Media Efficiency is often termed to be the relative cost of different media and is defined by media planners and buyers as the cost per thousand impressions, CPM of the media vehicle or the buy. These factors are the basis upon which the planners or buys decide which media to buy keeping in mind the costs.

However, this definition is not exactly the best way to analyze media efficiency. It usually causes planners and buyers to spend on a surrogate cost rather than prediction of sales results. Efficiency for anything is dependent on its ability to produce desired results without wasting materials, time or even energy. The vehicles need to be analyzed in terms of whether they can deliver higher sales at a lower cost than other options. A cost/benefit perspective is inherent in that definition and we need to identify if we can measure how many people can see the efforts you are making with your spending.

One of the biggest mistakes brands can make is to make their branding decisions solely on audience cost of a media vehicle. This is a mistake primarily because it wastes a lot of resources and does not take into account other factors related to media spending. One thing brands need to keep in mind is that even if you buy the cheapest media and it does not work, it ends up being an expensive gamble.

The age of social media advancement is at its peak as compared to previous decades. There is a galaxy of tools at our disposal to apply metrics other than only CPM which can help us define media efficiency. We have a number of ways to help us figure out purchasing in a way that helps us maximize revenues in the right direction.

Here are some of the things you should keep in mind when making media purchasing decisions:

• Your audience and the tools being used to track delivery progress to them.
• Google Analytics.
• Adjustments made to your strategy based on how well a certain buy drives traffic.
• Whether the marketing strategy is working effectively in cohesion with the media vehicles chosen.

The right way to figure all the logistics of Media Planning out is to predict potential return based on primary data, syndicated data, prior transactional data, behavioral modeling, etc. in the initial planning stage. Once the planning stage is done, you can align all inbound intermediate mechanisms for tracking. By using landing pages, promo codes, statistical modeling on web traffic, coupon downloads social media actions or good old fashioned phone calls.

All these factors are what help you analyze the media efficiency of your marketing strategy effectively. Ignorance of these factors often results in waste of resources since you fail to get a holistic understanding of how well your media vehicles are catering to the needs of your brand.