Which statement is most likely to reach a large audience at a low cost per contact?

Which statement is most likely to reach a large audience at a low cost per contact?

• A. Advertising
• B. Personal selling
• C. Publicity
• D. Sales promotion

Answer: (A)

Achieving broad reach while keeping the cost per person reached low is the idea here. Advertising does that by using mass media to push messages out to large, diverse audiences. When you scale up ad buys, the cost per contact drops, since the same creative can be shown to millions of people across TV, radio, online, and other channels, giving you wide exposure at a relatively low incremental cost. Personal selling, being face-to-face and highly labor-intensive, has a much higher cost per contact. Publicity can generate wide exposure too, but you can’t control when, where, or how many people see it, so the reach and cost per contact aren’t predictable. Sales promotions can drive quick action but typically reach specific groups through retailers or channels and don’t provide the same broad, economical reach as advertising. So advertising is the best fit for reaching a large audience at a low cost per contact.

Achieving broad reach while keeping the cost per person reached low is the idea here. Advertising does that by using mass media to push messages out to large, diverse audiences. When you scale up ad buys, the cost per contact drops, since the same creative can be shown to millions of people across TV, radio, online, and other channels, giving you wide exposure at a relatively low incremental cost. Personal selling, being face-to-face and highly labor-intensive, has a much higher cost per contact. Publicity can generate wide exposure too, but you can’t control when, where, or how many people see it, so the reach and cost per contact aren’t predictable. Sales promotions can drive quick action but typically reach specific groups through retailers or channels and don’t provide the same broad, economical reach as advertising. So advertising is the best fit for reaching a large audience at a low cost per contact.