The Modern Role Of Agencies In The Advertising Placement Process

In the world of advertising, fierce competition is the name of the game.Since these promotional activities mean reaching the right target audience with a positive message, it is vital to harness the many different levels of communication in different ways – this will enhance the ad placement procedure.The only way the agency can feel that it has done its ad placement job effectively, is when the intended message for the said campaign has reached the right audience in the clearest possible way.

So, how can the ad agency get to grips with such a task For this, we need to look at the services offered by agencies and pay particular attention to how they can get a grasp of all modern ad formats – and then to work their planning around these new developments in the industry.

The agency should be able to negotiate at the highest level and with the upmost confidence – it should also be able to match the best media with different areas and messages for the campaign. So, if the agency has a scientific client and this customer wants to improve its lab marketing operation, the agency must look at every viable media product for placing ads and PR. The list does include outdoor media, print, tv, radio and internet – even though the choices are vast the number of high quality options is not. The specialist agency has a job to do and this is generally about getting the best value advertising in the best possible media formats. 

And then there are other communication methods via advertisements and these include direct mail marketing, point of purchase incentives, local yellow pages and highly targeted niche advertising within specialist formats. It is up to the agency to stick to their own philosophy and give advice based on positive experieces – even though some clients will have more traditional ideas. Of course, in some cases it is a good idea to listen to the previous success stories of your customers and try to implement any positive media into your plan if there is a match and a need to do so.

When the agency is clear on the main objectives for the campaign as well as the right focus for the product or service, they can then make use of the research they did themselves and any obtained from the client.The qualititive and quantitive data will be checked for discrepancies until further information is secured more reliabley.  Past experience with the media and the client’s requirements for the job are also top considerations in the development of the media plan for effective advertising placements.

It should be made clear that an ad agency should not carry out any ad plan until the client gives explicit permission to do so. So, one of the main roles of an agency is to emphasise the key elements of a clients message and get that out to the target audience. It is up to the agency to determine the best ways to do so with research and experience to back up said methods.

Planning the right media depends on the main campaign. Remember that some of the modern advertising buzz words will not be too familiar to your clients. For example, if an agency finds a very targeted lab website for that client we were talking about, it is better not to try to impress with any complicated terminology if the agency and the client doesn’t have a firm understanding of it – and only use it if it is going to play an active role in the campaign. If agencies include this, then they should educate the client in the basic principles – this will allow the client to make sense of these results at a later stage.

Some of the basic terms in the media industry today are:

Cost per thousand – refers to the cost of an ad placement per one thousand prospective customers reached.The efficacy of various media formats demands a basic and common approach in comparing the impact of the message.

As an example, if we take newspaper and TV ads, the newspaper advertisement will cost less than say a TV ad, but the print media ad will also hit a smaller target audience. This particular format is also used in a big way online and a lot of agencies are placing very large campaigns via this technique.

Reach – An assumed percentage of all customers or households that will be in some way affected by the main message of the campaign.

Frequency – relates to how often the same message will be displayed to businesses and households.Depending on the media used, this will change with different outlets and also the time of year could come into play.

Continuity  – takes into consideration the timing of the advertisements.There can either be a seasonal or continuous plan for a certain amount of time or a combination of both.

Social media sites have grown in popularity and ad agencies have had to make a number of changes when it comes to the angle of their attack, so to speak.For one thing, the media plan should consist of social media websites and services, but this media type should not be used as an individual component. For another thing, it is not just content but well optimized content – this is the key to making the client’s voice heard on the web.

In the example we gave here, the scientific agency can achieve great things for the client but only when the client knows its own message and how it wants to be seen in their specific marketplace.