Media Planning: The Final Information

Efficient media planning is essential for any enterprise to succeed immediately.

Media content material — photos, movies, written content material, and podcasts — retains you top-of-mind along with your target market and helps you stand out from rivals by making certain your model stays seen and fascinating.

That is why I all the time advise shoppers to create and share recent media content material.

Nevertheless, conserving observe of, planning, distributing, and analyzing all of your media content material can take effort and time. Efficient media planning helps you handle these duties effectively and preserve a robust presence.

Media planning has many transferring elements, making it tough to grasp.

Nevertheless, by following the correct media planning steps and using media planning templates, you can simplify the process and tackle any challenges that come your way.

What is a media plan?

A media plan details what kind of media you’ll create and where and how you’ll publish it to best engage and convert your audience. Some media plans align with larger company initiatives and campaigns, following along with pre-approved messaging and content.

Types of Media Plans

Choosing the right type of media plan depends on your campaign goals, budget, and the nature of your product or service. But before all that, you need to understand the different types of media plans.

Continuous Media Plan

A continuous media plan involves a steady run of ads over a period. This is best for products or services that aren’t seasonal and need constant consumer reminders. Think: toothpaste or soap.

The idea is to ensure frequent exposure that keeps your brand top-of-mind all year.

Flighting Media Plan

A flighting media plan alternates periods of advertising with periods of no advertising. Consequently, this facilitates high-intensity exposure during crucial periods, creating urgency and anticipation that leads to more revenue.

Contrary to continuous media plans, it’s perfect for seasonal products or services with fluctuating demand. For example, a company selling holiday decorations might heavily advertise before the holiday season and stop afterward.

However, you need to know your brand‘s peak times. Use tools like HubSpot’s marketing analytics software to research gross sales information throughout a number of advertising and marketing channels and accordingly modify your flighting intervals for optimum outcomes.

Pulsing Media Plan

A pulsing media plan combines steady and flighting plans, sustaining a gradual baseline stage of promoting with intervals of elevated depth.

I like this method for 2 causes: (1) it balances finances effectivity with sustained model consciousness in key markets, and (2) it is versatile and adaptable to altering market circumstances.

Seasonal Media Plan

A seasonal media plan focuses on particular instances of the 12 months when a services or products is most related. This sort maximizes affect by aligning with peak demand intervals, creating robust associations with particular seasons or occasions, and being budget-friendly by concentrating on high-relevance intervals.

For instance, a journey firm can use seasonal media plans to advertise its trip packages. It could actually focus promoting efforts throughout winter and summer time, leveraging seasonal themes and promotions to make its campaigns extra interesting and related.

Roadblock Media Plan

A roadblock media plan locations adverts on a number of media channels concurrently to maximise attain and affect. For instance, when launching a brand new product, you may run the identical advert on TV, radio, on-line, and social media to rapidly generate buzz.

Consider it as synchronizing adverts throughout numerous platforms — you create a robust, unified message that captures consideration and encourages quick response. Nevertheless, this method requires cautious planning and coordination to make sure all the things runs easily and successfully.

Drip Media Plan

A drip media plan steadily releases content material or adverts, similar to a sluggish, fixed drip. This method is ideal for instructional campaigns or nurturing leads over time.

As an example, in an e-mail advertising and marketing marketing campaign for a B2B software program firm, we used a drip media plan. We despatched out beneficial emails over a number of weeks, every tailor-made to deal with particular ache factors and desires. This manner, each touchpoint added worth and introduced prospects nearer to a purchase order resolution.

The purpose was to maintain our viewers engaged with common, useful content material. Over time, we constructed relationships and belief, which finally led to conversions.

Advantages of Media Planning

Media planning aids with elements of content material creation and distribution, together with:

• Attending to know your target market on a deeper stage so you may successfully attain them by way of your media content material.
• Deciding on which media channels and platforms you’ll share your content material.
• Figuring out the timing and frequency of the media and content material you publish and share
• Maintaining with the most recent media traits and know-how.
• Sticking to your finances as you’re employed to create, publish, and share high-quality and fascinating media content material.
• Conducting analyses to measure the success of your media planning course of.

Now that we’ve mentioned the advantages of media planning, let’s overview the steps within the media planning course of so you may start growing a method for your enterprise.

