Media Planning Software Education and Training

Mastering a media planning tool lets you maximize your marketing money
By A Antonow Media planning programs allow you to keep track of your marketing and advertising efforts in print, online, on television and on the radio. These programs even show you how effective each form of advertising is for your business, so that you can maximize your budget and focus on those marketing efforts that are paying off. To use these programs effectively, however, you will need some form of media planning software education and training.
 

Since the programs can be complicated and you will be using the software to perform some complex functions, media planning software education and training is a must. This training will teach you how to use the software for your specific business and how to use the various features of the software to solve common media planning issues. When seeking training, consider the following:

1. Hire in-company training from manufacturers of advertising planning software.
   
2. Take online seminars from software manufacturers to learn applications and software features.
   
3. Take general media planning training to learn how to apply media planning ideas to different brands of software.
   

Get on-site training from media planner software companies

If you purchase media buyer software from some software companies, training and installation at your company may be available. Often, this training includes a basic examination of the features of the software program. If you need to know how to use a specific program to meet your business needs, this kind of on-site, hands-on training is excellent as it gives you the chance to ask specific questions of an instructor.
Try: Balihoo is a popular brand of media buying software and the company offers a comprehensive system training program with installation. This program includes e-learning solutions, classroom time and other learning options. STRATA Marketing is another popular brand of media planning software. The company offers training that involves teaching an entire staff to use the media planning system. Follow-up training includes one-on-one on-site instruction in more advanced topics.

Seek out online advertising planning software training

Many software manufacturers offer online training and classes for customers using their products. Unlike on-site training, this kind of training is more general and often covers not only the features of a specific program, but also some common media planning issues -- such as online media planning, for example. These low-cost programs may be a good choice if you are not sure which advertising plan software you will be buying.
Try: MarketingPilot Software is a popular manufacturer of software for media planning. The company offers online classes that cover popular media planning topics and show how the company software can be used to handle these issues. Arbitron is another software company offering online seminars about media planning topics.

Take general media planning training seminars

Some training for media planning programs is not linked to software manufacturers at all. This sort of paid training teaches you about software and about media planning in general, and will prove useful whether you use free media planning software or expensive paid models.
Try: The Digital Training Academy offers free online courses related to media planning and paid online seminars about media planning tools. Elect Internet Marketing offers on-site and in-company seminars and training courses about media planning and media planning software topics.

• Consider using free media buying software demos online. While these online demos will only teach you a few features specific to certain programs, they often are useful in comparing media planning programs and in learning generally how these software programs work.