Buying Airtime: Two Things to Know
Reach, frequency the two keys to a success media buy
Whether you are selling hamburgers or antique furniture, when planning your advertising, remember two key factors: reach and frequency.
What is reach?
Reach is the total number of people exposed to an advertising message at least once in a specific amount of time. How far and wide do you need to broadcast your message? Ask yourself, where do my customers come from? Are they from the local community or do they travel from surrounding counties? Track where your customers are from and use that research to focus your advertising.
What is frequency?
Frequency is the number of times a person sees or hears your message during a specific media schedule. The more exposure your ads have in a short period of time, the more likely they will be remembered. So, if your budget allows for only nine newspaper ads, don’t run one per month for nine months. Concentrate your schedule and run 2 or 3 ads in consecutive weeks, increasing the chance potential customers will see your message.
Paying attention to the reach and frequency of your ads will help your business get the most for its dollars. This affects your ads in all media - radio, TV, newspaper, direct mail and online placement.
It’s Teamwork that Counts
Reach and frequency work together to strengthen your company’s message. Reaching 100,000 customers with a direct mail piece only one time is less effective than targeting 25,000 customers four times with the same piece.
There is an old advertising saying, “reach without frequency is wasted money”. You never want to do that!
