EXHIBIT: The Reach Optimization Trap
We expanded your audience dramatically.
Reach sounds like growth. Growth sounds like success. The logic chain is short and compelling: more people reached means more potential customers means more revenue. The chain is also broken at the first link.
Reach optimization spreads a message thin. It prioritizes audience size over audience fit. A message that resonates deeply with 1,000 ideal customers outperforms one that reaches 1,000,000 strangers.
The irony of reach optimization is that it makes marketing less effective while making it feel more successful. 'We reached 5 million people' sounds impressive. 'We reached 5,000 people who actually needed us' sounds small. But the second number is the only one that produces revenue.
Most reach-optimized campaigns are designed to impress the person who approved the budget, not to persuade the person who might buy. The report goes to the CMO, who presents it to the CEO, who sees a big number and feels better about the marketing spend. Meanwhile, the people who needed the product never saw it because the targeting was optimized for volume.
Reach without resonance is shouting into a hurricane. The sound is loud. The effect is nothing.