What are the best practices for selecting media partners for a B2B media plan?

2 Research your audience

The next step is to research your audience and understand their media consumption habits. Where do they go to find information, solutions, and inspiration? What types of media do they prefer, and how do they interact with them? What are their challenges, motivations, and objections? How do they make buying decisions, and what are the key influencers and touchpoints? By researching your audience, you will be able to identify the media channels and formats that resonate with them and match their buyer journey.

3 Assess your media options

Once you have a clear picture of your objectives and audience, you can start assessing your media options to compare them based on criteria such as reach, cost, quality, fit, and performance. Reach refers to the number of potential customers each media outlet can reach and how relevant they are to your target market. Cost considers how much each media outlet charges for advertising and the expected return on investment (ROI). Quality looks into the credibility, authority, and trustworthiness of each media outlet in relation to your brand image. Fit examines how well each media outlet aligns with your objectives, audience, message, and offer. Finally, performance measures the effectiveness of each media outlet in delivering desired results such as awareness, leads, conversions, or loyalty. By assessing your media options according to these criteria, you will be able to rank them and select the ones that offer the best value for your money and goals.

4 Negotiate your media deals

Once you have chosen your media partners, it is necessary to negotiate your media deals and secure the best terms and conditions for your media plan. You should consider the price, placement, frequency, exclusivity, flexibility, and measurement of your ads. When negotiating the price, you should think about how much you will pay for each media placement, as well as any discounts or incentives you can get. Placement deals should include where and when the ads will appear, as well as how prominent and visible they will be. Additionally, it is important to consider the frequency of the ads and how long they will run. It is also important to determine if you have exclusive rights to advertise on a specific media outlet or if you will share it with other advertisers. Lastly, when negotiating your deals, make sure to consider how easy it will be to change or cancel your media plan and what penalties or fees might be involved. Additionally, you should discuss how the performance of your media plan will be tracked and measured, as well as what reports or data you will receive. By negotiating these deals carefully, you can optimize your media plan and ensure that you get the most out of it.

5 Monitor and optimize your media plan

The last step is to monitor and optimize your media plan and make sure that it is delivering the results you expected. You need to collect and analyze the data from your media partners and compare it with your objectives, KPIs, and metrics. You also need to solicit and incorporate feedback from your audience and stakeholders. Based on your findings, you can adjust and improve your media plan and make any necessary changes or corrections. You can also test and experiment with different media outlets, formats, messages, and offers to find out what works best for your audience and goals.

By monitoring and optimizing your media plan, you will be able to maximize your media performance and ROI, and achieve your marketing goals.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?