PLANNING AND
SCHEDULING
Objectives
After going through this unit you should be able to:
* explain the concept of media planning and the role of media in overall marketing and advertising plan
* discuss the considerations relevant to media selection
* describe the dominant factors in media scheduling.
Structure
10.1 Introduction
10.2 The Meaning and Types of Media
10.3 Media Planning: a Process
10.4 Media Selection: a Process
10.5 Media Scheduling
10.6 A Final Word on Media Plans
10.7 Development of Media Strategy
10.8 Summary
10.9 Self-assessment Questions
10.10 Further Readings
10.1 INTRODUCTION
Media management involves one of the most crucial decisions for an advertiser in its objectives to reach effectively the target markets. The decisions assume further critical importance with the wide availability of media vehicles and changing reading and viewing patterns in buying public. For instance, markets have been flooded; with a large assortment of magazines in the recent times. Similarly a vast spectrum of programmes is available on televisions-as the captor of an attentive home audience. Not to be outdone, the hitherto unfamiliar media are now in vogue. Examples include matchboxes carrying product advertisements, or the postal stationery carrying marketing messages of good and social causes. Obviously, baffled the advertiser has to seek answers to the following questions.
a) How to spend the defined funds allocated to advertising and promotional activities?
b) How to match the media audience with the market audience for the product/service?
c) How to benefit from seasonal variations mostly prevalent in sales of all goods and services?
d) How to weave media with the overall marketing effort?
This unit attempts some answers itself.
10.2 THE MEANING AND TYPES OF MEDIA
Media as a term can be defined both from the