Commentary

Media Planning: Nothing Changes If Nothing Changes

Recently, we were in a meeting with a major brand where everyone was talking about effecting change in today's media landscape. The problem was that no one was talking about how to make it happen. Pondering the dilemma, we had a conversation that gave us some ideas on what needs to be done. We would like to share a point of view with today's brand decision-makers. Our desire is to communicate a perspective that is simple to execute, yet effective enough to make a real difference!

Brand leaders, you have been clear in your acceptance of customer-centricity and planning for customer experience. You speak publicly about the broken media planning model, and tasking agencies and internal teams with finding new ways to connect with the increasingly skeptical consumer. Yet, your media plans are still being executed the same old way--in silos and against separate channels. By doing this, you simply increase the noise factor and fight for the same share of mind to a rapidly skeptical, tuned-out consumer. It is in your power to change this.

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It's understood that the media landscape is changing and we are all struggling with how to be successful within it. There is, however, a foundational principle where all answers lie: people are now in control of how they consume media, and if you don't plan it so that it will be relevant and accepted, you won't win. You now have to understand the entire portfolio of messaging touch points and ensure that you are planning the right message, via the right media, to the right consumers, at the right stage of receptivity, if you are going to connect with them and motivate them to actually listen.

How can you make this happen? Become microfocused on your consumers and do nothing without insights on why someone wants to have a conversation with you. You must also ensure that tools are in place to monitor media conversation effectiveness; be vigilant about putting the same sweat equity into your media planning efforts as you do with creative campaign efforts. You wouldn't dream of launching a new campaign into the marketplace without extensive brand planning, research and customer feedback to ensure that it will be effective. As media planning becomes more of a creative act and we start measuring by effectiveness rather than awareness, why on earth would you not follow the same due diligence?

There's another important point about the myriad of new marketing tools now available to you. Whether it's traditional, interactive, place-based, store or via today's emerging digital technologies, just because something new exists doesn't mean that you should utilize it! Fact is, every existing and emerging media vehicle may or may not have a fit within your consumers' world, and how they prefer to engage with you. If you aren't careful, the very technologies that you may be trying to reach them through will be used to filter out your media noise.

Consumers are time-starved and weary of the demands on their time and attention. They are fully cognizant that they--not you--are in control of how and when they will engage with your media message. Your challenge is to understand their behavior so that your plans are rooted in what people want and how to add value to their lives with your message. Move from the old "Find Me/Sell Me" mentality that has proven to be ineffective and embrace the "Know Me/Help Me" mantra.

If you know and help your consumers, and reach them when and how they want to be reached, your message will have meaning. If it has meaning, they will give you the most valuable response you can hope for: their precious time, attention and acceptance of your brand within the realm of their lives.

Applied Know Me/Help Me Planning Tools

If we are going to know and converse with the consumer via the communications toolbox, we must understand the most compelling things to say and the best places to say them against the purchase cycle to ensure the appropriateness of the conversational experience. Customer knowledge is the fuel for doing this, and you must learn by doing. Ensure that you view the world through the customer's eyes, not your eyes, and judge not by how you want them to act, but by how they actually act. Rather than continue to pontificate the issue, let's talk about how to do this. Embrace your inner brand planner.

Planners know intimately how consumers look at life, how they may respond to what you have to say, the big idea possibilities, relevant messaging, tactics that will resonate and the best media venues to reach them. Their insights don't just tell us what and where, they also tell us how and why! Mandate that your teams work closely with planners--and learn to think like them--and they will come to know your consumers intimately and uncover the motives that will help you predict the future. Rethink the media filter against the "Pathway to Purchase."

There are no more cold calls--we have to understand how the customer consumes media prior to planning the message. Insist that media planners move away from finding people and getting noticed to knowing them intimately and helping them with their everyday decisions. To do this, planners simply need to work backwards from the potential communication touchpoints and map out where they have the ability to make an impression of your brand in the most impactful, receptive manner. For key target segments, dig into the following:

  • When will they be receptive?
  • What stage of the purchase cycle are they in?
  • What vehicles will be the most compelling based on the purchase phase and insights?
  • What message is going to mean something to them at that moment?
  • How can you add value to their day as a reward for their attention?

    Embrace The Team Mentality

    "Know Me/Help Me" media planning across all channels is not going to happen in a silo--it's going to take a village. Let's be honest, the world is fragmented, and certain groups know specific channels better than others. Particularly when planning into the store, place-based and new technical environments, working with niche experts is critical.

    Dina Howell, director of First Moment of Truth at Procter & Gamble, noted this point at POPAI's first Marketing at Retail conference last November. A vocal advocate of this new model of media planning, she pointed out that that her branding agency must lead the charge--but she fully expects them to work with niche knowledge experts to strategize and execute their plans effectively.

    This same point can be made at the retail store level, where numerous departmental constituents have a role in the store environment and are challenged to peacefully align to support customer centricity. As "Marketing at Retail" becomes embraced more, based on its ability to provide recency, to move an audience to immediate action and to guarantee media exposure, this will hopefully change. However, like all other media, how it is embraced and received will be rooted in the value that it adds to the consumer; it cannot be treated as a method to reach a "captive audience."

    Initiating True Change

    Brand decision-makers, insist that you will not green-light a media plan without the principles of "Know Me/Help Me" planning at the core foundation. Once you start listening to your consumers, you will make the right media planning predictions and your success will be inevitable.

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