Planning helps you choose the best medium or media mix for your purpose. Understanding your audiences and the purpose of your messages must precede decisions about which media to select and how to take advantage of them. For example, knowing that your audiences is large (e.g., all adults in your state) will steer you to the mass media; knowing it is small (e.g., the Board of Directors) will steer you to memos or letters; knowing it is widely scattered will lead you to newsletters or e-mail.