Context Is Everything: Lessons in Advertising, Media Planning and Buying

One of the “newer” and most talked-about paid media planning and buying practices is contextual advertising. At its core, it has everything to do context–allowing you to define the type of content that your ads appear alongside. For example, let’s say you’re looking to start running and do a Google Search for “Running for Beginners” and click on a relevant article. Once on that website, you see an ad for running shoes displayed next to the content. Spoiler alert: A running shoe company probably paid for that placement using keywords from the article matching the keywords in their contextual advertising campaign. Pretty cool, right?

Our Top Media Buying Tips

Timing Counts: everyone is anxious to secure valuable eyeballs and competition for digital real estate can be fierce. It is becoming increasingly important to plan ahead; some outlets – especially targeted channels – book well over a year in advance.

Plan Ahead: if you aren’t in a position to book your full year plan in its entirety, identify key inflection points (product launches, key tradeshows, etc.) and book around those times.

Communicate Internally: if you are a single Business Unit within a larger organization and know that other groups will ultimately be buying from a specific outlet as well, be sure to convey that to your rep, it could impact your frequency discounts.

Develop Relationships:Ad reps are eager to find solutions. If you look for an opportunity and it is no longer available, engage in discussions about your goals and objectives. They may help you come up with something even better than what you had planned.

This excerpt was adapted from Chapter 4 of our Life Science Marketing Field Guide. Ready for more? Get access to the full Field Guide below.

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