Capabilities
Micro Market Media®
Most media campaigns are designed around a local or national focus. The media industry simply doesn’t accommodate an efficient way to place campaigns for regional advertisers.
At A3 Media we have designed trademarked buying processes that are a hybrid of local and national placements, in order to bridge the gap for regional clientele.
Regional advertisers have specific challenges when seeking cost savings with local media outlets and finding an ad agency that doesn’t take short cuts. At A3 media we intimately analyze each market and target audiences that a brand wishes to reach. We approach every available media outlet, across all desired markets, across all required mediums.
This diligence is what enables us to engineer the most effective and efficient media plans that help your business succeed.
We do not use rep firms to make our jobs easier and make your cost savings disappear. We negotiate on a local level and utilize campaign metrics combining deliverables uniformly across multiple markets.
This is done through our unique buying methodologies called Micro Market Media®. These buying processes remove the restrictions for regional clients to be forced into a local or national platform, instead these methodologies give clients both the strength of national buying capabilities and the control of local market pricing.
Micro Market Media® is what makes A3 Media regional and mid-market media experts. That’s the A3 Advantage.
Individual Services
Analytical Strategy
Data is available everywhere. The toughest challenge is sifting through the mountains of information to determine which pieces are the most relevant for your campaign. Your competitors may believe advanced data software has the algorithms to help make the best decisions. In most cases, this is a false assumption. Software is simply a tool that cannot replace common sense. Automating these processes saves time and energy, but software can only analyze the information it is programmed to process. It’s the human insight into this process that truly differentiates our strategies to unveil new target audience opportunities. Our analytical staff carry certifications from Cornell, UCLA and other institutions that lead the pack in marketing data and analysis science. We know how to find a needle in the haystack and turn that insight into success. It’s those details that make a difference. It’s a talent we have honed and perfected for 25 years.
Media Planning & Buying
Any agency can place media buys for a client. However, negotiating a better media plan requires more – it requires digging deeper and uncovering unusual media opportunities. Our media team will gather and research every opportunity available in each market and in some cases, formulate new ones. We understand the competition that exists between the media outlets and leverage that to create unique advantages for our clients. We work harder and smarter to devise the plans that will gain the attention of our client’s audiences. Superior negotiations must begin by understanding the composition of every media option available and leveraging that information to provide the highest value for our client’s investment.
Mobile
The arrival of 5G brings greater speed and the ability to connect devices everywhere. Having the tools and expertise to compete in the era of 5G will definitively affect your marketing plans. A3 not only has been in the forefront of the mobile frontier but is a sister company to M3, which deals solely with mobile marketing and implementation. With four mobile patent applications to our credit and more than a decade of design experience, A3 media is one of a few agencies that understands the language and benefits of mobile to your business.
Social Shelf
Research has shown that over 50% of consumers do not make their final purchasing decisions until they enter the store. Their shopping consists of walking the aisle, looking at packaging and reading labels in order to decide what they want to purchase. For smaller, mid-size and regional businesses, this is the perfect opportunity to gain consumer’s attention and grow your sales. While businesses this size may not have the budgets available to run large advertising campaigns, or manage large sales teams, Social Shelf can personally deliver your brand message in the aisle. Social Shelf is inexpensive and allows clients total control of their monthly advertising expenditures. Costs are solely based on real consumer engagement with easily developed creative. It’s perfect for smaller businesses unable to make large investments in traditional media and as a complimentary tool for companies that can but want to garner attention from those shoppers who still haven’t made their buying decisions. Used in conjunction with traditional advertising, social media or as a stand-alone medium. Social Shelf is a great advertising option for every business looking to personally tell their story one on one to the consumer. To learn more, visit www.socialshelf.net
TV
Apart from national TV, television markets are not connected. When a regional client needs to purchase multiple TV markets, their agency must do so through individual, local market buys. Unfortunately, this buying pattern does not provide any volume discounts to regional businesses. Purchasing in this manner creates unequal measurement metrics due to their market size differences. No one market audience is equal to any other. To help our regional clients purchase multiple TV markets more efficiently, A3 Media created Universal Regional Networking (URN™). With URN, our clients buy the markets within their footprint that deliver national cost efficiencies and creates a uniform measurable metric.
