Media Planning: What It Is + How to Write a Media Plan

Key takeaways

Media planning involves identifying the most optimal method for communicating a message to an audience.

• A media plan outlines the various audiences a marketing message will reach, the channels to be used, and the delivery schedule.

• Media planners often work with media buyers to maximize return on investment (ROI) on media spend. 

• You can prepare for a career as a media planner by pursuing a bachelor’s degree in communication, marketing, advertising, or business.

Find out what media planning entails and how to build an effective media plan from scratch. Afterward, enroll in Unilever’s Digital Marketing Analyst Professional Certificate in-demand skills in online advertising, social media marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), and more.

What is media planning? 

Media planning is a process that marketers use to determine the best method of communicating a message to an audience. Media planning involves analyzing audiences, channels, platforms, messaging, and advertisements to discover the most effective marketing methods to promote a particular brand or product. With thorough media planning, you can reach potential customers on the right channel with the right message at the right time. 

Media planning vs. media buying 

Media planning concerns the strategy behind selecting media platforms, while media buying concerns the actual monetary investment in different platforms. Media planners often work with media buyers to maximize return on investment (ROI) on media spend.  

Careers in media planning 

One of the most common job titles in media planning is media planner. Media planners leverage their market research and ad reach knowledge to maximize the impact of advertising campaigns. One of their main priorities is determining which media platforms can offer brands the most reach.

As marketing specialists, media planners typically need a bachelor’s degree in communication, marketing, advertising, or business. Zippia reports that 89 percent of media planners hold a bachelor’s degree, while 8 percent have a master’s degree [1]. 

Based on job listings on Glassdoor, Indeed, and LinkedIn, you can find media planning jobs in marketing agencies as well as in industries such as restaurants and nightlife, travel, human resources (HR), health and medicine, higher education, technology, software development, and consumer product manufacturing. You may come across related job titles like digital media planner, senior media planner, assistant media planner, brand strategist, paid media strategist, marketing manager, media buyer, and media analyst. 

Company reviews on Glassdoor reveal that the top-rated companies hiring media planners include [2]: 

• Google, Meta, and Amazon, major tech companies

• Stripe, a payment-processing fintech company

• Microsoft, a software company

• Boston Scientific, a medical equipment manufacturing company

• Infineon Technologies, a semiconductor manufacturing firm

How much can you make as a media planner? 

The median total salary for a media planner in the US is $130,000 per year, according to Glassdoor [2]. This figure includes base salary and additional pay, which may represent profit-sharing, commissions, bonuses, or other compensation.

What is a media plan? 

Now that you know the definition of media planning and what the career landscape looks like for this field, let’s explore how media plans help businesses. A media plan outlines the audiences a marketing message will reach, the channels to be used, and the delivery schedule. 

Your media plan should include the following components: 

• Goals and key performance indicators (KPIs): How will you define advertising campaign success? 

• Budget: How much media spending is available, and how will you allocate it? 

• Audience targeting: What are the goals and challenges of the people you are trying to reach, and where (and when) do they spend time online? 

• Messaging: What are the media content’s main themes, and how will these themes determine the types of content you create? 

• Scheduling: Based on audience insights, how frequently will the messaging appear across channels, and at what times of the day? 

• Media mix: Based on audience insights, what combination of channels will you use to increase advertising reach, including social media platforms, blog content, email marketing, paid ads, earned media (news mentions and backlinks), and traditional media? 

Benefits of media planning

Developing a media plan can benefit a business in several ways, including:

• Getting to know your audience more intimately 

• Communicating with your audience more effectively 

• Systematizing your marketing efforts 

• Monitoring campaign activity

• Optimizing campaign performance

• Keeping up with the latest media trends 

• Driving overall business goals, from growing your customer base to increasing revenue

What are the stages of media planning?

As you explore media planning, one of the processes you’ll need to master is writing a media plan. Follow the steps below to begin writing a media plan for your next advertising campaign: 

1. Identify your advertising goals.

Get clear on what you want an advertising campaign to achieve. Make sure advertising goals correspond to overall business goals. Draw from these examples to articulate your own: 

• Increase social media following and engagement. 

• Generate qualified leads.

• Convert more email subscribers into paying customers.

Read more: Social Media Best Practices for Effective Engagement

2. Conduct market research.

Understanding your audience is integral to delivering the right message on the schedule that will make the most impact. In addition to gathering the standard information, such as demographics (age, location, or income), goals, and challenges, you’ll need to find out what kinds of ads your target audience engages with the most. What messaging and ad creatives get more results? Which channels does your audience prefer?

3. Refine buyer personas.

Use your findings from market research and information about existing customers to refine buyer personas or create new ones. A buyer persona is a semi-fictional representation of your ideal customer. You can use buyer personas to make empowered marketing decisions.

4. Select media channels.

Include in your media plan a list of the channels through which you will reach your target audience and a short description of the content that will appear on each channel. Concentrate on the channels that your audience is most likely to use. 

5. Select media planning tools. 

An important way to get the most out of your media plan and advertising efforts based on it is to use media planning tools. Media planning tools include software and templates that organize the data you need to launch and manage a successful advertising campaign. You will need to monitor ad spend, how campaigns are performing on each channel, and how much revenue you can attribute to individual marketing efforts. 

When choosing media planning tools, consider the cost, ease of setting each up, what each one tracks, and how it presents data. Here are five tools to investigate: 

• HubSpot’s free media planning template 

• MediaPlanHQ 

• Quantcast

• Bionic 

6. Create a media plan.

Using all the information and ideas you’ve gathered, write your media plan and distribute it to other marketing team members and stakeholders. Be sure to include: 

• Goals and KPIs

• Budget 

• Timeline

• Audience targeting 

• Messaging 

• Scheduling 

• Media mix 

7. Implement your media plan and measure results. 

Once you’ve discussed the media plan with team members and stakeholders, implement the advertising campaign across channels. Schedule a time to track performance and measure it against your goals. Adjust the media plan accordingly. 

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