Do you know how many repetitions of your message it takes for all of us to move from absolute apathy towards your product or service to making a buying move, like calling your 800 number to get that "FREE brochure?"

Well, the easy answer is seven, plus or minus two. In other words, it takes from five to nine times for us, to see your ad and pick up the phone and call you. But wait, like your typical reader, we're not paying attention all that often. Usually only about one in three occasions are we even semi-consciously inspecting your ad.

This means that for your ad to be maximally effective it needs to show up in my newspaper, on my TV, or whatever twenty-seven times. Three times the nine we talked just about. So, you can put together a killer ad, but you'll have to wait for about a month for that phone to start ringing! Marketers must learn to be patient. But guerrillas aren't very patient.

There is a way to cut into that number a bit. The answer lies in being consistent, in being consistent with a passion. Let me explain.

After you've decided how you wish to serve the public with your product, products, and service; identified your niche within that public; selected your business name clearly describing what you do; chosen your marketing colors and logo shapes based on your prospective customers' preferences; developed your sub-conscious buying message, your slogan; and, ordered business cards and stationary. Stop!

Before you go on, all of this must be coordinated together. Remember, consistent with a passion! Meaning that your primary and secondary colors must always remain exactly the same. Always and exactly the same. Your type font, type style, and relative type sizes must be the same on your business card and stationary as on the sign in front of your store, as in your future TV, magazine, and newspaper ads. Always the same.

If you decide to advertise inexpensively on local cable TV, for example, you will want the last few seconds of that ad to show your business name, your telephone number, and your slogan. This visual should look exactly like everything else in your marketing. So later, when your future customers are looking through the yellow pages, a sub-conscious part of them will be attracted to your ad because it will be familiar to them. And, many of them won't even remember the TV spot where they first saw your offer.

Said another way, you can shorten the number of needed exposures from twenty-seven down to fourteen or so by having a consistent, clear, consistent selling proposition. This number shrinks even further to about nine, when you use several different marketing vehicles for us to see your consistent message. It looks like you're everywhere. And it looks like everyone, like me, is buying from you, 'cause we probably are!

Keep it going...

Diana Muli

Sales & Marketing Dept - Dolphins Training and Consultants ltd

Dolphins Group