Media plan, October 19 to December 31, 2026

Ten channels, one launch. Every line names the money, the dates, the creative it needs, the person who owns it, and the thing that will be counted. A channel with no measure is not in this plan.

Approved

$175,000

Budget approval BA-2026-31

Committed

$163,500

10 channels, listed below

Held back

$11,500

Released in writing by the approver

Target

520

Enrolments, $314.42 each

Channel by channel

Channel	Spend	Dates	Owner	What gets measured	Target
Email to the installed baseOwned	$4,200	Three sends: October 28, November 2, November 23	Marketing Lead Sami Torres	Enrolments attributed to an email channel code, counted on the enrolment date	120
Direct mail to the top 600 accountsOwned	$18,400	Dropped October 26, in home by November 2	Marketing Lead Sami Torres	Reply cards returned, plus enrolments quoting the mail code	42
Paid search, brand and category termsPaid	$26,000	November 2 to December 18	Web Lead	Cost per enrolment, reviewed every Monday against a ceiling of $420	58
Paid social, one professional networkPaid	$21,500	November 2 to December 4	Marketing Lead Sami Torres	Cost per qualified lead, where qualified means an instrument on file	26
Trade publication, two placementsPaid	$32,000	November issue and December issue	Marketing Lead Sami Torres	Sessions on the coded landing URL, and enrolments from those sessions	14
Regional trade show, booth 214Event	$24,800	November 12 to November 14	Account Manager Jordan Vale	Badge scans loaded to the CRM, then enrolments from those records inside 60 days	33
Webinar, live then recordedOwned	$6,800	Live November 5, recording available to December 19	Customer Success Lead Avery Kellen	Attendance, then enrolments from attendees and from recording viewers	47
Partner co-marketing, Northlight GroupPartner	$15,000	November 9 to December 11	Account Manager Jordan Vale	Enrolments from accounts carrying a partner site code	61
Field sales collateral and trainingOwned	$5,600	October 26 to November 6	Account Manager Jordan Vale	Reps certified, quotes issued, and enrolments quoting a rep code	95
Site and search engine workOwned	$9,200	October 19 to November 2	Web Lead	Organic sessions to the plan page, and enrolments from organic sessions	24
Total, 10 channels	$163,500	October 19 to December 31, 2026	Marketing Lead	Cost per enrolment across the whole plan	520

When the money leaves

Spend by month	October 2026	November 2026	December 2026	Total
Committed	$62,700	$75,900	$24,900	$163,500

$62,700 of the plan is spent before a single enrolment exists. Print, booth space, and publication deadlines are all paid in October. That is the reason the gates matter: money committed in October cannot be recovered if the launch slips.

Where the money sits

By owner	Channels	Spend
Account Manager, Jordan Vale	3	$45,400
Customer Success Lead, Avery Kellen	1	$6,800
Marketing Lead, Sami Torres	4	$76,100
Web Lead	2	$35,200

By kind	Channels	Spend
Owned	5	$44,200
Paid	3	$79,500
Event	1	$24,800
Partner	1	$15,000

Apex Instruments · Atlas launch media plan · 2026-09-09Page 1 of 2

Apex InstrumentsMedia plan · Page 2 of 2

Creative required, and the rules the plan runs under

What each channel needs, and when

Creative is the thing that makes a media plan late. Every item below has a date it has to exist by, which is the date its channel starts.

Channel	Needed by	Creative required	Why this channel is in the plan
Email to the installed base	2026-10-28	Three HTML emails at 600px with plain text alternates One plan comparison block reused in all three Six client render proofs per send	Cheapest channel by a distance because the list is ours. It is also the one that annoys people fastest, which is why there are three sends and not seven.
Direct mail to the top 600 accounts	2026-10-26	One letter, single sided One insert card carrying the plan comparison and a reply code Outer envelope with no window	The whole spend lands before a single enrolment does. That is the risk of print, and the reason the drop date is a tracker item with a name on it.
Paid search, brand and category terms	2026-11-02	Twelve ad variants across four ad groups Two landing sections, one for brand and one for category	The only channel that can be turned off in an afternoon. It is therefore the first place spend is cut if the cost per enrolment goes past the ceiling.
Paid social, one professional network	2026-11-02	Four single image ads at 1200 by 627 One document ad, six pages One 1080 by 1080 frame for organic reuse	Rotate creative when the click rate falls below 0.6 percent. The rule is written down so it is not argued about in week two.
Trade publication, two placements	2026-11-01	One full page for November One half page for December Both carry a coded short URL, not a QR code alone	The largest single line and the hardest to attribute. It is in the plan because the audience reads it, not because the measurement is good.
Regional trade show, booth 214	2026-11-12	Booth graphics, three panels 500 counter flyers One calibrated demo bench	Booth cost is committed in October and cannot be recovered. The demo bench has to be calibrated or the booth is a table with a poster.
Webinar, live then recorded	2026-11-05	One 16 slide deck One registration page One recording page with the plan comparison below it	The recording does more work than the live session every time. Budget the recording page properly.
Partner co-marketing, Northlight Group	2026-11-09	Co-branded one-pager Two emails sent by the partner to its own sites One slide for the partner monthly call	Highest expected return per dollar spent and the least control over timing, because the partner sends on its own schedule.
Field sales collateral and training	2026-10-26	Talk track and objection card 800 counter flyers to eight service counters Pricing calculator for reps	The cheapest line in the plan and the one that produces the most enrolments, because the conversation already exists.
Site and search engine work	2026-10-19	Plan page Plan comparison table Eighteen question FAQ marked up for search	Everything else points here. If the plan page is wrong, every other line in this table is wasted.

The rules this plan runs under

No line spends before the gate it depends on is closed. Paid search and paid social start on launch morning and not a day earlier.
A channel is reviewed weekly against its own measure, not against the total. A channel that cannot be measured is reported as unmeasured, not as successful.
Cost per enrolment on paid search has a ceiling of $420. Above it for two weeks running, the spend moves to the channel with the lowest cost per enrolment.
The reserve is released by the approver in writing. Nobody moves money between lines by asking a vendor to invoice differently.
Every line reconciles at T plus 30 against actual invoices, not against what was planned.

Held back on purpose: $11,500. Held back deliberately. Paid search and paid social are the only lines that can absorb more money inside the window, so the reserve exists for them and for nothing else.

What counts as an enrolment

A plan on an account with a first invoice raised without error. A quote is not an enrolment. A form submission is not an enrolment. The count is taken on the enrolment date, not the quote date.

What happens at thirty days

Every line is reconciled against actual invoices, and cost per enrolment is calculated per channel. Channels that cannot be attributed are reported as unattributed rather than divided up to make the table tidy.

Dana Whitfield, COO. Approves the budget and releases the reserve.

Sami Torres, Marketing Lead. Owns the plan and reports it weekly.

Apex Instruments · $163,500 committed of $175,000 approvedPage 2 of 2