If you’ve ever done any kind of marketing before then you’ve probably seen these two metrics – reach and impressions.
But what exactly are they? And should you even care?
We mean, after all, conversions are the only thing that matters, right?
Well as an agency that manages hundreds of impressions, thousands of impressions, and even millions of impressions, we can tell you what really matters.
Today, we’re going to cover reach vs impressions.
We’re going to look at what they are if you should even care, and some real examples.
Takeaways
- Reach is the amount of times that you get to one person, whereas impressions are the amount of times that you touch that one person.
- When your impressions are high and your reach is low then your costs are going to be high.
- On the other hand, if your reach is high and your impressions are low then your cost could also be high.
Reach vs Impressions: Definition
There are a lot of technical definitions of reach, so we’ll describe it very easily.
Reach is the amount of times that you get to one person.
Whereas impressions are the amount of times that you touch that one person.
Now, when you combine reach with impressions then you get another bonus metric, which is frequency.
What is Frequency?
Frequency is calculated by the amount of impressions you have divided by the amount of reaches.
So if you have 100 impressions and reach 20 people then your frequency is 5.
Now before you lose with the math, let’s move on.
Should You Even Care?
Look, there’s bad marketing and then there’s good marketing.
Bad marketing only cares about telling you how good their bad results are, whereas good marketing looks at the details.
So when it comes to reach vs impressions, here’s what you need to know
When your impressions are high and your reach is low then your costs are going to be high.
That’s because you’re paying a lot of money to reach one person.
So, you better have a high-priced product or service, otherwise, your digital marketing ROI will be low.
On the other hand, if your reach is high and your impressions are low then your cost could also be high.
That’s because people may see you one time and forget.
But if your product is an impulsive buy then you can probably get away with having a higher reach.
But for most people, the key is balance and some analysis.
Look at it like this.
Imagine if you know exactly how many impressions you needed to get to a sale.
Suddenly, impressions and your cost per impression start to matter a lot.
Because with this, you’re able to build a predictive model for growth.
Ok let’s bring all this home by looking at a real example.
Example of a Real Campaign
Now since you made it this far. we have a bonus tip for you.
And that’s to use retargeting.
Retargeting is simply getting more from people you already reached.
That means they’ve seen your ad, your website, your social media post or even opted in online.
And now that you made the connection, you’re able to create a retargeting campaign just for them…
…using various advertising platforms like Google ads, Bing ads, or even on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and more.
This is an easy, surefire way to get impressions at a lower cost.
That’s because it’s your audience.
You’re not bidding against other competitors and going after the same interests, so your costs are extremely.
So now you can create a digital marketing campaign geared towards reaching a lot of people and another campaign towards impressions.
Then you’ll find that the power of retargeting and impressions are massive.
In Conclusion
So if you’re stuck and you don’t know why…
We mean you’re getting clicks, you may even get some conversions but you’re still not getting the ROI you want then it’s time to take a step back and look at:
- your reach
- your impressions
- your frequency
…to determine if that could be holding you back.
BUT, if it’s guaranteed results that you need, you might also want to consider working with the experts like the LYFE Marketing team. Contact us today for a free consultation.