PBL7

Problem: Why use media agencies?

Learning objectives

                 1. What are the tasks of media agencies?

                 2. When is it useful to use media agencies, and when it isn't?

                 3. Media habits of consumers.

                                  How do these habits differ between countries/cultures?

                                  How adjust to these habits?

1. What are the tasks of media sgaencies?

Source: http://www.marketing.org.au/?i=EYK/Z0vgN6Y=&t=jZS6ngCVPug=

Media agencies are part of a tapestry of organisations that provide communications advice to businesses. They advise clients where - in which media - to place advertising to best reach their audience, they negotiate the availability and cost of the ad space with the media owner, and they then buy that media space.

In a nutshell, they provide the planning, insight and buying skills that brands need to make sure their campaigns are relevant, appealing and cost effective. Media agencies have rapidly adapted to the changing media landscape, broadening the range of services they offer. Sponsorship, social media and search are just a few of the disciplines now offered by media agencies.

Media agencies also ensure the advertiser pays the best possible price.

A media agency will be briefed to target a key group of consumers. After researching their lifestyles, purchase making process and media habits, they will propose the most effective way to communicate with them.

A media agency will also research how the target group consumes and uses media, both traditional and social media.

The media agency will then work closely with the client and the brand's other agencies, if appropriate, to develop an idea and a media plan that media buyers and/or content creators can then implement.

Media planning is the process of using this information to identify the most appropriate platforms and most appropriate types of messages that we can use to communicate our clients message. In today's complex media environment, media planning means considering options such as sponsorship, social search or even encouraging brands to create their own content.

Media planning will include looking at previous campaigns and assessing how each element performed, which should be dropped and which should be retained.

This is particularly important for direct response campaigns where direct return on investment is the primary aim. This combination of previous activity, new insight and media research enables our media planners to determine which media potential customers see, read, hear or engage with the most.

The core aim of media planning is to create advertising campaigns that reach the intended audiences with a compelling message and the minimum amount of wastage.

Once our media planners have worked out where an ad should appear, our media buyers speak to the companies that own the space to ensure firstly that it is possible for the message in those environments and secondly that our clients pay the best possible price to appear there.

While many communication messages now appear via what are called "earned" media such as PR or "owned" media such as events, "paid" media remains a vital part of the marketing process. Media buying strategies are often designed to ensure messages appear that encourage consumers to participate in "owned" or "earned" environments.

Source: http://www.mediacom.com/en/what-we-do/our-industry.aspx

2. When it is useful to use media agencies and when it isn't?

PROs:

1. They’ve Been There, Done That, And Done It Good!

 This is a key factor that agencies can bring to the table, as 70% of marketers said that specific expertise is what they looked for when choosing a new agency. Integrating social media into your wider marketing campaign in a unique way takes a variety of skills, some socially related and some are more tangential. A good agency will be stacked with people who have spent time building a wealth of knowledge on all things social. Having experts in each field on hand to deliver top-drawer results means agencies can provide you with a wide range of skills on tap.

2. What’s Better Than A Creative Person? A Creative Team!

Even if you have a cracking social pro, getting an agency on board instantly brings a collection of sharp minds packed with ideas to your team. It will hopefully bring out the best in everyone. You now have a group of talented, imaginative people on hand who can conceive strategies and angles that you may never have dreamed of. This injection of vibrancy can shake up your social profiles in new and exciting ways.

3. You Can Look Before You Leap

When choosing which agency to use, you don’t have to go in blindly. Most agencies will have a list of previous clients, a selection of case studies, and will be proud of any awards or achievements. But you don’t just have to take their word for it, you can often see the campaigns they’ve worked on and look them up on social media to see how their campaigns were received on the ground. What’s more, a lot of agencies are likely to pitch ideas to you so you can get a feel for what they would do with your brand before you’ve signed a contract.

4.  Like A Big Bit Of Lego, They’re Well Connected

Close relationships with the right influencers and press contacts can be everything, they can be the difference between your campaign being the talk of the town or another forgotten press release. It can take years to build up an effective little black book, and you might not have that much time. A good agency will have a list of contacts that can help to rapidly improve your social reach and reputation.

5. By Spending Money, You Might Be Saving Money…

Even the cheapest of agencies will cost you money, but that doesn’t mean they’re always the most expensive option. It depends what you need them for, but it might be cheaper to use an agency to do an effective part-time or short-term campaign than to hire someone specifically to cover social full-time.

6. Tick-Tock! They Save You Time

Effective social media can take serious time, especially if you’re not 100% sure what you’re doing. Agencies will take most of that load off your hands. You and your staff will then be able to focus on the jobs you were hired to do.

7. They Know What Works And What Doesn’t

Not only do they save time for you to do other work, but they have the added bonus of knowing tactics that already lead to success. The time you’d use experimenting with potentially poor techniques that make you look socially poor will hopefully be eliminated by learned social experts implementing tried and tested strategies that will work.

8. They Have The Best Tools, And They Know How To Use Them

Social analytics, monitoring, and scheduling tools can help with posting, researching your audience, and reporting your performance. Used correctly they can unlock some seriously powerful marketing potential. You can use them yourself, but many social media agencies already have paid accounts with top analytical tools that can help to provide you with data, leads, and results. Agencies can use them to show you where and how your campaigns are having the biggest social impact.

9. They Can Improve Your Team Even After They’ve Left

By having full-time social experts taking charge of your social activity, you can see what they’re doing and why they’re doing it. This gives you the chance to soak up some key takeaways that your brand can use in the future. But there’s more than that. Say you want some help with social, but aren’t sure if you can pay an agency full time? Many offer training services where they will offer your allocated member of staff one-to-one training tailored to suit your needs.

CONs:

1. You May Know Your Niche Better Than They Do

Agencies will know social, but they might not know your trade. If you’re in a particularly specialized industry, it’s probably important to have a social presence that is informative, accurate with terminology, and sharing nuanced insights. You might also need to provide timely customer support on complex issues. There are some agencies out there that are experts in social for specific fields, but if there’s not one for yours then it may be better to train someone up in house.

2. Communication Breakdown

Without having your social media manager in the office, it’s harder to see what they’re working on or to give them direct feedback. Sure, you can call or email but that’s not the same as instant face-to-face communication. If the agency you’ve hired isn’t doing the job how you expected them to, it may be more difficult to change the campaign on the fly. Also, if a sudden event happens within your industry then it may be difficult to respond in real time. This could mean you’re paying for a failing campaign and your input into how it can be changed is weakened.

3. You Need To Take Them To The School Of You

While agencies save you time on social, to get them to do an effective job you will need to spend time teaching them about your business. They’ll need to know your history, your plans, where you are in your industry, your rivals, your audience, and more. Some agencies might not be willing to put in the hard hours to find out all that they need to know about your business.

Source: http://www.socialbro.com/blog/social-media-agencies-know-need-one

3. Media habits of consumers. How do these habits differ between countries/cultures? How to adjust to these habits?

Users of Internet

Global  Social media usage all over the world (2011)
http://www.erickzendejas.com/2011/11/global-social-media-usage-2011/


Differences between countries:

Source: http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/05/global-mobile-media-smartphones-tv-maps/371760/

Social media habits in Russia

Source: http://www.emarketer.com/Article/What-Some-Key-Differences-Social-Activity-Around-World/1010104

How to adjust?

Make analysis of unknown markets, may be useful to use media agencies in those countries, where you want to advertise, as they know the market and strategies that work