We learn that brands are out there due to repetition, and consumers become aware of them through repeat exposure. As marketing specialists, our theory is that people familiar with a brand are more likely to trust them, so the more acquainted they are, the more likely they are to buy their product.
But how do we gain exposure?
Stay Ahead of Your Competitors
The surest ways to stay ahead of your competitors are to offer goods and services that are superior in quality, deliver them with customer convenience in mind, provide them at appealing prices and maintain the same level of service in every repetition. So far, so obvious. However, you can have all these things in place, but they won’t bring in any business unless your potential customers know who you are, what you do and where to find you.
Marketing is arguably the most essential element of any business plan. It’s what connects your offer with your audience. But too often, companies will concentrate on separate promotional events and ignore the value of a continuous process. When you have a message to convey, you will only dilute it by saying it in half a dozen different ways.
Why Is Repetitive Marketing Important?
How do we learn to speak? Repetition. How do we learn to play an instrument? Repetition. How do we revise for exams? Repetition. The same principle applies to promotion. With thousands of different products, images and experiences competing for the average individual’s attention, the importance of repetition in cementing an idea in the mind can’t be overstated.
There are endless examples of how this determined focus on a repeated message has helped establish brands in unassailable positions of visibility and public trust.
Think of Nike and its ‘Just Do It’ slogan…
It became so powerful that now they can do without the words, simply using the swoosh for everyone to recognise the brand.
Ronseal’s ‘It does what it says on the tin’…
Ronseal’s famous phrase was so wildly successful that it entered the language of everyone from football commentators to cabinet ministers.
The McDonald’s M, Mickey Mouse’s ears, L’Oreal’s ‘because you’re worth it’
Examples are all around us. What they have in common is the relentless determination with which the companies pushed them.
Repetition breeds familiarity, and familiarity breeds trust. However powerful your promotional idea – be it a mailshot or an email campaign, social media posts or television advertising – will be almost entirely wasted if you limit its exposure. Even two or three goes is unlikely to have much effect. There is general acceptance amongst psychologists just as much as business professionals of the rule of seven, which states that for a person to retain a message, they need to hear it, see it or read it at least seven times. Businesses may be understandably cautious about issuing repetitive content for fear of boring their audience or giving the impression that they have very little to say. But this isn’t true – repetition is essential for attracting and retaining customer attention.
Seven Touch Points
The seven touch points of communication is a basic marketing principle that suggests that it takes seven “touches” before someone will internalise and/or act upon your call to action.
At YMN, we consider the seven touch points as our ‘road to repetitive marketing‘.
These touches can take many forms:
- A physical connection, such as meeting at a networking event
- Seeing an ad, either physical or digital
- Seeing your logo, maybe as a sponsor or on a brochure
- Seeing your social media posts in a news stream
- Receiving your e-newsletter or other email marketing piece
- A phone call
- A word-of-mouth mention by a friend or colleague
The Three C’s: Communication, Consistency & Commitment
Many more sales and communication channels are available today than even 20 years ago, now that the internet has become integral to all our lives. But that doesn’t mean you can ease off: two or three social media posts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter will not always get you noticed. But a sustained campaign will: day after day, week after week, linked to website blogs and news pages, email campaigns and newsletters. Keep repeating an easily understood, memorable and consistent message, and you’ll see your actions repaid with sales.
All of this takes time and energy, of course. One of the main reasons companies fall at the first hurdle is the commitment needed to sustain such a scheme. That’s why it pays to employ an outsourced marketing team with the experience and resources to manage a focused, dynamic campaign. At the same time, you get on with running your business.
Your Marketing Needs offers a suite of solutions delivered by our highly skilled team in various packages designed on a monthly schedule. We can offer, as a minimum, three blogs per month, three social media postings per week, plus monthly newsletters, infographics and emails. Our 12-weekly plans are geared to your objectives, taking your message to your target customers again and again until it is fully received and understood. That’s when they’ll start responding, and you’ll see the business benefits.
Talk to us without delay. The best time to start is today.
Call us on 01582 292016 or email info@yourmarketingneeds.co.uk.
YMN have become an intricate part of our team at ERG, guiding us in our marketing efforts and in 2021 launching our rebrand which included change in focus to be more consultative led. We look forward to 2022 to really hit the ground running with more fantastic marketing to continue to make ERG a force to be reckoned with.
John Morse, CEO of ERG