The Marketing Rule of Eighteen!
If you work in marketing you will be familiar with ‘The Marketing Rule of Seven’. This is an old concept that says your prospective customer needs to see or hear your marketing message at least seven times before they buy from you. However, with the multiple communication channels and torrent of information we have today, the rule of seven has risen. Some marketers define it closer to 18 or even more.
You can understand why this is the case and particularly when it comes to higher price products or services. How many of us would immediately buy something from an unfamiliar brand? Other barriers might be: they don’t have an immediate need for your product; you haven’t built up a level of trust yet with them; the competition is high so they’re having difficulty choosing; or they might simply forget about you because their life is really busy and your brand isn’t top of their mind. That’s why repeat interactions are so important and you can achieve this by adopting some of the following tactics:
- Build brand awareness. Last week we spoke about the importance of brand awareness and how you can measure it. This is where PR reigns and makes you more valuable than your competitors. Please see here for our Brand Awareness Guide.
- Be consistent – be consistent with your voice, tone and style so your audience can easily recognise you whichever marketing platform you may be on.
- Get third parties to talk about you – a positive review from a journalist or influencer or recommendation from someone outside your business is a million times more valuable than you telling someone the same thing.
- Be visible – keep showing up where your customers are so you’re there to buy when they want to. This could be their favourite websites, media, blogs or activities.
- Look after your existing customers – most of all look after your loyal customers. Look to retain them as not only can they can be your greatest ambassadors but a 5% retention in customers can translate to a 25%-50% increase in profits.
