Our Approach to Media Buying Services
Learn how Capitol Media Solutions connects businesses with their targeted audiences through traditional and digital advertising
CMS provides end-to-end campaign management
Here's the short version of what we do for our clients:
- Negotiates and coordinates the media buy.
- Tracks the results.
- Continually makes changes to improve performance.
Find out more about our approach below, or get started now.
What is media buying?
Media buying is the process of negotiating and purchasing advertising units. It's also a generic term that includes other parts of the process, such as research and analysis.
Traditional media buying deals with TV, radio, outdoor, and print platforms. Digital media buying focuses on platforms such as websites, online video, search engines, and social media.
Businesses may choose to work with a media buying agency rather than trying to handle the work in-house. Agencies like Capitol Media Solutions specialize in this field and are typically better equipped to manage the strategy, day-to-day oversight, relationships, and technical features of a campaign.
As technology progresses, the line between traditional and digital media is becoming less distinct, with options such as digital radio, interactive outdoor displays, and video streaming services. This is another reason companies partner with Capitol Media Solutions: our capabilities in both the traditional and digital worlds.
1. Media research: reviewing audiences, markets, and platforms
Our media buying services start with research to guide recommendations for your campaign. This goes beyond targeting a broad audience and finding the lowest price. We:
- Learn which platforms are most likely to engage your audience.
- Find hidden value in placement opportunities.
- Forecast costs to estimate your spend.
- Evaluate factors beyond what databases can tell, such as competitive / industry trends.
Investment in intelligence: commercial-grade research tools
2. Media strategy: making sense of limitless data
Some agencies act as order-takers, handling the media buying services but not the research and strategy. Clients have to spend time evaluating advertising options without certainty that they have chosen the right approach.
In comparison, Capitol Media Solutions synthesizes data from media research into a concrete strategy. Our work helps companies grow brand awareness, increase revenue, take on new markets, and outdistance their competition.
All of our tactical decisions flow from this strategy. This means you can always have confidence that the media CMS buys is in line with the approach you have approved.
Factors that drive strategy
3. Media planning service: establishing specific tactics for client review
Capitol Media Solutions presents both recommendations and rationale through media plans. We want you to understand why we are advocating for one tactic over another and how these tactics tie back to overall strategy.
For example, we might explain why you should use a display advertising campaign over print media, why ad flights should coincide with a competitor’s messaging, or why social media advertising should be part of your campaign.
Our media planning service includes
4. Media buying services: implementing the plan
Once you have the right strategy and tactics, efficiency determines the success of your campaign.
When your media buy is efficient, you can advertise more frequently, on more platforms, and over a longer period of time. In other words, you can make a bigger impact on your audience.
Capitol Media Solutions negotiates deep discounts and added value for clients through:
- Highly experienced and skilled media buyers.
- Strong vendor relationships.
- Consistent high-volume buying history.
Also, we monitor performance and recommend changes along the way to make the campaign even more efficient.
CMS handles every aspect of media buying for clients, including
5. Media campaign analysis: evaluating and optimizing outcomes
Media campaign analysis connects the results of our work to the impact on your business.
CMS continually evaluates campaigns and moves ad spend to where it is having the most success. Through this process, our agency consistently delivers more than the original media plan for less than the client’s budget.
We report on these activities in a format and at a frequency that suits your company’s needs. This can include dashboards, discussions, and presentations. As a result, you can see how media spend is getting the results you want.