Interactive Media Buying Tips

As I sat on the IAB’s search committee meeting the other day, I started to think about all of the little things that REALLY need to be involved in an interactive media buy that seem to get overlooked. The bottom line I think is that agencies still don’t have enough bodies to do them all as interactive takes a lot more time and effort than a print or traditional campaign – so that being said, I thought I’d point out some of the top things that buyers should be looking to do, starting with incorporating search:

1.Incorporate Search into Everything (AND incorporate Marketing into Search). Agencies still are outsourcing their search to contractors, and although those contractors know how to do search engine architecture, they don’t often understand the basic marketing principles. This is where a traditional agency should be able to accelerate, as they’ve always known marketing – but just couldn’t wrap their arms around interactive. Yet what seems to happen is they follow what their search person tells them to do. Let go of your auto bid optimizers and start analyzing the data. Don’t silo search, and just as important – don’t silo marketing to everything but search.

2. Negotiate your media buy. Sorry sales reps, but right now – we’re pretty sure we have the upper hand. If a client has money to spend, just know that there are 100’s if not 1,000’s of websites that meet your demographic data. Negotiate your media buy to meet your clients objectives. And oh yeah…

3. Know your clients objectives! It’s great to negotiate and get a better deal, but make it a win-win relationship. Publisher reps and vendors want fair value just as much as your client does. Negotiate a deal that hits your client objective and satisfies your publisher. If you can find the sweet spot, then both client and publisher will be happy and continue to grow. In order for that to happen – the media buyer needs to know the publishers metrics, how the clients ads will respond, how they’ll convert and more. So educate yourself before you negotiate. If you don’t know how your clients ads will perform, then you probably need more coordinator experience before taking on a senior media buyer title (Don’t even get me started on agencies that throw around senior level titles so a client feels all warm and fuzzy. Your media buyer either gets it, or they don’t – and yes, it’s that black and white.)

4. Get Flexible. Ask for flexible terms on the media buy. I totally understand that if you cancel the buy outright, you’ll have to find more placements – but if that’s what it takes to meet the objectives, then put the elbow grease into it. We move media buys around several times within the websites before canceling them outright – but you need to have the flexibility from the publishers to make that work, and if it still doesn’t, you need to be able to move on. In the long run, you’ll save the publisher time and money as well – as they’re after the long term relationship just as much as you are.

If you can incorporate from a very high level these four items into your interactive media buy, then when you get into the details and the optimization standards and objectives, you’re going to have at least a leg to stand on.

My First Media Buy

A little over a week ago, I got to experience what it's like to be a media strategist/planner...for reals. I work closely with our strategists on a daily basis, but never had I been the main point of contact for a media buy. With some help and guidance from an AE, I was able to set-up and implement a CPM deal with a publisher. I even signed the IO, that's insertion order for you youngsters out there. I was told that your first online media buy is the equivalent of having your first child. I don't have children, but it was awesome. Although the campaign didn't produce as anticipated, no computers spontaneously burst into flames on my watch...that's a success in my book.

As I try to articulate this introspection, I realize the importance of that experience. Hold up...I'd like to give a shout-out to college for that last sentence, much love. But, truly, one of the advantages of being part of a small agency is that positions are not one dimensional. The size of Media Two allows for exposure to many different roles and in turn promotes diversity amongst employees. My experience is a case in point. I'm not a strategist by any means (yet), but I feel confident enough to talk to a sales rep without consulting Rosetta Stone. It's hard to imagine that I would have been trusted or even given the opportunity to make such a deal at a larger agency. So thanks Media Two!

Furthermore, such exposure makes me truly appreciate what my colleagues bring to the table. Not only for the development of the company, but for my professional development as well. I am very grateful to be surrounded by such a talented group. I also now understand why Jon and Amy are a few nuts shy of a trail mix (1) Tons of Emails (2) Tons of phone calls following-up on those emails. I kid, I kid, you guys are the coolest. If Amy were here she probably would have karate chopped me by now so I'm going to stop writing and pretend to get a band-aid from HR.

Keeping it Real, Online

Well my first ten minutes on this post have totally been productive. The end result? The first sentence you just read. You are so in for a treat. Much of that time was spent trying to come up with a witty analogy that compares our media planners/strategists to something in the realm of pop culture. I landed on DJ (disc jockey). Ok, connecting the dots yet? I'll be the first to admit, not one of my best attempts at being clever. I'm suffering from an upper respiratory infection and the lack of oxygen has obviously slowed the nerves impulses to my brain. I had really hoped my pop culture blurb would provide the roots of this blog post with the moisture it needed to sprout into something magical and ground-breaking...ugh, square peg, round hole. I guess I can talk about the ever evolving media buy.

It seems with each month that passes the media buys around here become increasingly complex in an effort to gain the almighty conversion. Our media planners/strategists extend themselves to the very ends of the Internet to a find a media mix that delivers on the back end. With that said, it becomes increasingly important for the planner/strategist to develop a good rapport with the publishers, and the client for that matter. Crossing your fingers and hoping for conversions just doesn't cut it. This relationship is especially important when starting a new program, for instance, a CPT or Mobile buy. Furthermore, this communication has to extent to the client when the program utilizes a resource such as a call center.

The aforementioned buys (CPT and Mobile) are particularly concerning because all tracking occurs on the publisher's end. While the data can usually be accessed or requested with ease, our media strategists take a proactive approach to ensure the campaigns deliver results. Our media strategist will test the respective program from the onset and trouble-shoot, with the publisher, if a problem should arise. As for the client, they are constantly kept in the loop when new initiatives are implemented so that their resources (again, i.e. call center) are equipped to deliver conversions. These relationships are indicative of executing media "after the buy." It's a complex notion, but an essential one. What else can I say? We keep it real.

Quick hitter - Tidbit on Ad Networks

TIP: Let's face it. Clients are fond of visual representations and "fluff" in decks. So, the best place to find some quality "pre-made" charts is eMarketer.com. Sure, you may want to show something niche, but if you require something broad like industry trends, this is the place. This is my Tip of the Day. And while I'm giving out tips, here is another one, Big Brown will win the Triple Crown.

So, as I was going through some recent eMarketer articles, I came across a couple worth mentioning in the blog. Here is the first one. It was an article regarding spending trends involving ad networks called, Targeting, ad networks Spending Increase. It must be noted that the research for the article was provided by an ad network, so keep that in mind. Regardless, the point I found interesting was only 13.4% of the advertisers that use ad networks in their online marketing mix said the sole purpose was direct response. Wait, WHAT!?!!?!?!?? Furthermore, according to the data, more advertisers are using this category for branding purposes in 2008. This makes no sense. Ad networks spawned from sites aspirations to monetize remnant inventory to resell to the public at a discount in order to lure more DR advertisers to the web. So, now all of a sudden, this same tactic has become a branding platform. Don't get me wrong, there are secondary branding benefits from that many impressions (recall), but you can't convince me that you should be running on an Ad.com primarily for awareness. So, if you feel like throwing away your marketing dollars on branding efforts with ad networks, I have a better idea. Take that money and donate it to the Mike Atkinson Charity Fund c/o my wallet, or move your budget over to Media Two and sit back while we magically increase your sales volume and decrease your CPA (ok, it's not magic, we just know what we are doing).