The Ad Man Answers #6

Thursday + Gregory Huffstutter = The Ad Man Answers

  Q:  Now I’m planning on buying an advertising schedule, but how do I know how much is enough?

A:  Media buying is an exercise in diminishing returns. 

When you first start an advertising campaign, you initially expand your Reach (see Ad Man Answers #5 for definition).  That means new people are getting exposed to your message for the first time. 

But at a certain point – if you continue running the same advertisement – the acquisition rate of new viewers levels off and you start building frequency (Ad Man #5) within the same audience pool.

This is how it looks in graphic form (will pop into larger window):

The X-axis represents Gross Rating Points (GRPs), the Y-axis represents Reach.  In this example, which might represent a 3-week television buy, most of the audience reach is achieved within the first 800 GRPs. 

After that, every additional 100 GRPs only increases your Reach by a fraction of a percent.

So are those additional GRPs wasted?

Not exactly.  Remember one of the handy definitions of GRPs (Ad Man #5):

GRPs = Reach x Frequency

Now look at the graph again.  As you go from 800 GRPs to 1,000 GRPs – with only minor increases in reach from 89.2% to 91.2% – those additional 200 GRPs are reflected in a 2.0 jump in frequency.

800 GRPs = 89.2% Reach x 8.96 Avg. Frequency

1,000 GRPs = 91.2% Reach x 10.96 Avg. Frequency

No matter what kind of advertising you buy, you’ll encounter this same phenomenon.  At a certain point, you stop building Reach and start driving the Frequency. 

If you want to expand your Reach, you’ll need to add a new media form:  radio, newspaper, direct mail, posters on bathroom stalls, etc.  And even then, you’ll quickly hit a threshold where most of your “Impressions” are going to people who’ve already seen your message before.

So what’s enough Frequency? 

There’ve been lots of studies on advertising effectiveness – and you have to take into consideration things like creative execution, category, competitive situation, and pricing.  But the “sweet spot” seems to involve exposing the consumer to your message 3-4 times before it sinks in.

One study by Briggs & Stewart concluded that a “surround sound” approach is particularly effective.  So that three different exposures (say, one each by TV, print ad, and online banner) are more effective than three exposures on the same media form.

When media professionals create an advertising plan, they usually make sure to run enough advertising so that a solid percentage of their audience target –- say 50% -- has seen the ad an average of 3 times or more before moving to the next media form.

But advertising professionals also have access to computer programs that you don’t.  Computer programs that use statistical modeling to help generate these Reach and Frequency projections.

What’s a struggling writer –- with a limited advertising budget, and no access to fancy computer programs -- to do? 

• Ask your media vendors for this information.  If you’re pulling together a local cable buy, or an online banner campaign, ask your vendor for Impressions, GRPs, Reach, and Frequency projections.  If they are a reputable seller of advertising space, they should be able to provide that for you at no additional cost.
• Look for media forms that inherently have a high reach threshold.  Everyone but Ted Kaczynski has a television – so a network TV buy can potentially reach 95% of the US population.  But if you’re advertising your book, and you ONLY buy ads in writer’s conference programs, which have minimal circulations, you’ll quickly max out your Reach and just hit the same audience over and over.  I’m not suggesting all authors need to be on TV, but other media forms (outdoor, radio, online) have high enough reach thresholds that you can broaden your net without breaking the bank.
• Don’t scattershot by buying one ad here, one ad there.  Try to condense your media schedule into “flights” – like a two week burst of high activity – so you can try to hit 50% of your target audience three times or more within that time frame. 

 

Gregory Huffstutter has been punching Ad Agency timecards for the past decade, working on accounts like McDonald’s, KIA Motors, and the San Diego Padres. He recently finished his first mystery, KATZ CRADLE. The first 100 pages of his novel are linked here. For general advertising questions, leave a comment or send e-mail to katz @ gregoryhuffstutter dot com with “Ask The Ad Man” in the subject line.