You can have the best media contacts in the world and the best story angle on earth but the person who’s going to help you get the most mileage out of any media activity you’re planning is the media buyer assigned at your agency or your media buying service to spend your media dollars.
Of course, your media buyer has to be a smart one, not a hack. I have been fortunate enough to work with some of the best media buyers in the New York advertising community over the years, professionals who have worked closely with me to maximize our communications exposure well beyond a simple talk show placement or an article in a publication.
Media buying isn’t only about buying media—often it’s about promotion and cross promotion that blends into public relations.
The economy is tight right now but television and radio networks and stations will still offer advertisers extra perks in return for spending. And your media buyer knows what those perks are.
Here are just a few your media buyer can pursue.
If you’re holding an event and you’re using radio advertising to promote it, ask your buyer to ask the station if you can provide the jocks with background information to mention the event on air. Ask if you can have remote, live coverage of the event-particularly if it’s running more than one day.
If you’re doing television advertising—particularly on sports networks, the jocks and the advertising people have relationships with athletes you can tap. Ask for personal appearances by the jocks and the athletes at your events. And use those appearances to score points with your target audiences and with your customer. Networks like ESPN and MSG sponsor special trips for clients to professional pre-season sports training camps. Ask the media buyer to see if he or she can wheedle some invitations for your clients and their clients.
Ask your media buyer if he or she has other customers who would like to cross pollinate with you. A local hotel or restaurant might wish to donate dinners and stays for a drawing or sweepstakes you are holding in return for exposure on air and in your commercials.
Some radio stations have camera crews and post video on their websites. Others are doing podcasts for clients. If you’re buying media from those stations, see what the potential is to get video or podcasts for your products. Work out a credible reason why they should do this.
Weather reporters and meteorologists are always looking for strange and interesting settings to do remote weather reports. Is there something about your business or your client’s business that would make a good backdrop? If you’re buying media from that station ask your buyer to broach the idea to the station manager. I recently had nine segments on Fox News in New York when the A.M. weatherman did a remote from a commercial driver training school where college graduates who’d lost their jobs were learning to drive 18-wheelers. In the last and final weather report for the morning, he drove out of the picture at the wheel of one of the big trucks.
Media buyers tend to know what promotions, gimmicks and added value opportunities there are at print and broadcast outlets. Make friends and find out how you can stretch your own PR efforts.