Media planning is one of the key disciples of marketing. Media planning is done by almost all big companies to ensure that their target market is aware of their products and services. Most companies hire media consultants from other agencies but some choose to keep it in house, this is usually for big labels dealing with mass marketing.

Companies targeting the niche market would want a different media plan to follow while those targeting the mass market would be having a different plan altogether. To get the right advertisements to the right people at the right time is the role of media planning in ensuring partial success of the product.

The key feature of media planning is to present the product to its customers in a way that they feel satisfied with it, recognize it as soon as they see its logo and believe in the promise of quality. Media planning is the only way a company can communicate with its vast array of customers around the world. The role of media planners is to decide what message to give in the advertisement, what format to use, which trends to follow, where to display the ad and the most effective way of positioning the product before the customers.

The media planner chosen should have expertise in various fields of business activity as media planning just does not involve the marketing department of a company but chunks from all the departments of the company. He should keep in mind the target audience, type of product, culture of the company, pricing strategy of the company, the perception that customers should hold about the product and most importantly the financial budget allocated by the company for the respective product and staying within the boundaries of the given budget.

The media planner should choose the right media platform for the advertisement of the client’s products. It is for the media planner to choose ways to benefit the client. A well-designed, comprehensive advert can reach out to potential buyers and can increase sales and popularity of the company.

Marketing of a product is only successful if it reaches the target audience at the right time and the right place and this is not an easy task. A company can also keep its marketing and therefore media planning in-house but outsourcing media planners is always the recommended option as they know better about the platforms available to reach out to the target audience.