Media Planning Course of

1. Conduct market analysis.
2. State your media planning goal.
3. Create your media plan utilizing a template.
4. Implement your media plan.
5. Consider your success.

As you’re employed by way of the steps in media planning, needless to say how your enterprise applies the outcomes and conclusions derived from every step will likely be distinctive primarily based in your viewers and desires.

1. Conduct market analysis.

The very first thing I do when growing a media planning course of is conduct market research. This step allows me to tailor the content and the media plan to my target audience and customers.

Start by creating and studying your buyer personas. You need to understand who your target audience and current customers are.

Then, with this information, determine what media will reach, resonate with, and convert your audience best. Additionally, select the platforms and channels you’ll use to publish and share your content.

Featured Resource: HubSpot’s Market Research Kit + Templates

Download the Kit

2. State your media planning goal.

Subsequent, I all the time preserve a transparent purpose in thoughts.

This helps me navigate the method successfully and guides me in deciding which content material sorts and platforms to give attention to.

Having particular targets permits me to confidently say “no” to choices that do not align with my marketing campaign’s aims.

Listed here are some examples of media planning aims you might have:

• Strengthen cross-team collaboration (e.g., content material, graphic design, animation, video, weblog, social media) whereas creating and sharing media.
• Improve and streamline the publication and distribution processes for all media.
• Enhance media distribution timeline to make sure our content material is shared effectively so it’s related to our target market.
• Amplify the success of our media content material by permitting for ample time to research its affect and attain our viewers.

As an example, let’s say you are planning your social media content material for Fb and Instagram. Your purpose may be to streamline the content material creation course of and schedule your posts forward of time.

This manner, you may guarantee your content material is all the time related and fascinating, conserving your model high of thoughts.

3. Create your media plan utilizing a template.

Now, it’s time to make your media plan.

I’ve discovered that it is not sufficient to easily plan after which assume everybody else is on the identical web page. It is advisable define your technique by way of an in depth media plan. If you do that, you guarantee alignment inside your crew and preserve all events accountable.

Some media plans also can function standalone methods that element how manufacturers plan to leverage media — written, video, audio, and so on. — to attach with followers and clients.

Media planning templates are invaluable in staying environment friendly and efficient whereas engaged on all points of media content material. They assist preserve all the things organized whereas publishing and sharing it along with your viewers.

Given the number of templates accessible for various sorts and elements of the media planning course of, the templates you incorporate will likely be distinctive to your enterprise. Don’t be afraid to experiment with or mix totally different templates.

When one in every of HubSpot’s shoppers wanted to create a media plan for Fb and Instagram, our crew applied a social media calendar template for them.

This kind of template helped coordinate content material throughout each channels, increase engagement, and enhance productiveness amongst crew members.

It finally helped our shoppers obtain their aims quicker.

4. Implement your media plan.

Guarantee all events who ought to concentrate on the plan have the mandatory particulars that can assist you execute accordingly.

When our crew works on media plans, we all the time share the contact particulars of the media planning coordinator in our firm in order that anybody with questions or feedback is aware of precisely who to succeed in out to.

To get a greater understanding, let’s refer again to our instance of steps for a social media plan designed for Fb and Instagram.

After we applied a social media calendar template as a part of our shopper’s media plan, we made certain everybody concerned, whether or not on the inventive crew or the publication crew, had entry to it. This manner, everybody was on the identical web page and will contribute successfully.

5. Consider your success.

Whether or not your media plan revolves round particular person posts on Instagram or a month-long, company-wide marketing campaign, it is essential to measure its success.

Ask your self and your crew questions like, “How did this media plan assist us obtain our particular targets? If it didn’t, why?” and “How did the media planning templates and instruments we used add worth to our media creation and publication processes? In the event that they didn’t, how will we transfer ahead?”

The best way you consider your media plan’s success needs to be instantly tied to the particular targets of your enterprise relating to your media content material, the groups who create the media, and the worth you hope to derive from it (e.g., boosting conversions, engagements, income, and so on.).

As an example, when reflecting on previous campaigns, our crew typically evaluates whether or not our social media content material plan and calendar template helped the shopper attain their target market and obtain their desired aims.

