Bigger reach, bigger rewards?

In an era where digital advertising allows targeting to just those most likely to become customers, some view “reach” as a dirty word. Or, at the very least, an ineffective marketing strategy.  

Why market to those who aren’t likely to buy right away or who don’t fit perfectly within your ICP?   

Actually, there are multiple reasons. 

Broad reach drives greater returns than targeting.

Each week, we break down another marketing concept so you can skip the hype and get directly to what works. 

Often regarded as a complex beast within the already complicated realm of modern marketing, TV advertising presents challenges ranging from high costs to a lack of measurability.  

Still, TV's potential rewards are massive, and the channel’s known for driving growth far beyond what’s possible with digital alone. It’s why even digital-first brands lean into TV. Facebook and Amazon, for example, spend heavily on TV advertising.  

But why? What makes TV so impactful? Well, it starts with reach. 

If we’re going back to Marketing 101, reach is simply the number of individuals exposed to an ad. So technically, every campaign has reach. But the extent of that reach varies. Here, we’re talking about broad reach marketing. Marketing campaigns designed to connect with massive numbers of people. To create household names and category leaders.   

Despite the rise of highly targeted advertising, broad reach still promises transformative growth for brands. Here’s why: 

1. Reach fosters mental availability. A brand becomes top-of-mind when it has a strong mental availability. This means that consumers think of your brand first when ready to make a purchase decision. Broad reach plays a crucial role in achieving this—making sure consumers are both aware of your brand and associate it with all relevant situations. TV, with its mass audiences and engaging format, is a highly effective medium for strengthening those associations between your brand and consumers, influencing preferences and buying decisions over time.
   
2. Reach ensures you don’t miss customers. If you’re spending on targeted ads to connect with a very specific group of likely customers, you want to make sure you truly are reaching them. But the reality is that research increasingly calls into question the reliability of highly targeted digital campaigns. Data inaccuracies make it tough to confirm you reach the people you think you are. Taking a broad reach approach puts any worries to rest. 
   
3. Reach provides access to more potential customers. Tight targeting, while effective in reaching a very specific group, runs the risk of missing potential customers that fall slightly outside your defined audience parameters. Because not all potential customers are easily identifiable. Brands see repeatedly that when expanding reach to connect with new audiences, they discover pockets of consumers interested in their offering that they’d never considered as part of their target. 

Key Takeaway: While tight targeting may be the order of the day, especially in digital advertising, it's the power of reach that drives the greatest returns. So when crafting your marketing strategies, consider the potential of TV's far-reaching effects. 

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