Every business has to make the decision whether or not to invest in the capital equipment needed to run the business. While it may not take the form of a backhoe or a fleet vehicle, ad agencies do have their own type of capital equipment. One is a technology asset in which thousands of agencies have invested but many have not—media buy software. What is this software, and why are there still agencies that don’t opt to use it?
Media buy software provides agencies a comprehensive and consistent way to create the media plans and insertion orders they need. Media buyers make these plans and insertion orders to place advertising on television, radio, or other forms of media. These solutions provide an industry standard framework by accounting for the various inputs needed to complete an order. Once a buy is completed, the software outputs a finalized version of the order that is ready to be delivered to a vendor. By virtue of its standardization and the option to duplicate a campaign, order, or other input, media buying software saves users a great deal of time compared to the alternatives.
And what are the alternatives, and why would a media buyer use one of them?
There may be a few reasons for not investing in a time-saving software like this, most notably the prospective user’s technical ability and, of course, cost. The primary alternative for most media buyers is…a plain old spreadsheet. That’s right, just the dreaded green button that came with the computer. Anyone that has worked in an ad agency has used spreadsheet programs and has likely used them extensively. They’re great for compiling data and can be useful in reporting, but there is simply no way a spreadsheet can replicate the user interface and order creation capabilities of a media buying program. The process of creating an “order form” and then manually entering all the data is not a long-term, scalable solution for any ad agency.
There are numerous other benefits to using a dedicated media buy software. These programs can compile, store, and even track all of the information the user inputs in the process of creating a media buy. To do this adequately with a spreadsheet would likely require the integration of a database program such as Microsoft Access. You’re going to need to do an awful lot of ground-up development if you want to use programs like Excel and Access to manage your media buys. So for most agencies, it makes a lot sense to save the time and manpower and just invest in the capital equipment the business needs—media buy software.
GaleForce Digital is releasing GaleForceMedia, the first media buying program truly designed as software-as-a-service.
The ease-of-use and user experience provided by GaleForceMedia is leaps and bounds ahead of established software in the market, and makes using a spreadsheet to do media buys look like chiseling in rock. Contact GaleForce Digital today for your demo of GaleForceMedia.
