Dropping the 'Media Audit' in Media Audit.
When we launched Pt78 in 2017, we deliberately avoided the term “Media Audit”. Coming from client and media agency sides of the business, we were all too aware of the negative connotations. Our review process was designed to provide a better, channel-neutral, holistic approach.
However, we quickly learned our SEO lesson! In the early days, potential clients struggled to find us. So, we caved and reinstated the term “Media Audit”. Did we make a mistake? Should we have persevered with a new term to express our process?
What “Media Audit” means to us.
Transparency should be a non-negotiable in any supplier relationship. Allowing situations to evolve where fees, margins and costs are not transparent, has meant that procurement teams have, understandably, become weary of agency contracts and agreements. “The black arts” is a phrase we hear a lot! Unfortunately, we still don’t have consistent standards of transparency throughout all agencies in our industry. The audit process should directly address this, asking the hard questions, reviewing commercial arrangements, and providing clarity.
Value will always be important. All marketing leaders want to have confidence that they are getting great value from their agency partners and that they are investing wisely on behalf of their business.
Of course, when a client selects a media agency, costs are in the mix but there are many more important factors.
They are looking for strong strategic partners, people they can work with to help them grow their business.
They are looking for teams that work well with each other and that they believe will work well with them. They want partners that leverage strong insights and that demonstrate how they will use the best tools and technology on their business. They want people with expertise in strategy and planning, that showcase great examples of innovation, have strong processes in place and, of course, are a cultural fit with their business.
Your Media Audit should be guided by the criteria you would use to select an agency - a healthy combination of both Effectiveness (what impact you think an agency partner can have on your longer-term business outcomes) and Efficiency (a commitment to best costs and excellence in implementation).
Any agency performance evaluation should look at the areas that you define as being important to your business, for example:
Are there mutually defined business KPIs in place?
Are those business KPIs regularly reviewed?
Is there a structured data process for recording media and digital results?
Are business and media insights used to optimise media strategy?
Are strong budget and operations controls (online and offline) in place?
Do they work like partners to your business?
Do they deliver expertise in media strategy and planning?
Are they delivering costs as committed?
Are agency fees and charges as expected?
Are service levels as expected?
Long-term, productive partnerships are built by acknowledging the successes and course-correcting early, when needed. A Media Audit should be an open and structured review, that is a positive and respectful experience for both agency and client, a collaborative process, focused on improving business outcomes.
We are proud of the relationships we have built with our clients and agency partners and of our focus on delivering the best business outcomes for our partners.
Our clients have noticed the difference in a Pt78 audit. Talk to them or to us. We’d love to hear from you.
+353 1 556 3678