Thursday July 24th 2008

Campaigns that are seen by more prospects, always deliver more rewards. It sounds so obvious, yet  many campaigns overlook or just ignore the simple truths.

Despite all the advances in marketing sciences and the use of new digital research technology designed to track & understand better our target audience consumers, we have to face up. The prospective consumer knows more about themselves than we can ever appreciate.

We never quite know who is in the market for our brand. We never quite know when the prospects are in the market. Our prospects are better self selectors than advertisers.

The optimum solution is therefore to optimise the reach of the campaign, ensuring that as many as possible know of the marketing message. (Attempts to isolate the limited number of hot prospects and then drench them with marketing communication, are doomed to failure)

This high reach conclusion brings with it some challenges for effective marketing. And its harder to deliver too

• Diminishing returns can set in to deliver high reach
• High reach demands a mix of integrated marketing activities
• Multi-media rather than sole media advertising
• Premium prices for media that deliver scarcity and unique audiences
• And others

The marketer who chases the cheapest communication options & their procurement colleagues who benchmark marketing communication as a commodity, may impress some with their apparent cost efficient approach. But unless they also embrace & embed high reach as a marketing effectiveness metric,  the consumer response will prove it's a cost ineffective solution

(Readers who would wish to know more about high reach strategies are encouraged to seek out the "Recency Planning" work of my one time colleague in billetts America, Erwin Ephron & also the work of Prof. John Philip Jones of Syracuse University NY & his work on "STAS" (Short Term Advertising Strength). The lectures, articles & books from both have informed and inspired me.)