We additionally assess whether or not our media plan boosted engagement on the shopper’s targeted social platforms, continuously in search of methods to collaborate and coordinate extra successfully.

Media Planning Technique Parts

There are a couple of further issues to think about when crafting your media planning technique.

First, what’s your media planning finances?

Media Planning Finances

If you happen to’re aiming totally free media, you may disregard this query. But when a part of your media planning entails media buying, sit down with your marketing leadership to understand what funds you have to work with.

Set this budget before researching platforms and creating content. You don‘t want to start formulating a campaign that you can’t afford down the road.

Pro tip: Include the costs of curating and distributing media kits in your budget if you plan on expanding media coverage later. For inspiration, check out our top media kit examples cherry-picked by Ramona Sukhraj, Principal Marketing Manager at HubSpot.

Second, consider the key messaging points you want your media to communicate.

Media Planning Messaging

You don’t have to pre-write all your media content, per se, but I recommend establishing the main themes at the beginning so all media is consistent and on theme.

These messaging points should come from your audience research and will guide your content types and platforms, so nail these down first.

Third, you need the media content for publishing.

Media Scheduling Strategy

A solid media scheduling strategy lets you create content when inspiration strikes and fine-tune your advertising strategy when you’re ready. This saves you time in the long run.

Your scheduling strategy will look different based on the kind of media you’re working on.

For example, timing is everything for social media posts (free or paid ads). You need to schedule your posts based on when your target audience is online, even when that time is inconvenient for you. Thankfully, there are many tools, such as HubSpot’s social media management software, that may assist with this.

Then again, consistency is vital for newsletters and weblog posts. You need your viewers to be trying ahead to your media content material, thereby boosting visitors and fostering a group round your model.

My high suggestions on your media scheduling technique embody:

• Research your readers and prospects to know once they’re accessible on particular platforms
• Put together your content material in bulk to keep away from any inconveniences, corresponding to delayed deadlines, which can have an effect on your frequency
• Select the proper automation instruments for every platform
• Be constant—consistency is all the things!

With these factors in thoughts, let’s stroll by way of tips on how to create a media plan of your personal.

Easy methods to Create a Media Plan

1. Goal your purchaser personas.

As a marketer, you don’t wish to promote to only anybody. You wish to appeal to the kind of purchaser who’s within the media you’re creating—in any other case often known as your buyer personas.

A buyer persona is a semi-fictional representation of your ideal customer based on market research and real data about your existing customers.

When you know exactly the type of buyer you need to target with your media plan, you can attract the most valuable customers to your business.

When making buyer personas, I often center them around these important attributes:

• Demographics: Age, income, location, or identity
• Background: Job, career path, and lifestyle
• Identifiers: Communication preferences and social media platforms
• Goals: Primary, secondary, personal and professional
• Challenges: Their roadblocks preventing them from achieving their goals

2. Define your SMART goals.

When setting goals for your media plan, use the SMART goals framework (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-Bound). This will help you track progress and achieve greater impact.

Moreover, establishing these goals before starting ensures your media plan has a clear direction for you and your team. It also means you can celebrate your successes when they happen.

Some examples of SMART goal-setting in media planning could look like:

• Specific: “We want to generate a greater number of qualified leads.”
• Measurable: “We want our media plan to gain 2,000 followers across Twitter, Metaverse, and Instagram.”
• Attainable: “We previously reached 70% in customer engagement online over the past quarter, so we’re aiming for 75% in the next.”
• Relevant: “We want to achieve more positive customer engagement to better the brand’s reputation and gain more fans.”
• Time-Bound: “We want our media plan to gain 2,000 followers in the next three months across Twitter, Metaverse, and Instagram.”

Once you’ve determined your goals, start exploring resources that can help you reach them.

3. Find the media planning tools best suited for you.

I‘ll share some fantastic media planning templates for your business later in this post, but first, let’s talk about software tools that can do some of the heavy lifting for you.

To start, HubSpot Marketing Hub is ideal for drafting, planning, scheduling, and amassing conversion analytics. However in the event you’re in search of extra choices, try our listing of 15 important media planning instruments so that you can use.

4. Analyze historic information.

It’s important to know the place you started earlier than you can begin transferring ahead. I all the time look again at my earlier media planning methods to research their affect and attain.

