Planning and buying media to maintain relationships with the customers you have is key, and selecting the right placements is even more crucial. Why? Because consumers have a choice, they have their “likes” and well, it’s their life. In the online industry, we often forget that consumers – the people we’re trying to reach — are real. Media plans are made accordingly.

But the Internet isn’t just a big la-la-land of content just waiting for the average consumer to stumble upon. The Internet is smart now — we know this, thanks to analytics of all kinds. It’s organized, yes, but also over-assumes that consumers sit online all day and search for stuff, waiting to see what comes back in search results. Not so. Hopefully most people have better things to do.

While big search engines certainly do their part to deliver relevant search results, consumers’ behaviors are becoming increasingly refined — more often, they’re interacting and navigating to their preferred sites online rather than simply searching and browsing. That’s when defining your ad placements is imperative. There’s more destination-like surfing conducive to consumer lifestyles, rather than window shopping online. So as media professionals, instead of wondering “how” we get new customers, we need to start thinking about “where” we get them. Knowing there’s a noisy marketplace of over-stimulating messages, the challenge to uncover “where” is partly in realizing that every user experience is self-created, and no two are alike.

Here’s an exercise: think about yourself. Think about your car, your clothes, your favorite brands, restaurants, radio stations and fave sites online. In all that you do, you CUSTOMIZE your life. You create an environment around you that fits you, your life, likes, interests, habits and influences. Ultimately, you have your own routine. Why else would HP make a computer that’s so “all about me?”

Consumers define their own ecosystem of destination game sites, social-networking sites, travel and sports-related sites. Based on content, ease of navigation, peer presence and, of course, personal preference, the ecosystem fits the lifestyle to create the ultimate positive user experience. If you’re a chosen site in their Circle of Trust? Then you’ve hit the “where” jackpot, you win the media planner of the year award and you’ve made a new best friend. Know this: your target users will become your best friends if you let them, so you MUST understand who they are.

So, bottom line, media planning is changing; the rules of user engagement are changing. Casting a wide net online hoping to catch your next best customer with untargeted banners, generic paid search initiatives, etc.? A thing of the past. Finding new partnerships that allow you to reach niche destination sites to target and engage enthusiast consumers? The Dream!

Here are a few new rules to apply when planning your next campaign:

1) Be open minded. Think beyond demographics. I stress this to my advertisers all the time. You already know your target audience – 18 to 32 males, or 28 to 36 females with kids. Obvious site matches? College sports or parenting. But what more? Be real about the person behind the stats.

2) Know your facts, but have a heart. Why do your best friends like you, call you and want to hang out? Because you’re smart, funny and they trust you. You like them for who they are and vice versa. Same with your audience. This is reality. No TV show or market research can capture the little everyday nuances, emotions and experiences in life. Same thing online – consumers have choices, so understand the next move instead of assuming it. Get to know them like a friend, learn their real habits, and stay one step ahead — it’s YOUR job to be there before them. But what more?

3) Think INSIDE the box. I’m not talking about creativity here. I’m talking about your computer. The computer is a box and your customers are inside. Be the friend they call to hang with. Think how they think. Go where they go. But get there first, engage them with clever ads once they’re there, and plan/buy media accordingly. But what more?

4) No pain, no gain. Know pain, know gain. Apply a life lesson: be willing to take risks. Establish partnerships with new ad networks and media partners. Be willing to try new media channels and ad opportunities. New users, new eyeballs and new best friends are in every ad channel and network online. Test a few – they are called “tests” for a reason. Leave old perceptions behind and be willing to experiment. But what more?

5) Keep asking yourself – “WHAT MORE?” If you’re on the agency or ad network side – what can you do to make your campaigns better, more effective, have farther reach, engage new users? Where will you place media for maximum traffic, increased conversions, and relevancy to niche sites? Might they check gym class schedules, log in to for Fantasy League standings, search movie listings or city events? How can you make new friends for your brand or client? Ask: What more, what more, what more? – then plan your media buys to reach those niche sites.

I know we’re all busy creating new campaigns, nailing down the right tracking, minimizing discrepancies, maximizing traffic, optimizing for best performance, establishing proper geo, site and keyword targeting, calculating pricing, CPA goals, blah, blah, blah…but keep in mind that the ad you’re placing and the media you’re buying is your canvas – it’s your landscape. Be creative, try new ad units or networks, be real about who you’re trying to reach to spark intense user engagement with the ads you place. And always consider “what more?”

Consumers have a choice. Engage them. Be a BFF. Make it to the “Circle of Trust.” Then go out and win yourself a Planner of the Year Award. And gimme a shout – I might be able to help.

I scout a variety of advertiser types in order to assist with their online marketing campaigns. Primarily focused on performance, we build direct response campaigns to monetize traffic, drive sales, generate leads, promote in-store foot traffic, etc. You know the game – no matter the pricing model, “We need the ROI,” they say. So whether it’s by banner, email, downloadable apps, social networks, blogs, etc. – targeted or not – performance is key. So where do you place ads? This is where I come in…

So, I said I’m a relationship builder, which is true. I live to know more about a client’s life, sending cards at every birthday and holiday. Bottom line, there’s a trust factor that comes with knowing your AE is a real person with real feelings, real interests, and real knowledge about the performance of their products in order to deliver the highest level of conversions. I’ll say it again, TRUST. So when it comes to placing media for ROI, where do you go, who can you trust, and what ad units deliver maximum ROI?

Let’s look more closely at downloadable apps. Also known as software installed onto a user’s desktop with notice, consent and complete user control, downloadable apps offer a huge opportunity to reach a user base not previously available to an advertiser, in a very targeted or mass broadcasted manner. Downloadable apps also receive the highest level of consumer and industry (media buyer) scrutiny. Main reason: user experience can be frustrating – and understandably so – when someone discovers unexpected programs on their computer without notice or consent.

On the flipside, when the application provides real value – think instant messaging clients for peer communication; search toolbars for convenience and easy access to Web search capabilities; widgets for desktop personalization; desktop advertising for access to free content, such as games and videos, like we offer at Zango, etc. – they come with clean opt-in processes. These processes provide notice (albeit in various ways, but preferably in plain-language), require user consent (sometimes multiple times) and deliver both targeted and untargeted ads to their user base for a whole new world of advertiser monetization. A lack of hard industry standards up until recently has flawed our perceptions of some of these apps to ignite speculation, confusing “spyware” with legitimate advertising supported software.

In today’s culture, consumer choices are driven largely by convenience, efficiency, effectiveness and the fun-factor elements, relative to how it impacts and affects their lifestyle. Most online movement comes with the perspective that the user can’t imagine his or her life without that site, that game, that news, that shopping experience. 

So, what’s the point of this piece? Besides carrying on about Web sites we all know and love? Perception. Speculation. And the steps a media buyer takes in placing trusted media.

What makes one downloadable app better than another in advertising is just like consumer choices – it’s about performance, ROI, and media buys that reach new users to convert. Buyers leverage in the same factors relative to ad units, choosing placement in trusted ad units to make campaigns easier, convenient, more effective and overall better. Face it – if the app is known to deliver great performance, high conversions and millions of eyeballs not previously reached, then by all means, give it a shot. Nothing’s perfect – that goes for technology, reputation AND advertising. But from an account executive’s perspective, you never know until you try. TRUST me, it will be worth it. If nothing else, you’ll get a birthday card out of it.