There is a billboard in Times Square celebrating the 120th anniversary of Tsingtao Beer. It is arguably my best media buy ever. It is certainly the most efficient. But it begs the question: What is a good media buy? Low cost-per-thousand impressions, or CPMs, are certainly important. However, achieving our client’s objectives is the ultimate goal. We would rather pay a higher CPM for quality leads than a low CPM that produces nothing. Always try and balance efficiency vs effectiveness in advertising.
Unquestionably, CPMs impact return on investment (ROI) and return on ad spend (ROAS). But choosing the correct media and vendors for the goal is where you should start. Then, buying the media correctly is where you increase value and effectiveness.
Here are some ways to do that, along with the Tsingtao story.
My Best Media Buy – The Tsingtao Story
One of my best media buys was a Tsingtao billboard in Times Square. The campaign was primarily a branding effort. Our client wanted a high-profile location that would make a statement.
The board certainly did that. It measures 25 feet high and more than 108 feet long. It also wrapped around the building. Therefore, people could see it from Times Square and while walking south on Broadway.
However, that visibility came at a price. The media was expensive. Printing and installing the board cost another $20,000.
Then we saw an opportunity. A movie studio had a hold on the board beginning September 25. However, a hold is not a contract. Movie studios often reserve more outdoor inventory than they ultimately use. I negotiated our contract to end September 3. That left only three weeks before the movie studio’s hold. No advertiser would spend $20,000 on production for only three weeks. I knew I just got 3 weeks of media at no charge.
The movie studio eventually dropped the board. Then several unusual events worked in our favor. The outdoor company’s contract to sell the board expired. The building was then put up for sale. Those negotiations dragged on.
Our billboard stayed up for another year and a half. It has generated more than 82 million impressions. The current CPM is below $0.70 and dropping. From an efficiency standpoint, it was probably my best media buy.
But was it my most effective? That is a different question.
The campaign was designed to build visibility and strengthen the Tsingtao brand. The billboard accomplished that goal. However, a low CPM alone did not make the campaign successful. The high profile Times Square placement was equally important.
Why Marketers Get Too Focused on CPM
CPM is easy to understand. It also makes comparing different media options easier. However, CPM does not measure audience quality, attention, intent, or business results. A $5 CPM is not automatically better than a $15 CPM. The more expensive inventory might reach significantly more qualified prospects or produce far higher engagement.
Therefore, don’t just ask, “What does the media cost?” Ask, “What does the media produce?”
That distinction is critical for an Advertising Agency focused on Lead Generation.
How Efficiency Can Improve Effectiveness
This does not mean efficiency is unimportant. In fact, greater efficiency can improve advertising effectiveness. Suppose you negotiate a lower rate without sacrificing audience quality. Your existing budget can now buy more impressions.
Better targeting can reduce impressions delivered outside your target audience. Better scheduling can reach prospects when they are more likely to respond. Consequently, efficiency can increase reach, frequency, website traffic, leads, and conversions.
The key is reducing waste without reducing quality. There are three common types of media waste.
Cost waste means paying more than necessary for the media. Audience waste means reaching the wrong people. Placement waste means reaching the right people under poor circumstances.
All three can reduce ROI and ROAS.
Outdoor Advertising: Buy Visibility
Every outdoor board is different. Look at line of sight, viewing distance, approach angle, traffic speed, and possible obstructions. Consider illumination, dwell time, location, and audience composition. Is the road subject to traffic jams? Audience measurement can help determine who is exposed to outdoor advertising, not simply how many people pass it.
Then consider static versus digital. Static provides constant presence or 100% share of voice. Digital provides flexibility and allows creative to change quickly. Digital boards can also be purchased by location or for short specific flights.
Finally, negotiate the calendar. If a campaign ends near Thanksgiving, why automatically pay through the holiday weekend? Your customers may be doing something entirely different.
Look for extensions, remnant inventory, bonus periods, and other opportunities.
