Choosing the Right Media Partner: 5 Factors to Consider

No growing business can operate in a vacuum. Even a small local business can work with dozens of different vendors and partners handling any number of business tasks and services, from shipping to IT security to banking to, yes, marketing and advertising.

Each of these vendors affects your brand’s ability to build and sustain success. The best partnerships are the ones that support your business in setting and reaching its own goals. When it comes to your marketing and advertising strategy, a digital media partner can have a significant impact not only on your campaign costs and ROI, but also your local reputation, the size of your customer base, and your company’s profit margin.

In your search for the right media partner, you’ll find that no two are exactly alike—and if you’re not careful, the wrong choice could come at a steep cost. Want to increase your odds of securing a winning partnership? Consider these five criteria when evaluating potential media partners.

1. The Right Resources to Build Cost-Efficient Campaigns

The success of any digital media strategy is directly tied to the ROI of its resulting campaigns. Marketing and advertising budgets aren’t endless. A good media partner must have the right resources and processes in place to set your business up for demonstrated success and sustainable results.

In-house marketing expertise is critical—especially during the early stages of setting marketing goals, identifying the right KPIs to measure campaign success, and determining how to best utilize your budget across different media channels.

Creative and media-buying resources are also key: the larger the ad inventories available to your media partner, the more flexibility you will have in targeting and bidding for high-value ad spots. Similarly, access to in-house creative teams can give you access to scalable, cost-effective production services.

Experienced strategists can help you identify ways to repurpose original content across multiple channels and campaigns to further enhance your cost-efficiency.

2. Comprehensive Services Across A Wide Range of Digital Channels

Some media partners choose to specialize in a select number of digital channels, either due to their limited experience, limited internal resources, and other factors. While specialization has its benefits, it comes at a stark limitation when trying to plan a multi-channel strategy that is optimized to serve your business goals.

An ideal digital media partner will work across all of the main digital channels—including digital video, social media, display advertising, mobile advertising, paid search, digital audio, and other channels—to give your business greater flexibility in creating an overarching strategy aligned with your marketing and advertising KPIs.

When your business decides to shift its priorities from one digital channel to another, for example, a diversified media partner can accomplish this with ease, ensuring that your strategy is always optimized for best results, regardless of your channel-specific spending.

3. A Strong Track Record of Success

Any potential media partner may make a compelling case for working with your business. But results speak louder than any sales pitch. When vetting potential partners, always ask to see case studies and testimonials that prove they’ve delivered results for other businesses in the past.

At Cox Media, for example, we regularly publish client success stories that showcase the results we’ve delivered for dozens of past and current clients. These success stories offer hard evidence of the value of your marketing and advertising services for a wide range of businesses and industries.

4. An Analytics-Driven Approach

Every campaign you run is an opportunity to improve your media strategy and push marketing and advertising ROI higher in the future—that is, as long as you take the time to run analytics and understand campaign performance.

Any reputable digital media partner should be invested into analytics tools and processes to uncover new insights that can improve your marketing strategy. Ask for specifics from any prospective partner on how analytics are used to optimize campaigns and maximize the value of your digital strategy over time.

5. Respect and Recognition Across The Digital Media Industry

Credentials and other industry distinctions can offer solid proof of a partner’s reputation within the digital media industry.

Earlier this year, for example, Cox Media received the honor of being named a Google Premier Partner for 2023. This distinction places Cox Media among the top three percent of all Google Ads partners in the United States, reflecting our track record of driving client success.

Along with meeting the strict requirements of the Google Partners program, the achievement also gives Cox Media greater access to additional training, support and resources to ensure continued success for its clients on the Google platform.

Certifications, industry awards and other coveted distinctions can offer an easy frame of reference for understanding a potential partner’s reputation relative to its peers.

Looking for a partner that fits the above description? Cox Media offers innovative tools, diverse ad-buying options, and multi-channel expertise to help your business plan and launch effective digital campaigns that deliver results.

Our experts will create a digital media strategy that makes sense for your brand and your business goals. Contact us today to get started.