6 components of an effective media planning brief

A media planning brief is the foundation of a successful marketing campaign that summaries the client’s vision and objectives for his/her campaign. 

It’s a small piece of a document made by the client for the media agency that outlines the overall strategy of the product to meet the stated goals and objectives of the campaign. 

The media planning brief is usually rolled out by the client or by the client’s media agency. 

It gives the firm statement and ideas to the media owners on the following points- 

1. Campaign objectives 
2. Targeted audience
3. Allocated budget 

What is the need for a media planning brief?

 Although it is a standard agency practice to start the campaign with a clear and precise media planning brief, here are some of the reasons that explain the need for media brief-   

1. It gives a quick overview of the brand and it’s objective for the successful execution of the campaign. 
2. It helps the media agency to create the strategy for the campaign execution by aligning the budget to its objectives. 
3. It reduces the chance of conflicts between the client and agency since the document mentions some of the major points like the brand messaging and budget and ensures that everyone is on the same page. 

Example of a media planning brief- 

You can follow any formate for creating your media planning brief. 

Below is the infographic example of the media brief of Quaker Oatmeal which stats the above-mentioned points precisely. 

6 important components of an effective media planning  brief 

Although a media planning brief is only a 1-3 page document, it’s still considered as quite a crucial task. 

Only a person with in-depth knowledge about the brand and its values with an understanding of the market and the targeted audience will be able to craft an effective media planning brief. 

Once you gain the sound knowledge of the brand and the campaign to be advertised, the following are the 6 important components to be included to make your media planning brief thorough and effective- 

1. Introduction of the brand 
2. Introduction of the product/service 
3. Objective of Advertising 
4. Targeted audience 
5. The ideal budget and the duration of the campaign.
6. List of a few existing competitor or substitute 

Introduction of the brand 

While it’s not necessary that your product associates with your brand, it’s always a good practice to give a brief of your brand. 

Your brand’s introduction should define your brand and what it is known for in the market. 

Introduction of the product/service

A brief of your product/service is the core of your media planning brief. After all, the whole motive of the media planning brief is focused on the product. 

The introduction of the product/service should clearly mention the following points- 

• A clear and concise brief of your product. 
• KSP [s] of your product/service
• Current market status- The current stage of the product.

 Ex- If its a newly launched product or its already have been established in the Market. 

• The specific area/challenge that your product is trying to address. 
• Marketing status of the product/service- A brief of the advertising status of the product. 

Ex- If the product is going to be advertised the first time, if not then where it has been advertised earlier. 

The objective of the campaign

Your goal is to clearly define the purpose of the advertising of your product/ service. The main motive of this part is to state what is the result that you are expecting from the campaign. 

Here are the following points to include in your objective of the campaign- 

• What is that you want from the campaign-

1. Increased brand awareness, increased traffic, or more shares. Be specific.  

• Specify the action you want your audience to take when they see your product. 

Ex- Call your business, visit your store, visit your website,  share the link, etc. 

Targeted audience

“Customer is the king” if you dont have a clear understanding of your customer you might never win any. 

Here are the following points to include in your customer brief- 

• Demographics data (age, sex, income, marital status)
• Psychographics data (interests, aspirations, lifestyles, habits)
• What is the current understanding of the brand or the product in the market. 
•  What is the point that you want to trigger in your targeted audience when they see your product.

The ideal budget and the duration of the campaign.

One of the key elements of a media planning brief is to clearly mention your ideal budget for the campaign and the duration you want your campaign to be live. 

You can also include the ideal platforms to choose for running your campaign according to your market understanding. This part is exceptional as the media agency would be doing that for you. 

List of a few existing competitor or substitute 

Competitor analysis is an inevitable part of every single industry. 

The goal of this component is to mention the competitor or the substitute for your product/service in the market.

This might seem overwhelming but if your media planning brief doesn’t address these important points, your brief for the media agency might get off-track and the desired result would be the opposite. 

That’s why you should be as specific as possible and try to include the above-mentioned points for a clear and effective media planning brief.