Brands Deserve Better Media
A weekly column from @tomjdenford
So, you want better media and you want a better result for the brands we all serve.
You have taken a moment to reflect on an exciting vision for media and the media industry that we can all strive to achieve. You know that together we can provide value and growth for the brands we love.
Now what? Here are 5 helpful pointers to keep us all on track toward that ambition.
1 - Remind everyone that media is an investment in the brand
When developing your media strategy, remind everyone involved to give the brand objectives as much consideration as the typical media KPIs. This will help ensure that the media plan aligns with the overall goals of the brand and that every media dollar is invested with care. To be more caring of our brands, we must plan more consciously.
2 - Care about media placement
In order to create a positive reputation for your brands, it's important to be selective and considerate about where the brand appears in media. This means choosing media partners and platforms that your consumers will trust and identifying media moments that align with your brand's message and values. Media is how your brand shows up in the world, so remember how important it is to always consider the context for every message. That’s what media does well, so let's do it.
3 - Focus on quality over quantity. Do fewer but do better.
Rather than just trying to reach as many people as possible for the lowest possible cost, devote more time and care to creating high-quality media experiences for your target audience. This will probably result in you investing in fewer, but more impactful media activities. The stuff that gets cut is poor quality and therefore wasted dollars.
4 - Personalization doesn't build brands
Data and technology play an important role in media today. Brands certainly use data to better understand their customers and to create more personalized media experiences, where relevant. But if all media impressions are personalized then we are not building brands, it's that simple. We sometimes need a broad audience for a message to turn it into a brand message (more on this another time). A good test; if your brand manager can’t recognize their brand’s values in the media plan, you’ve failed.
5 - Erratic behaviors weaken brands
Consistency is key when it comes to using media to build brands. If we are continually changing and optimizing media plans for efficiency then we may move away from media partners and media moments that are actually building up layers of valuable brand equity. If we decide to take time and care to do fewer things but do them better, then we also have to be patient. Brands do need some consistency in their messaging and media placements, over time these associations build trust and establish the brand's reputation. Remember that media is how a brand behaves (not what it says). As much as we expect human behaviors to be fairly consistent, so we should expect the same of brands.
At ID Comms we believe that brands deserve better media. As media gets more complex and fast-changing, it's sometimes hard to know what’s working and what needs improving. An evidence-based approach gives advertisers a framework to remove waste and optimize the value of media investments for brands. These advertisers are able to make more intelligent media decisions so they can trust that their investments will grow their brands and their business.
When brands flourish, we all win.
Tom
This post was featured in ID Comms’ weekly column, Brands Deserve Better Media. Each week, CEO Tom Denford shares insights on media and advertising and inspires us to work together to build a better future for the industry.
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