Incremental reach: stop beating the same drum, start hitting new beats

For many marketers, it can feel like we’re beating the same drum over and over again, planning campaigns across Meta, TikTok, and Google. They’re safe, easy to work with, and often deliver strong, measurable results. Don’t get me wrong, if you’re a smaller brand with modest budgets, bang that drum! These platforms work. However, if your brand is looking to grow beyond the obvious, expanding both in reach and audience diversity it’s time to start thinking about incremental reach.

Incremental Reach: The Audience You Never Knew You Had

Incremental reach is essentially the additional audience you can reach by adding a new platform to your media plan, audiences that aren’t already being reached by your existing campaigns.

Think of it as finding fresh sets of ears and eyes for your messaging, rather than echoing the same message to people who already know you.

Hidden Gems & Secret Stashes: Platforms You’re Sleeping On

I would love to say there was a one size fits all answer! But unfortunately, not. Media effectiveness is increasingly about efficiency, precision, and audience relevance, so a tailored approach is required.

Here’s how we approach it at Planit:

1. Understand your audience

   Who are they, what are their interests, and how do they consume media?

2. Leverage audience insight tools

   Platforms like GWI, Comscore, and others allow us to map your audience against their online behaviours. This tells us where your audience is already saturated, and where new opportunities exist.

3. Tailor your media solution

   By combining insights with platform-specific data, we identify channels that cut through the noise and deliver real incremental impact.

Hidden in Plain Sight: The Power of Reddit

Often the best answers are hiding in plain sight, with Reddit recently over taking TikTok in social media usage UK wide. We recently invited Reddit to our offices for an insight into their platform and paid media offerings. The data showed that 35% of Reddit users aren’t active on Instagram, a prime example of a platform delivering incremental reach.

The graph shows the percentage of UK Reddit users that aren't on other platforms.

Reddit’s reach goes beyond the standard ad impression, a recent platform benchmark has indicated on average for every 1000 ad impressions served, 2 organic posts are generated. This organic footprint also feeds into AI discovery, with Reddit now one of the most-cited sources across LLM platforms like ChatGPT.

Other platforms to watch for incremental reach can include:

• Snapchat: Strong among younger demographics who may not be on Meta or TikTok.

• Pinterest: Often overlooked but great for lifestyle and e-commerce audiences.

• LinkedIn: B2B incremental reach, especially in professional segments.

Our summary

Stop playing the same hits, your audience is bigger than you think! Incremental reach uncovers hidden fans on untapped platforms like Reddit, Snapchat, and Pinterest, letting your campaigns hit fresh eyes without wasting spend. Find the gems, expand your reach, and make your media mix sing.

If you’re ready to push past the standard paid media mix and explore something more tailored, get in touch.