Often clients will say they'd like to increase brand awareness by x% in x target audiences, and ask us to prepare options for how we'd do it along the associated expense. Other clients will tell us what their advertising budget is, and ask us to prepare a plan with the mix of creative and media spending that will optimize results. Either way, we make sure our clients clearly understand what goals we expect to achieve before they sign off on any campaign. And after it launches, real-time reports will provide information about lead generation, and benchmark studies - conducted before and after- can be used to gauge the increase in brand awareness.

To begin developing a media plan, we extract the target profiles from the campaign strategy. Next, we combine new research with our existing knowledge base to quickly identify the complete list of target media (online and offline) that this audience will turn to for information. Then we use quantitative and qualitative filters - goals, budget, strategy, demographics, reach, and more - to begin to narrow down the list. We also take into account a competitive spend analysis, so we know where - and how often - your competitors appear.

Having narrowed down the media options, we run scenarios with different mixes of media to center in on a plan that 'touches' the largest audience the most number of times the budget will allow. It takes both art and science to arrive at a scenario that will reach our goals. The science is pure number crunching. The art is knowing how often ads need to run to be effective, which media provide better conversion rates, how to reach the same people with different media, and how to ferret out the latest opportunities. There is also a lot of creativity used to get to the best possible target audience match, which often may have nothing to do with how many people you reach.

It takes a skillful negotiator to be a good media buyer. You have to be tough enough to negotiate great deals for your clients, and friendly enough to maintain good relationships with reps and publishers who can be sure our clients get good position and lots of spiffs. Our lead media buyer is well respected in the industry, and has 25 years of industry experience. That's why she can negotiate rates, merchandising and placements that other reps and clients who buy direct rarely even come close to.

Once negotiations are completed, the final analysis is done. Rates, reach, frequency, effectiveness at reaching the target audience - all factor into our final media recommendation. The plan is backed with an index full of supporting data, and the rationale behind our decisions carefully articulated. When we present you with a plan, you can be confident it will reach or exceed your goals, within your budget.

Media planning doesn't stop once the contracts are in place. Merchandising is coordinated, new opportunities are tracked and analyzed, and adjustments made if circumstances change during the campaign. In addition, insertion orders are issued for every item, schedules updated weekly, media reviewed to check quality and placement, and online performance reports generated. And, of course, artwork is coordinated to be sure it arrives when required. Our follow-through has seen many clients get "make goods" (free ads) for ads that had publication-related flaws or poor placement and additional impressions from online sites that under-performed. Plus, we've never missed an insertion or placed incorrect art in the 10 years we've been in business.