media planning

Intermediate 📣 Marketing / Advertising

Definition

The strategic process of determining where, when, and how frequently to place advertising to reach target audiences effectively. It's like planning a military campaign, except the objective is getting people to buy laundry detergent.

Example Usage

Our media planning allocated 60% to digital and 40% to traditional channels, because apparently we still believe people watch commercials.

Origin

Advertising agency practice from the early-to-mid 20th century

Fun Fact

Traditional media planners once relied on Nielsen diaries where people manually recorded what TV shows they watched—a system with approximately the same accuracy as asking people what they ate last Tuesday.

Source: Advertising agency practice and methodology

Related Terms

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return on ad spend

Revenue generated per dollar spent on advertising, the metric that determines whether your marketing team gets champagne or cardboard boxes. When ROAS exceeds 1, you're making money; below 1, you're funding a very expensive hobby.

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sequential messaging

Delivering ads in a specific order to tell a story or build a narrative over time. Because apparently one interruption isn't enough—you need a whole series.

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marketing automation platform

Software that automatically sends emails, scores leads, and nurtures prospects based on behavioral triggers, allowing marketers to annoy people at scale without manual effort. It's how brands pretend mass communication is personalized.

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shopping cart abandonment

When potential customers add items to their online cart but leave without completing the purchase. It's the digital equivalent of filling a physical cart, then abandoning it in the cereal aisle and leaving the store.

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customer lifetime value

The total revenue a business expects from a single customer account over the entire relationship duration. It's how marketers justify spending $200 to acquire a customer who buys a $15 subscription.

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micro-conversion

Small user actions indicating progress toward a primary goal, like newsletter signups or video views. The participation trophy of marketing metrics, celebrating tiny victories on the path to actual business outcomes.

📣 Marketing / Advertising

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