Do you remember the story of the three little pigs? As children we learned there was really only one solution to build a strong and formidable house. Creating a solid communications campaign is no different, and it starts with a media benchmark.  

What is a media benchmark?  

A media benchmark is a communications tool to measure an organisation’s position in the market against its competition at any given time.  

In such a competitive media landscape, where the 24-hour news cycle is the battleground for the most compelling story with the most sought-after placement in the best publication, key insights are essential to gain the upper hand.  

Strategies backed by a benchmark ensure key media and growth opportunities are taken up by your organisation rather than your competitors.  

With no foundation for a strategy, there is no direction. With no direction, hitting KPIs is essentially taking a stab in the dark, ultimately wasting campaign time and money.  

As with the house of bricks, media benchmarks are conducted to build a solid foundation to inform your communications strategy.  

At IMPACT, it also provides a platform to showcase our understanding of your industry sector, with the statistics and insights to back up our strategy.  

Pre-campaign 

Before embarking on a benchmark, the first step is to establish the brief. This needs to be clear on what an organisation is looking to gain from the exercise, whether it be to identify key themes and media or share of voice opportunities. 

There are also criteria and parameters to consider, such as the time you want to examine, the breadth of the research and who you consider to be your competition. This requires an honest and critical understanding of your organisation’s current media performance and goals. 

By conducting a media benchmark, it establishes share of voice, key publications and journalists to target, areas of opportunity as well as oversaturated topics. With this information, companies can tailor their content and set KPIs with confidence.  

Post-campaign 

Benchmarks can also help clients as part of the evaluation process when measuring a campaign’s impact on share of voice, the public narrative and audience reach. It provides quantitative data which can help provide insights for communications strategies moving forward, ultimately setting up the organisation for success.  

Media benchmarks are informative and can help provide your business with a competitive advantage. To learn more about how to undertake a media benchmark with IMPACT, contact: nicole@impactagency.com.au.