MT357 Unit 7 Paid Digital Media Plan Example

Course	MT357 Digital Marketing Platforms and Strategy
Unit	Unit 7
Paper type	Paid digital media plan
Length	About 840 words, 6 pages double-spaced
Format	APA 7 student paper
School	Purdue University Global
Program	BS in Business Administration
Updated	October 2026

Free sample paper for MT357 Unit 7

Sixteen Thousand Dollars Against a $118 Margin: An MT357 Unit 7 Paid Media Plan for a Camera Reseller's Trade-Ins

[Student Name]

Purdue University Global

MT357: Digital Marketing Platforms and Strategy

Unit 7 Paid Media Plan

[Instructor Name]

[Date]

The shop, budget and estimates are composite; the research and sources cited are real.

What this part is doingFixing the margin before any channel tells the reader how every line will be judged.

Margin First

A traded-in lens resold at the shop's average price earns about $118 after grading, cleaning and listing costs. Any paid line that costs more than $118 per incremental completed trade-in loses money. Every line below is judged against that figure.

The Budget

Nonbrand search on selling queries takes $10,200. Retargeting quote abandoners takes $600. Brand search stays at its existing $1,500. A YouTube test takes $2,400. A reserve of $1,300 is held until week seven. Total: $16,000.

Nonbrand Search: $10,200

The search platform's planner estimated in September 2026 that $10,200 would buy about 4,250 clicks on selling queries in the shop's region and nationally, an average of $2.40 a click. At the quote tool's current 9 percent quote-start rate from search clicks and 31 percent completion, that yields roughly 119 completed trade-ins, at about $86 each. That is $32 below the margin. Blake et al. (2015) found that nonbrand search produced real incremental sales for advertisers without strong brand recognition, which fits a small shop competing with national marketplaces.

The weakest assumption here is the quote-start rate, which comes from last quarter's traffic. If it falls to 7 percent, the cost per trade-in rises to about $111, still below the margin.

Retargeting Quote Abandoners: $600

People who start a quote but leave before finishing are the warmest audience the shop has. The pool is small, about 1,400 a quarter, and $600 is all it can absorb before the same people see the same ad too often. The plan expects about 46 completions, at about $13 each. Sellers who have completed and shipped are excluded, fixing the blind spot found in Unit 1. Lambrecht and Tucker (2013) found that retargeting works best for people who have already narrowed their choice, which describes someone partway through a quote.

Brand Search: $1,500

Brand search buys ads on the shop's own name. The platform credits it with 108 trade-ins a quarter, about $14 each. The plan keeps spending at the current level but declines to trust that figure. People searching for the shop by name have already decided to visit, and Blake et al. (2015) showed that ads on a firm's own name mostly reach people who were already on their way. The measurement framework in Unit 9 will test how many of the 108 are truly incremental.

The cheapest-looking line in the plan is the one most likely to be buying customers the shop already had.

What this part is doingQuestioning the line with the best reported figure shows the plan is judged on incremental trade-ins, not credited ones.

YouTube Test: $2,400, Expected to Lose Money

Short pre-roll ads on videos about changing camera systems could catch photographers as they weigh a sale. The plan estimates about 10 completed trade-ins, roughly $242 each, more than twice the margin. The line is kept as a test because, if it works better than expected, it is the only channel in the plan that could reach sellers before they start searching. If it costs more than $150 per trade-in after six weeks, it ends, and its remaining budget moves to the reserve for the strongest line.

The Reserve: $1,300

The reserve is released in week seven to whichever line is performing best against the margin, most likely nonbrand search or retargeting. Holding it back keeps the plan from committing the whole budget on estimates.

Expected Result

Without brand search, the plan expects about 175 completed trade-ins from new spending in the quarter, roughly 58 a month, which would cover the gap between 132 and 190 if most are incremental.

Why Not Spend More on Search

Nonbrand search is the plan's strongest line, so it might seem sensible to give it the whole budget. Two limits apply. First, selling queries are a small market: the planner showed diminishing returns above about $11,000 a quarter, as the cheapest clicks are used up and the cost per click rises. Second, putting everything into one channel would leave the shop exposed if the platform raised prices. The plan gives search most of the budget while keeping retargeting, a cheap complement, and one test that could open a new source of sellers.

Weekly Checks

Each Monday, the marketing coordinator checks spending and completed trade-ins for each line against the plan. If any line is running more than 25 percent above its expected cost per trade-in after three weeks, its daily budget is reduced and the difference held in the reserve.

The Script

All estimates come from a short script appended to the plan, which reads the assumptions and recalculates every line. Each figure is labeled as an estimate where it is one. Lewis and Rao (2015) found that the true return on most advertising is very hard to pin down, and labeling assumptions keeps the plan honest about what it does not know.

