Independent Media Consultants

Budgeting and Media Planning

It is important that we are involved at an early stage with the planning process; we can provide vital information relating to the potential market, its size, and movement etc. Is the market expanding? Have new players entered the market? Is the market likely to be affected by (say) government legislation or changes in legal requirements for the advertising of the product? There are a plethora of outside influences in all markets, which affect an advertising campaign's response values.

Some advertisers have or are seeking a unique niche in the Marketplace. By researching that market and/or potential audience we would anticipate being in a position to have a valuable input at this early stage of media campaign planning. We would expect to be involved with your management / marketing team at all stages of campaign planning.

A key element of marketing strategy is budget setting. We don’t know how long the budget piece of string is, but experience enables us to give a good guideline. Is the sales mechanism “two stage sell” or is the product to be sold directly “off the page”? Which edition of the press would work better? Should DRTV or inserts be considered? Would small spaces work better than full page colour advertisements? Which size of space can be bought most cost effectively? What constraints should be put on frequency of insertion in order to minimise response decay factors? We would wish to have an input at the earliest possible stage! Sales projections and Media analysis should go hand in hand.