Reach Vs. Frequency
By Julie Chance, Thu Dec 8th
Reach and frequency are terms generally used when planningadvertising campaigns. However, the concept of reach andfrequency applies to any promotional activity you undertake:direct mail, direct selling, and even networking. Reach is the number of people you touch with your marketingmessage or the number of people that are exposed to yourmessage. Frequency is the number of times you touch each personwith your message. In a world of unlimited resources you wouldobviously maximize both reach and frequency. However, since mostof us live in the world of limited resources we must often makedecisions to sacrifice reach for frequency or vice versa. For example, an air conditioning repair service who has decidedto do a direct mail piece has to decide whether to mail theentire Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex once or to mail a quarter ofthe Metroplex four times. An attorney who receives many of herclients through networking may have to decide whether to attendone weekly networking meeting or four different monthlymeetings. When faced with decisions of reach vs. frequencyremember this rule of thumb: Reach without Frequency = WastedMoney Marketing is the process of building a businessrelationship with potential customers. Have you ever establisheda lifelong friendship with someone you had contact with onlyonce? Probably
not. Generally friendships (and all relationshipsfor that matter) grow as a result of frequent contact over time.Even when the potential to form a great friendship is there atthe first encounter, it is unlikely it will grow withoutnurturing.
Seth Godin in his book Permission Marketing uses an analogy ofseeds and water to demonstrate the importance of assuringadequate frequency in your promotional campaigns. If you weregiven 100 seeds with enough water to water each seed once wouldyou plant all 100 seeds and water each one once or would you bemore successful if you planted 25 seeds and used all of thewater on those 25 seeds? While intuitively and even conceptually we understand theimportance of frequency to successful promotional and salescampaigns, somehow when it comes to actually implementing thecampaign, we opt to sacrifice frequency for reach. And then wecomplain about the ineffectiveness of our promotional efforts.Undoubtedly one of the biggest wastes of marketing dollars ispromotional activities that are implemented without adequatefrequency. When faced with the decision of mailing one direct mail piece to10,000 people or mailing to 2,500 people four times think aboutthe fate of those 100 seeds you can water only once. Unless youhave water rights and can obtain additional water, opt for lessreach and more frequency. About the author:Julie Chance is president of Strategies-by-DESIGN, a Dallasbased firm that helps small businesses and service professionalsMap A Path to Success by providing consulting, training andskills based coaching in the area of marketing strategydevelopment. For more information or to sign up for our freemarketing tips e-newsletter go to www.strategies-by-design.comor call 972-701-9311 © 2003 Strategies-by-DESIGN. May be reprinted with credits andcontact information.
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