What this part is doingLabeling every estimate as an assumption shows the plan expects to be corrected by results.

References

Blake, T., Nosko, C., & Tadelis, S. (2015). Consumer heterogeneity and paid search effectiveness: A large-scale field experiment. Econometrica, 83(1), 155-174. https://doi.org/10.3982/ECTA12423

Lambrecht, A., & Tucker, C. (2013). When does retargeting work? Information specificity in online advertising. Journal of Marketing Research, 50(5), 561-576. https://doi.org/10.1509/jmr.11.0503

Lewis, R. A., & Rao, J. M. (2015). The unfavorable economics of measuring the returns to advertising. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 130(4), 1941-1973. https://doi.org/10.1093/qje/qjv023

MT357 Unit 7 instructions, in plain terms

Unit 7 asks for a paid media plan with a budget allocated across channels. Instructors expect the plan to fix a profitability benchmark first, such as margin per sale or per lead, because every line must be judged against it. Each line should state its budget, the assumptions behind its expected results and the resulting cost per outcome. Assumptions should be labeled as such and the weakest one identified. Lines whose reported results may overstate their effect, such as brand search, should be treated with caution. A test line expected to lose money can be justified if its purpose is learning. A reserve and weekly checks show active management. A short script or spreadsheet that recalculates every line makes the plan easy to update.

How the MT 357 Unit 7 example is put together

The sample fixes the $118 margin first, then lists five budget lines totaling $16,000. Nonbrand search is priced from the planner's estimate and the quote tool's rates, citing Blake and colleagues, with a check on its weakest assumption. Retargeting is sized to its small pool, citing Lambrecht and Tucker, with shipped sellers excluded. Brand search is held but distrusted, and a highlighted line warns that the line with the best reported cost is likely buying customers the shop already had. The YouTube test is labeled an expected loss with a stopping rule. Sections explain the reserve, why search is not given the whole budget and weekly checks, and the script is described, citing Lewis and Rao on why returns resist precise measurement.

MT357 Unit 7 rubric: what earns full points

Paid media plans are generally weighed on a clear profitability benchmark, transparent assumptions, sensible allocation and skepticism toward reported results. Graders reward plans that judge every line against margin. Assumptions should be stated and the weakest named. Cost per outcome should be calculated for each line. Recognizing that some reported results overstate effects shows sophistication. A deliberate test with a stopping rule is acceptable when labeled honestly. Reserves and weekly checks show management. Research on paid search and retargeting appears in APA 7. Plans that allocate budget by platform popularity, or that accept platform-reported conversions at face value, rarely earn top marks.

Common MT357 Unit 7 mistakes, and how to avoid them

Paid media plans often split budget evenly across popular platforms without a profitability benchmark. Another common weakness is reporting expected clicks or impressions rather than cost per outcome. Some students accept platform estimates as facts. Brand search is frequently credited with results it did not cause. Before drafting, work out what one sale or lead is worth to the business after costs, then for each line estimate how many outcomes the budget will buy and at what cost. Any line above the margin needs either a reason to keep it, such as a test, or a cut.

Get an MT357 Unit 7 example written to your instructions

Attach the Unit 7 prompt and rubric, the budget your scenario gives, and any figures on margin or conversion rates, even rough ones. Within 24-48h a first plan arrives free, allocating that budget by the cost of each result rather than evenly, with every assumption labeled and the arithmetic shown. The paper above is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Purdue University Global document.

More MT357 papers and BS in Business Administration samples

MT357 Unit 7 questions, answered

What if my scenario gives no conversion data?

Use benchmarks from a cited source or a clearly labeled estimate, and show how the allocation would change if the estimate were wrong. A short sensitivity note, such as what happens if conversion is half the assumption, shows judgment. Graders rarely expect accurate figures in a course plan; they expect assumptions that are visible and reasoning that follows from them.

Should the plan use ROAS or cost per acquisition?

Whichever fits the objective, and sometimes both. When the goal is a count, such as leads or trade-ins, cost per result against a value per result is usually clearest. When revenue varies by order, return on ad spend helps. Define the metric you use, compute it the same way for every line, and state what counts as break-even.

How do I handle branded search in the budget?

Carefully. Branded ads often receive credit for customers who searched the business by name and would probably have clicked the unpaid result anyway. Keep the line if the prompt expects it, but say that its credited results overstate its effect, and suggest how that could be tested, such as a short pause in a comparable period.

Where can I find a free MT357 Unit 7 sample paper?

The complete MT357 Unit 7 paid media plan is on this page, weighing a $16,000 quarter against a $118 margin per trade-in.

Why does the MT357 Unit 7 sample distrust brand search?

People searching for the shop by name were likely to arrive anyway, so the 108 trade-ins the platform credits probably overstate its effect.