A good media plan isn’t about cramming in as many channels as possible. It’s about understanding your audience, your objective and where your budget has the best chance of making a real impact.

With more ways to reach people than ever before, media planning can quickly become complicated. TV, radio, outdoor, search, social, digital audio, Connected TV, podcasts, cinema, press - the list goes on.

But more choice doesn’t automatically lead to better results.

The job of good media planning is to cut through that complexity. It means understanding who you need to reach, what you want them to do and which channels are most likely to influence them. From there, it’s about building the right mix, giving each channel a clear role and making sure the budget is working as hard as it possibly can.

A strong media plan shouldn’t be judged by how many line items are on it. It should be judged by how well everything on it works together.

One of the easiest traps in marketing is assuming that a good media plan needs to include lots of channels.

But good media planning isn’t about trying to squeeze as many channels as possible onto a plan. It’s about understanding where your audience is, what you need them to do, and which media environments give you the best chance of influencing them.

Sometimes that means using five or six channels together. Sometimes it means putting the majority of the budget into one or two.

The important bit is knowing why.

More choice doesn’t automatically lead to better results

Start with the audience, not the channel

We still see briefs that begin with something like: “We want to run a social campaign” or “We’ve got £50,000 for outdoor.”

That’s the wrong way to approach the brief.

The starting point should be the people you need to reach.

Who are they? Where are they? What are they doing? What media do they consume? What influences them? Are you trying to generate awareness, consideration, enquiries, sales or something else entirely?

Only then should you start deciding where the money goes.

A media channel isn’t good or bad in isolation. It’s only good or bad in relation to the audience, objective and context.

Reach matters but so does attention

There is also a difference between reaching somebody and actually getting noticed.

An impression isn’t the same thing as attention (and not all impressions are created equal).

That’s why we look at the role different media can play together. Outdoor might create credibility on the commute. Radio might build frequency. TV can deliver scale and fame. Search can capture people when demand appears. Social can add targeting and storytelling.

Individually, each has strengths. Together, they can become much stronger.

Don’t spread the budget too thinly

More channels do not automatically mean more effectiveness.

In fact, one of the biggest mistakes we see is a budget being sliced so thinly across multiple platforms that nothing has enough weight behind it to make a difference.

A £20,000 budget divided across ten different channels may look impressive on a spreadsheet. It doesn’t necessarily mean the audience will notice any of it.

Good media planning also means knowing what not to buy.

There should always be a reason

Ultimately, every line on a media plan should be able to answer a simple question:

Why is this here?

Why this audience?
Why this channel?
Why this location?
Why this level of investment?
Why this timing?
Why this frequency?

If there isn’t a convincing answer, it probably shouldn’t be on the plan.

At Hello Starling, our job isn’t to put as much media as possible in front of our clients. It’s to work out the right media mix to give the campaign the best chance of working and delivering results.

Media planning isn’t about being everywhere; it’s about being where it matters.

Ready to make your media budget work harder?

Whether you’re planning a new campaign or want a fresh look at your current media activity, we can help you find the right mix.

Say Hello today, and let’s make sure your budget is working where it matters most