Pandora? TV? Billboards? With so many advertising options available to marketers today, how do we ever decide which mix is right for our clients? For more than 25 years, MP&F has had extensive experience producing and placing digital, TV, radio, print, and outdoor advertising campaigns. Our efforts have won multiple awards, and we have placed ads in markets all across the country, from San Francisco to New York.

Kelly Maslan, MP&F’s in-house media buyer, has more than 20 years of experience in media planning, national media research, and buying. She started buying media before Facebook was even a thought in Mark Zuckerberg’s mind. When she began her career, the industry was just transitioning to using media buying software from doing everything by hand. Now, she runs successful ad campaigns for MP&F clients on Facebook, Google, Pandora, YouTube, and Spotify…just to name a few. My, how the advertising industry has changed.

Below are Kelly’s top five tips for getting the most out of an advertising campaign.

1. Set a clear goal for the campaign. 
Stay focused on the goal when developing the creative message and be sure to use it as one of the factors when evaluating and deciding on media outlets. 

2. Thoroughly understand the target audience.
Knowing the geography, gender and age of the target audience is essential, but understanding their lifestyle is equally important.

3. Create clear and consistent messaging for all ads.
Using a targeted call-to-action while supporting a consistent brand image is essential to producing results and meeting your campaign goal.

4. Maximize the budget.
Doing research to create an appropriate plan, negotiating rates/packages/added value when placing the buy, and monitoring schedules both while running and at completion are key ways to ensure an ad campaign is cost-efficient and maximizes a client’s budget.

5. Monitor, adjust, and monitor some more.
Evaluation of a schedule both during and after it runs is critical. In addition to ensuring that all impressions or spots were delivered, it’s important to make changes in the middle of a digital campaign if needed. For example, if one of your Facebook ads is not serving out as you expected, change up the creative or adjust your targeting. At the end of your campaign, take what you’ve learned and apply it when placing your next campaign.