For all of you marketing whizzes out there you’ll read this and say, “Yeah, doh! Tell us something we don’t know!” My response? “Too late, you already read it so quit your bellyachin’!”
This is one of those chestnuts that bears repeating and it further supports why the internet is such a great medium for marketing. The rule is simple … your prospect has to see or hear your message 7-10 times before they’ll even take action; as they say, the fortune is in the follow up.*
Too many of us give up after one, or 2 contacts and wonder why we never get the business we know we deserve. Think about your own experience. How many times do you see that same stupid insurance commercial, you know, the one with the duck. Okay, what’s the duck say, and who would you call if you needed that particular brand of insurance? Yeah, see, repetition works. (Of course I’d rather eat the duck then hear it one more time but hey, I like duck…). Now think about how you buy something and who you buy it from – you go to people you know, right? And you know them because somebody you trust told you about them or you feel comfortable with them because you know a lot about them … and how do you know? Because they’ve told you over and over again. To mangle an old saying – The message is in the medium; multiple times.
Which brings us to the internet and email and RSS – all of these are great mediums to get your message to your audience in multiple formats, multiple times in ways that will inspire them to contact rather than antagonize them or agonize you (ever stared at a list of follow up phone calls you know you need to make to prospects?!). So launch an ezine, start a blog and keep your web site fresh … offer great content that informs as it persuades and before you know it you’ll be swimming in customers — okay, maybe not swimming, maybe only getting dewy, er…
*While this rule has been around forever, I owe Alexandria Brown a thank you for reminding me of it this time. Note that if you visit Alexandria’s link, she talks to you so either turn up, or turn down, your speakers.
