Reach, targeting and measurability

Reach, targeting and measurability are three criteria you can use to judge an advertising medium. They help you compare media by how many people they can expose your message to, how precisely they can aim it at your customers, and how easily you can tell whether the advert has been seen and has worked.

Reach is the number or range of people a medium can expose to the message. A medium with high reach can put your advert in front of a large audience, but that audience may include many people outside your target market. Those extra views can waste part of the budget, so high reach is not automatically efficient.

Targeting is how well a medium can focus the message on a particular audience. Precise targeting means fewer wasted views, but it may also mean limited reach because only a small group is being aimed at. For example, an advert in a specialist climbing magazine targets climbers well, but far fewer people will see it than a poster at a busy train station.

Measurability is how easily a business can judge whether advertising has been seen and has worked. A medium that gives clear responses, such as clicks or codes, is easier to measure than one where you cannot tell who noticed the advert.

These criteria involve trade-offs. A cheap medium may still be inappropriate if it does not reach the target audience. When comparing media, weigh how well each one balances reach, targeting and measurability for the campaign, rather than assuming more reach or lower cost is always better.