What makes a good media plan?

We are currently in the middle of finalizing media plans for 2022 with a number of our clients.

Whilst every company has their own unique needs, there are a few elements which all good media plans should cover.

For one of our clients the 2022 plan will be there first ever comprehensive media plan. The ability to start completely from scratch has been quite refreshing and has given me to opportunity to really sit back and think what a good media plan should include.

Here are just a few of the elements I think are most important:

Clear and achievable targets

No project plan of any kind is complete without a set of clear KPIs and a timetable for achieving them.

The targets must be a specific as possible and broken down into any key milestones.

Define roles and responsibilities and who is responsible for what on the way to achieving these targets.

Schedule

Make sure to include a calendar of key activities, deliverables and relevant market and corporate events.

Include what resources are needed for each item and any associated costs.

Messaging

The messaging and key themes may seem obvious to the person writing the plan, but remember the goal of any media plan is to make sure that anyone could pick it up and run with it.

The annual media plan cycle also provides a good opportunity to kickstart conversations with marketing, sales and the wider business to review the messaging and update where appropriate.

Key media

The annual media planning process provides a great opportunity to sit down with the stakeholders within the business and review the key media.

Don’t assume that the media to be targeted will remain the same every year, a key media list should evolve along with the business and its goals.

Spokespeople

Smaller business often focus their media efforts on just a couple of spokespeople. This is dangerous for many reasons, as life happens and even the most dedicated long-term employee of a business can be hit by a bus.

Use the annual media planning process to review your spokesperson list. Has anyone new joined the company that has the potential to be a great spokesperson? Has anyone expressed interest in the media? When did you last have a media training refresher with your existing spokespeople?

Workflows

Workflows are boring I hear you moan.

No-one enjoys drawing up workflow process flow charts for all the different forms of content and commentary, but they are an essential part of the media planning toolkit. Agreed process charts help prevent backlogs and confusion. When clear processes and timelines are set and communicated with the right people everything just runs more smoothly.

Where does the plan sit with the wider business?

One element that too often gets forgotten when a third party consultant is involved in writing a media plan, is how does the plan tie in with wider marketing and sales plans?

I am a firm believer that every media plan must be intrinsically tied into wider plans for the business, especially sales. No matter how good a media plan seems on its own, focused on its own very narrow goals, it is limited in what can be achieved unless it is clear where these goals sit within the wider business picture.

It can be very easy for PR pros to focus solely on the targets they have been set by the client, but if they do not understand where these fit in with the direction the business wants to go in then they have lost sight of what PR is there to do.

What will be done with this plan?

Don’t just write a media plan and then let it stew. Make sure to include a section within the plan clarifying what will be done with it, who will receive the plan and when.

Should a summary document be created to share with the wider business? What about social media policies? When should reviews of progress against the plan be made and with whom?