How To Hire an Online Media Buying Agency
Is media buying part of your marketing strategy? If it’s not already, it should be. Media plays a huge role when it comes to marketing strategy, whether it’s hard print like newspaper ads or digital media like online banners or televised prime-time TV slots. It’s a great way to get your company and brand seen by lots of people.
With media ever evolving and advancing, it can be intimidating to implement on your own. How do you know which form of media you should focus on and spend money on? How do you know which ad you should place where? When it comes to this, it may be best to hire an online media buying agency.
An online media buying agency will do all of the work for you. They are experts in the field and will be able to guide and place your media where your audience is. They know all of the new advancements and follow the media trends as they continue to evolve.
So, how can you hire an online media buying agency? It’s easier than you think.
Check Out Their Experience and Clients
When it comes to choosing an agency, take a look at their experience. Not only do you want to make sure that they have experience in online media buying, but you also want to make sure they have experience in your niche or industry. For instance, if you are a nonprofit organization, make sure the agency you’re looking at has experience working with nonprofits, as your stipulations and needs are very different from those of a large corporation. By making sure they have worked with your industry, you know they already have a good idea of what will work best for you.
Additionally, take a look at what media placements they have done in the past. You likely do not want to choose an ad agency that deals primarily with print ads, as that is not the world we currently live in. Make sure the agency has vast experience in terms of both print and digital ad placements.
Make Sure They Have the Right Tools & Connections
Be sure to ask questions about what types of tools they use, specifically what analytic tools they have that help them determine which market to target. These tools are meant to show them what media habits your target audience has, so you want to make sure the tools they use are up to date and work. Your media ad placement will not garner any traction if it’s being shown to the wrong audience, so this is why the tools the agency uses to track this information are important.
You also may want to ask what connections, if any, the agency has with other media outlets. For instance, ask if they have a local or national publication they have a partnership with where they typically place ads and ask if they believe an ad for your company could be placed there, too.
Ask If They Do a Market Analysis
In order to be thorough, an online media buying agency should complete a background analysis of your company before they come up with any sort of plan or strategy. This background analysis should then be used to help shape the plan or strategy they pitch to you, as it looks at both your business objectives plus the sales, distributions, and competitors of your business. You should also ask for a list of clients they currently are working on projects with to make sure they are not working with any of your competitors, as this could lead to a conflict of interest.
Ask If They Do Frequent Testing
There is no one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to buying. Because of this, doing different testing of various media is important. By doing these tests, they will be able to customize a plan for you and find the right mix of online media buying that will work for your business. The plan an agency is giving you should be entirely customized to your company and your needs. This will ensure that the budget you’ve allotted to media buying is used efficiently and that your results are quantifiable.
Talk to Former Clients
Testimonials are a great way to get a real feel for what it’s like to work with an agency. An agency will likely have reviews and testimonials on its website, which is great for you to look at. However, to get an even more realistic feel, ask the agency for a couple of past clients that you can call and chat with to get a real-time referral. You can ask the referral for their feedback on working with the agency, what the ROI was for the media buying, and if they would choose to work with this agency again. You’ll get the real deal, and a better feel, for the agency by speaking to someone who was once in your shoes.
Hiring an online media buying agency is not as difficult as you may have thought it was, however, there are some steps to take to make sure you’re hiring the one that’s right for you. If you are looking to hire one, we encourage you to take a look at us at InnoVision Marketing Group. We have experience in strategic media buying and have worked with some of the biggest names in the business, including Neutrogena and Corona. We know that utilizing the right media is vital to how successful your advertising campaign will be and we want to make that happen for you.
At InnoVision, all of our media plans are personalized to the goals of each of our clients. As mentioned above, we know that there’s no one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to media buying. We also have an extensive network of associations and partnerships that include top media organizations and executives all around the country. This means that there’s a great opportunity here for your ad to be seen if you choose us as your online media buying agency.
