4 November 2025
Draw the catchment before you book the campaign
Advertising spend drifts when the map is fuzzy. Start with the streets and postcodes you can serve well.
“Expand into the North” is not a catchment. Neither is “anyone within an hour.” Those phrases hide travel cost, response-time promises, and the difference between a buyer who can visit you and one who needs you on-site.
Start with service physics
If you deliver on-site, draw the ring where you can keep your stated arrival window. If clients visit you, draw the ring where travel still feels reasonable for the ticket size.
Layer demand, do not invent it
Public footfall, complementary businesses, and existing enquiry postcodes are better starting points than demographic averages alone. A beautiful demographic chart that ignores your van’s realistic day is decorative.
Name exclusions early
List the postcodes or job types you will decline in phase one. Exclusions protect reputation. Saying yes everywhere in a new market is how quality slips.
Then choose the message
Campaign copy becomes easier when the map is honest: you know who you are speaking to and what you can promise by Thursday.
Catchment definition sits at the front of our Market Entry Advisory work for a reason — everything else hangs on it.