For instance, in case your model is already on Fb, I’d test the enterprise web page insights to see how far we received with the outdated posting schedule and content material. I’d additionally take a look at the posts that received essentially the most engagement, the time intervals with the very best visitors, and the content material that helped flip prospects into clients.

By noting the efficient components of your earlier technique, you may let that drive a few of your brainstorming on your new media plan. Consider it as constructing on previous successes.

5. Select your media combine.

Relating to selecting your media combine, it is vital to remain knowledgeable about the most well-liked advertising and marketing channels, in addition to those most well-liked by your purchaser personas.

Based on HubSpot’s State of Marketing Report, over 1,400 international advertising and marketing professionals consider the advertising and marketing channels with the very best ROI are:

• Web sites/Blogs
• Social Media
• Electronic mail Advertising and marketing
• Content material Advertising and marketing

In my expertise, an omnichannel media plan works nice to succeed in your target market wherever they’re. By researching which channels your purchaser personas frequent essentially the most and being open to exploring new ones, you may resolve on the right combination on your model.

6. Put your media plan into motion.

When working in your media plan, control your insights and see how they stack up in opposition to your SMART targets. Bear in mind, you may all the time modify your plan as wanted. Advertising and marketing is a dynamic subject, and with the ability to pivot is essential.

Now that you just‘re accustomed to making a plan, let’s take a look at some assets to make the media planning course of simpler.

Media Planning Templates

There are many media planning templates accessible on-line, each for buy and totally free. What I really like about utilizing these templates is how customizable they’re; you may tailor them to suit your enterprise’s particular wants and targets.

Relying on the media software program your enterprise makes use of, corresponding to HubSpot’s (free) CRM, Marketing Hub, or Sprout Social, there could already be customizable planning templates included. I’ve typically used HubSpot’s templates, which provide a terrific menu of options to select from.

After all, it’s also possible to create your personal templates utilizing Google Sheets. I’ve finished this myself, and it’s an effective way to make sure your planning course of suits completely along with your distinctive workflow.

No matter technique you select, keep in mind that your media planning templates ought to evolve as your targets and viewers develop. Don’t hesitate to regulate them over time to remain in sync with your enterprise’s altering wants.

Free Media Planning Template [Download Now]

Download This Template

Sorts of Media Planning Templates

Here is a listing of widespread media creation and planning templates to get you began. (Click on the hyperlinks to entry every template.)

Select the templates that fit your wants. Bear in mind, there‘s no proper or flawed alternative—it’s all about what works greatest for your enterprise.

• Use a media planning template to prepare your paid media efforts and bills in a single visible location.
• Use a social media strategy template to align your media content material along with your viewers in a approach that gives worth for your enterprise.
• Use a social media calendar template to customise a timeline for while you’ll share your social media posts in a easy, organized, manageable, and efficient format.
• Use an editorial calendar template to plan and optimize all of the advertising and marketing content material you’ll publish and share, together with blogs, social media posts, and campaigns.
• Use a weblog publish template to easily fill within the blanks and start writing partaking, related, and well-optimized weblog content material on your viewers (all whereas avoiding author’s block!).
• Use an e book design template to take the guesswork out of tips on how to make your e book skilled, eye-catching, and delightful, all whereas saving your self beneficial time.
• Use an infographic template in PowerPoint or Illustrator to rapidly customise the best way you current information, share insights, and promote gives in a approach that appears and feels skilled.
• Use an analytics and reporting template for Excel, PowerPoint, and Google Drive to make the processes of pulling, organizing, and sharing information easy irrespective of which metrics you observe.
• Use a finances template to handle and overview your spending and finances with Excel or Google Sheets.
• Use an promoting template that can assist you plan and handle promoting campaigns in a approach that’s certain to transform viewers members into leads and clients.

Media Plan Examples

Though we’ve mentioned media planning and even shared a couple of media planning templates, doing it virtually should still pose a problem. Subsequently, I’ve created media plan examples and linked the templates I used for extra readability.

Social Media Plan

Relating to social media, focus your efforts on the platform the place your clients are energetic. If you happen to’re nonetheless figuring that out, it’s effective to experiment with a couple of platforms to see what works greatest.

Here is a pattern social media plan impressed by HubSpot’s Social Media Content Template to help you explore multiple platforms.