OTT and CTV
Over-the-top (OTT) advertising has become a key component in today’s media landscape. As chord cutters increase, more people are consuming content on OTT, and connected TV (CTV) devices. These channels have become even more valuable to those in this space. With our highly capable dashboard, we not only offer our clients OTT, and streaming media opportunities that provide traditional demographic targeting capabilities, but also geo-targeting down to a single market, ZIP code or even a single street in addition to two hundred additional behavioral targeting categories.
Outdoor
The most common method agencies use for purchasing outdoor advertising is through an outdoor company’s national sales office. They gather the available inventory from each market and present limited choices while local offices retain prime inventory for their local clients. The second buying method involves investigating individual markets and “cherry picking” select boards in each market. While this is a better approach than the former, “cherry picking” is time consuming and costly. A3 Media created Run of Choice (ROC™) to help our clients purchase outdoor advertising more effectively. ROC™ allows our clients to have access to the best inventory from all out of home companies in each market from local account executives. Utilizing key metrics and specialized software, we select from their best offerings and have them compete for your business. Typically, our clients secure placements 35% – 50% below market rates and increase their brand’s voice and sales.
Campaign Management
Most media buys are based solely on rating points or impressions. Unfortunately, media outlets over sell their inventory and, in some cases, placements cannot run as contracted. Consequently, agencies are forced to move placements to different positions that usually are inferior to those initially contracted. Our team of specialists using a multi-step process meticulously ensure each ad placement will run as contracted or it will be replaced with an ad of equal to or greater value. If a suitable makegood cannot be agreed upon, our clients receive a refund for any undelivered placements.
Social & Influencer Marketing
Marketing through social media platforms can be a very successful, but complex form of media that your business can utilize to reach your target audience and boost sales. However, new tech advancements alter the scenery constantly. Due to the ever-changing digital ecosystem, our specialists remain current on all technical and stylistic trends. They are mandated to continue with higher education quarterly, are certified, accredited across all social platforms, and must continually update credentials in this constantly evolving ecosystem. Utilizing strategic content, in-depth levels of behavioral, geo-graphic targeting, the assistance of one of the largest influencer dashboards, (220K influencers and counting) our experts have the experience, ability, and tools to maximize social media engagement for your brand.
Digital
Most agencies buy programmatic, digital advertising through a “DSP” Demand Side Platform. DSP is a digital dashboard where available digital site inventory is placed and bid upon by companies. Despite its convenience and cost-efficiency, DSPs are highly susceptible to ad fraud. In addition, you never know when or where your ad will appear. With Micro Market Media® buying, A3 Media carefully investigates every digital publisher to determine which sites meet strict guidelines on audience composition, delivery and fraud prevention. This process offers our clients a layer of protection while enabling us to select precisely where and when your ad will be placed. When the need to use a “DSP” arises, we add another layer of protection, Blockchain technology, to independently verify your campaign delivery.
Radio
Agencies that represent regional businesses who wish to purchase multiple radio markets traditionally go through rep firms or corporate channels. These tactics may be easier for the agency but not always beneficial for their clients. Using corporate channels can leave gaps in a media plan by missing what may be preferred stations. Micro Market Media® buying provides our clients with the ability to purchase multiple radio markets locally. As a result, our clients secure the appropriate stations in each market, better rates and placements than going through corporate channels.
The A3 Advantage
Case Studies
Micro Market Media® is a unique buying methodology that has been evolving and perfected over the past 25 years. These case studies prove exactly how effective it is.
Certifications
Being in an industry that changes rapidly, we understand that continued education is a necessity. Each member of the A3 team is required to enroll in additional industry studies every quarter.