Here is a look at a media buying strategy.
The reason why many companies and institutions fail is because they adopt a weak media buying strategy that does not appeal to their target audience.
A media buyer is someone with an annual budget that is above a million rand per annum and goes on to negotiate discounts with the media owners to get value for his money.
Prior to the implementation of austerity measures in Limpopo, many media buyers in Limpopo were not strategic buyers. They just recklessly brought media spaces without getting value for it or at least demanding value for the money being spent.
Many fly-by-night newspapers were started by ordinary men and women of Limpopo, not with the aim of distributing information to readers, but to cash in from government media buyers.
It is a responsibility of a media buyer to make sure a newspaper is registered with the South African Press Council and the ombudsman before buying any media space on it.
Many mushroomed, but today many of those papers are nowhere to be found. Just imagine being a media buyer who spends more than R100 000 on a newspaper, which closes a year later.
The worst thing is the paper becomes untraceable the following year because it lacked a coherent sustainable strategy to keep it going.
As a media buyer, you have to buy media space at a reliable media organisation that has built a reputation over the years. Yes, you have to empower upcoming newspapers to ensure transformation of the printing industry, but you should be careful of buying media space on a paper that will die tomorrow.
We need to look at the creativity of the adverts; it is the responsibility of the media buyer to come up with catchy phrases and words that will attract the consumer. Many media planners and buyers fail their brands. Brands need to be a little more pushy and insistent in interrogating their media buying strategy.
If media buyers see it fit to ignore large numbers of influential media where listeners, readers and viewers have real money to spend on a product, then they deserve to go out of business and take their agencies with them.
Media buyers and planners need to be aware of the economic and political environment they are working in. In any circumstances, should an advert hurt a reputation of a brand, then they should not hesitate to pull it out.
Mpholosane Modiba
Media strategist