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Running a blog Media Plan

Monitoring how typically you publish weblog content material is essential for monitoring your progress. A running a blog media plan will help you handle your writers effectively, decreasing the necessity for fixed e-mail follow-ups about their weblog publish progress.

Right here is a straightforward instance of a running a blog media plan you can download from HubSpot.

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PR Media Plan

Making a PR media plan is usually a bit extra intensive because it entails coordinating with different organizations. You may want to decide on the correct type of commercial, collect the mandatory assets, and establish key contacts.

On this pattern template, I’m solely sharing the “attain out” and “content material planning” phases. Nevertheless, the entire template from HubSpot has all the things you want, together with useful resource planning. As a bonus, in the event you’re a newbie, you may even take the free course on PR Media. Take a look at the entire HubSpot PR Plan template.

Exercise	Description	Begin Date	Finish Date
Visitor posts	Selling our new exercise pants	3 March, 2025	3 June, 2025
Press releases in identified publications	Selling our model usually	10 July, 2025	20 December, 2025
Newsletters	Ship out month-to-month newsletters each month	3 March, 2025	29 December, 2025

We‘ve coated media planning intimately, however there’s one other essential side to think about: media shopping for.

Let’s get into it.

Media Planning vs. Media Shopping for

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Digital media planning and media shopping for are intently associated and work hand-in-hand. Relying on your enterprise dimension and finances, the identical crew members may deal with each planning and shopping for.

So, what makes these processes distinctive?

Media planning entails deciding which media content material to create, publish, and share along with your clients and target market. This media content material is all-encompassing and doesn’t all the time embody paid adverts and content material.

Media shopping for, then again, is a definite course of targeted on buying promoting house and time on numerous platforms. That is the place the principle distinction between media planning and media shopping for lies.

What’s media shopping for?

Media shopping for is all about paid media. This implies your enterprise buys campaigns or advert house on numerous channels, pays to share focused campaigns and adverts, or negotiates with media distributors.

Whereas sharing media and reaching your viewers totally free is feasible, efficient media planning can nonetheless occur with out media shopping for. Nevertheless, media shopping for all the time requires media planning.

Consider it like this: all squares are rectangles, however not all rectangles are squares. Media planning units the tone and path for the media shopping for that follows.

As soon as you’ve got bought advert house or negotiated content material distribution, you want a method—or a media plan—for delivering that media to your viewers and clients.

Media Planner

A media planner is also referred to as a model strategist or a model planner. They’re accountable for planning promoting methods and creating campaigns for companies.

If you happen to don’t have an in-house media planner, you’ll want to think about hiring one that can assist you with the campaigns. However what precisely does a media planner do? And the way a lot will it value?

Under are the solutions.

What does a media planner do?

A media planner takes over your complete media planning technique, evaluates it, and advises you on the best way ahead.

Listed here are some roles {that a} media planner will deal with in your organization:

• Maximizing the affect on all commercials you pay by networking with media shopping for companies
• Arising with inventive methods to succeed in out to your goal audiences for higher engagement and conversion charges
• Figuring out the perfect platforms for your enterprise to make sure you’re spending your advert cash the place you’re more likely to get returns

How a lot do media planners make?

Based on Comparably, the typical Media Planner within the US makes $69,374. When working with a media planner, anticipate to pay them between $30,000-$150,000.

If you happen to want an skilled planner with a few years of expertise, then you definately’ll must plan for about $155,000.

Nevertheless, you may all the time lower your expenses by hiring a contract media planner. They could cost a bit extra per hour, however you solely pay them when you have got a mission.

Start Your Media Planning Course of

Media planning is an integral a part of your enterprise’s capacity to create, publish, and share media content material efficiently.

I like to recommend using the pulsing media plan the place you may. It provides you the consistency of steady promoting with the depth of flighting, making certain a gradual presence whereas permitting for strategic bursts of exercise.

What has all the time stunned me is how dynamic media planning may be. No two campaigns are the identical and require their very own distinctive technique, however that‘s a part of the problem and pleasure. So long as you understand when and the place to have interaction your viewers, you’re on the correct path.

Editor’s be aware: This publish was initially printed in February 2020 and has been up to date for comprehensiveness.