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Keeping Media Buying Simple

For most small business owners dealing with media buying is like dealing with alphabet soup. Learn the important letters here.

Mike Frey/May 3, 2010/No Comments
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For most small business owners dealing with media buying  is like dealing with an ever-changing alphabet soup. This is primarily because the language of media is cluttered with acronyms. And understanding each acronym is necessary to getting the most out of your media buy. AQH, GRP’s CPM, CPP and that was before web banners, unique users, and social media… for this blog, we’ll just deal with what was once referred to as traditional media. Since most store owners haven’t seen an AQH, CPP, CPM or GPR come directly into their place of business and purchase something it can be hard to relate.

I’ve never seen an advertising sales rep not come to a meeting prepared to let the business owner know how they were number 1 (me included). I like to call it the wheel of fortune theory for the business owner, spin and hopefully win. Today’s economic times don’t allow the small business any room for error in their advertising investments without landing on the bankruptcy space. All advertising works if used properly and fails if used improperly. You don’t have to be able to decipher the media alphabet soup. You just have to keep these simple things in mind:

  • media buyingKnow your demographic, not what you perceive your company’s demographic to be, but what your company’s demographic truly is!
  • Create a message that fits the demographic that you need to communicate to and then purchases the medium that best hits that demographic.

Also, realize that each of the old traditional ways of advertising has special strengths and weaknesses in how they communicate and how we use that particular media.

Traditional Media Buying Uses

  • TV is a great way to build your image, TV, after all, is the home of stars. Even our local news anchors and weatherman have a certain celebrity status in our communities. Used properly, TV is a great way to build your image and gain status around town.
  • Radio is a great traffic driving tool when you need to put butts in seats and sell tickets to a concert or event; radio is where people usually turn to first. Used properly radio can have the same results for a retail business.
  • Newspaper and direct mail are price and item pieces. When we read the paper (for those few who still do) if they are going to notice ads, they’re usually looking for a sale; so item and price is the most efficient way to use print.
It never hurts to sit down with someone you trust to get an outside perspective of your demographic, message, and the placement of the buy. Sometimes as an owner you can be too close to the situation and miss some critical elements, that today can be the difference between success and failure.
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Mike Frey

Prior to co-founding Paradux Media Group Mike spent more than 15 years in the world of marketing and advertising. During that time working with hundreds of locally owned businesses he developed an appreciation for minimizing client’s dollars while maximizing tangible results for those clients.

His unique approach to buying media does not follow convention, but it does yield results that exceed those experienced by the more traditional methods. His goal is to provide only the assistance a client needs – and no more, thus minimizing unnecessary cost to the client

Mike is a talented and prolific script writer, ensuring that the client’s brand position is portrayed in a unique and attention grabbing manner. He specializes in story-arcs which evolve both the understanding of the clients’ brand as well as the capture and engage customers’ attention over time.

Mike learned marketing and advertising the hard way — selling it for a living. He was mentored by some of the brightest media, marketing, and advertising minds in the business and was extraordinarily successful in his endeavors. His clients universally agree that he brings a practicality to the business, appreciating their needs while offering options that will allow them to leverage their marketing investment into the future.

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