting the strategy right the first time and not learning what works over time.
2. THEY OFFER AN OUTSIDE PERSPECTIVE
A media agency can offer a new perspective of your marketing objectives and strategies. Agencies are in the trenches negotiating media all the time. Being constantly in the market means a greater understanding of how media rates fluctuate daily. And because they work with multiple clients across industries and business verticals, agencies have a unique perspective on how media strategies work for different types of businesses. Their experiences help them come up with fresh ideas for tackling your biggest challenges and finding your best audiences.
3. THEY HAVE CONNECTIONS
Media agencies have often spent years establishing long-standing relationships with different media vendors. The right connections can offer big benefits, which media buying agencies pass along to their clients. A media buying agency can successfully access inventory from the ideal media outlets and negotiate the best rates for their clients in traditional and digital advertising media.
4. THEY HANDLE THE DIRTY WORK
If you plan on buying media yourself, be prepared for a laundry list of to-dos. There is a lot more that goes into planning and buying than meets the eye. Here are just a few of the day to day tasks media buyers handle every day:
- Integrating data from multiple platforms to properly plan
- Establishing relationships with platforms and vendors
- Negotiating and activating media buys
- Trafficking spots
- Reconciling invoices
- Posting ratings
- Measuring media effectiveness
All of these important tasks take time to learn and perform efficiently, and if you’re running a business, you know all too well that time is one thing there never seems to be enough of. Lucky for you, media buyers are experts when it comes to making your media campaigns run smoothly. Working with a media buying agency will allow you to refocus your energy on the other important things you do each day to operate and grow your business.
5. THEY HAVE ACCESS TO DATA & TOOLS
The biggest weakness amongst in-house media buying teams is on the planning side. In-house buyers lack the data and tools necessary to identify and engage key audiences at scale. Working with the right media agency will allow you to leverage these advanced tools. The result? Your media buys will be methodically and insightfully planned to help you reduce ad waste and improve response.
Wingman’s media campaigns are built using our proprietary Audience Management Platform, haloAMP™. This powerful planning tool leverages your first party data to uncover the media habits of your actual customers so you can engage them with pin point precision across your media buys. Ready to hire a media planning & buying agency that can take your media strategy to the next level? Let’s talk.