Advertising in the Internet Era: Beyond Frequency and Reach

What leading edge ad professionals know: measurable results move beyond Frequency and Reach.

Frequency and Reach has been used by advertising professionals to quantify advertising effectiveness in the past. This model fails when trying to get action in an online economy.

When a person watching TV sees an ad they like, they need to step away from the TV (and their favourite show), go to a different room, turn on the computer, start their browser software, and enter the web address. The same is true when consumers are listening to the radio, or reading the newspaper, and gets worse with billboards seen while driving (not to mention the obvious safety issues of trying to do anything but pay attention to the road while driving).

The same challenge exists when any ad is trying to get a consuemr to visit a store in a mall. Even if the ad is compelling enough to inspire the consumer to act (and how much frequency and reach is needed just to do that?) and then they view countless competing ads on billboards along the  way to the mall, listen to more ads on the car radio during the drive, and be distracted by other the storefronts and in-mall ads (each trying to empty that consumer’s wallet)  before they get to the advertiser’s store.

The lack of PROXIMITY between the ad and the desired action, forces advertisers to over-compensate with increased Frequency and Reach, just so consumers might remember the advertisers name, brand or web URL.

On the other hand, when advertising online, the desired action is EXACTLY ONE CLICK AWAY. Frequency and Reach do not need to be exaggerated, if the offer is good and the link is direct.

How much easier is it, and SO MUCH LESS DISTRACTING to have an online ad displayed while the consumer is searching online for a product,  which links directly to an advertiser’s online store?

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See also: What’s wrong with Traditional Media?