Invest with intention: A guide to making your media dollars count
The dollars a brand invests in media has a larger impact beyond a brand campaign or selling another unit. A meaningful investment ensures that communities have local media, that different groups in our society see themselves represented in the content and stories, and that we are allowing more voices to speak out against injustice.
Somewhere in the speed and the decision-making process of media, we lost track of the good these dollars create in exchange for efficiencies gained by planning to demographics. We lost our intention to ensure that our investments help people and instead, we focused solely on the advertisement. This has meant, for example, that dozens of publications serving the LGBTQ+ community in Canada have disappeared in the last decade. Over 250 local news media outlets have closed in Canada in the last few years, with more than 50 closing due to the COVID-19 crisis.
It is time to rebuild. It is time to renew our brand intentions to build up communities in Canada and truly consider how local and specialized news publications serve Canadians. The benefits are many: Local news outlets keep communities informed about community and municipal issues, support marginalized groups and ensure that a multitude of voices are heard.
What can a marketer do to solve this? Start with intentions. What are your intentions for the content, stories and media publications your organization supports in Canada? What is the mission of your organization and what do you value? Are you expressing those values in your media investments?
Refocus the brief. Typically, a media brief identifies the major markets in Canada and demographics, which in turn directs a media agency to strategize in those regions and not focus on smaller markets or communities. The brief needs to change to consider how to get a message to local markets and special communities that your company connects to. In other words, be more inclusive.
And finally, you can direct your team to place at least 2-5% of media spend with community publications and reach audiences that are diverse. Of course, it is crucial to know how your media is performing. At the same time, you can change the KPIs to be more reflective of how the communities in Canada perceive you, and what impact you are having in those markets. One way to show this is to keep a local publication alive.
These are not small moves: they can change the substance and caliber of our media in Canada, connect us all and keep our civic engagement levels high. It is time to be more intentional with your investment.
