How To Create A Media Plan
Step One: Don’t bother.
Well…mostly. The way we consume media today is all about immediate gratification and rapidly changing trends, so the old school method of planning all of your brand’s press activities 12 months in advance are well & truly over.
Step Two: Do this instead.
Instead of putting together a strict media schedule, spend more time thinking about what you want to achieve overall and why. This way you can loosely plan your press & promotion activities to always be looking fresh, without leaving you scrambling every day for content.
What are your goals?
Make them measurable and time-sensitive.
Increasing traffic to our website by 20% by the end of the year
Having comments on all of our Social Media Posts from next month.
Having an article written about us in the local media when our next collection launches.
Who are you speaking to?
Pro Tip: “Our customers” isn’t good enough.
Customers who have only purchased from us once
Fashion lovers who have never heard of us before
Media outlets looking to write stories
What do I want to happen?
Big picture desires for your press activities
Generate and increase sales
Drive engagement from your community
Mitigate negative publicity (But gosh, we hope you never have to do this!)
How am I going to get this message across?
The most expensive methods aren’t always the most effective
On Social Media
Email campaigns
Approaching the Press
Step Three: Get tracking & Updating your message!
Because your audience is fickle, the worst thing you can possibly do is prepare an run a campaign without checking it’s progress every step of the way.
Google Analytics and Facebook Insights are an easy way to instantly see what’s working and what’s not, allowing you to update your message on the fly (Don’t leave it more than a few days if you’re not starting to see results!)
Some other great platforms for tracking your campaign success:
Bit.ly – Shortens URLs and allows you to track click-through rates. Perfect for Social Media!
Iconosquare- One of our personal favourites. Allows you to see your most successful images & hashtags and who’s engaging with you