Radio: Buy the Audience by Hour
Do not assume a radio station performs equally throughout the day. Ask for hourly audience estimates for your target demographic. Then compare those audiences with spot costs.
Morning drive may deliver the largest audience. However, middays could deliver your target audience at a much lower cost. Weekends can also be efficient as people are in their cars a lot and corporate marketers are not present.
Also examine reach, frequency, station duplication, commercial placement, and added value. The most popular station may not be the most efficient station for your audience.
Television: Look Beyond Primetime
The same principle applies to television. Request programming, pricing, and audience estimates across every relevant daypart. Then compare cost, CPM, audience, and programming environment.
Do not automatically buy the programs with the highest ratings. Early morning, daytime, early fringe, and late fringe may provide opportunities. Local news can also deliver valuable audiences without primetime pricing. Again, efficiency comes from finding the right audience at the right price.
Programmatic: Cheap Impressions Can Get Expensive
Programmatic advertising makes buying inexpensive impressions easy. However, cheap impressions delivered to the wrong audience provide little value.
Start with CPM, but do not stop there. Evaluate audience targeting capabilities and available third-party data. Ask whether there are additional charges for that data.
Confirm how first-party data can be used. Also examine inventory quality, viewability, fraud protection, brand safety, frequency controls, and reporting transparency.
Then understand whether you are receiving managed or self-service support. What are you paying for? Who makes optimizations? Can you see where your advertising appeared? Paying a higher CPM for better data and inventory could ultimately lower your cost-per-lead.
Search: Efficiency Begins Before You Bid
Search advertising requires the same discipline. Start with keyword research. Use Google’s tools and independent third-party research platforms such as SEMrush and SpyFu.
Look beyond expensive, high-volume keywords. Long-tail keywords can uncover valuable searches with strong intent and lower costs. Then continuously monitor actual search terms. Use the search terms report to identify irrelevant searches and negative keyword opportunities.
Add promising terms and remove poor performers. And add negative keywords to reduce wasted clicks. Look at the keywords that actually produce conversions and drop non-producers. Do not optimize for inexpensive clicks. Optimize for conversions and customers.
CTV, Online Video and Social Media
Digital video provides another example of efficiency versus effectiveness. Premium CTV inventory may carry higher CPMs than online video. However, it may offer better audiences, viewing environments, completion rates, and brand safety.
Social media can also generate very inexpensive impressions. Spend time looking through audiences and testing ad creative. Leverage first-party data.
Negotiate More Than Price
Good media buying is not simply negotiating the lowest rate. Negotiate position, placement, added value, cancellation terms, makegoods, and audience guarantees.
Ask about bonus inventory, data fees, production, reporting, promotional and testing opportunities. A better deal does not always mean paying less. Sometimes it means getting more for the same investment.
Measure the Entire Funnel
Ultimately, effectiveness requires measurement. ROI defines the relationship between profits and costs. The real measure of advertising’s impact is conversions.
That means marketers should look beyond CPM and CPC. Measure cost-per-lead, cost-per-qualified-lead, cost-per-customer, revenue, ROI, and ROAS. Connect advertising data with analytics, CRM data, call tracking, form submissions, and sales results. A campaign producing 100 weak leads may underperform one producing 40 strong leads.
What Makes a Good Media Buy?
Before approving your next media plan, ask several questions. Are we reaching the right audience? Are we paying a competitive price to reach them? Are we reaching them at the right time and place?
Then ask the most important question. Is the advertising producing the desired result?
A strong Advertising Agency should always pursue media efficiency. Negotiate harder. Research audiences. Find better inventory. Eliminate waste. Optimize continuously.
But never confuse buying media cheaply with buying media well. The best media plan is not necessarily the one with the lowest CPM. It uses every advertising dollar efficiently while producing the desired business result. The cheapest impression becomes irrelevant if it never moves someone toward a sale. Always consider efficiency vs. effectiveness in advertising when planning and buying.
Efficiency tells you what you paid. Effectiveness tells you what you got.
