The number of customers exposed to a single promotional effort within a target market is considered the reach of a promotion. Some forms of advertising, such as television advertising, offer an extensive reach, while a single roadside billboard on a lightly traveled road offers very limited reach.
Market reach can be measured along two dimensions: 1) channels served and, 2) geographic scope of a media outlet.
Channels Served
This dimension relates to whether a media outlet is effective in reaching the members within the marketer’s channel of distribution. Channels can be classified as:
- Consumer Channel – Does the media outlet reach the final consumer market targeted by the marketer?
- Trade Channel – Does the media outlet reach a marketer’s channel partners who help distribute their product?
- Business-to-Business – Does the media outlet reach customers in the business market targeted by the marketer?
Geographic Scope
This dimension defines the geographic breadth of the channels served and includes:
- International – Does the media outlet have multi-country distribution?
- National – Does the media outlet cover an entire country?
- Regional – Does the media outlet have distribution across multiple geographic regions such as counties, states, provinces, territories, etc.?
- Local – Does the media outlet primarily serve a limited geographic area?
- Individual – Does the media outlet offer individual customer targeting?
