Then tell them what you told them

Why this formula? Because experienced educators know that students learn best when difficult concepts are hammered into their brains by repetition! Some studies show that a student must confront a concept up to eight times before they absorb it and really learn it!

Much the same is true in marketing. Why do you see the same commercials on TV running over and over again, until you're truly sick of seeing it? It's because marketers know that the more time the spot runs, the better it will be implanted into the brains of the consumer. It's better to risk irritating people with repetition than to give up too soon and make no sales.

Advertising also has a cumulative effect. Ads build up their audience, penetration and power the more times they run. Yes, if you're running a poorly constructed ad, you can run it a thousand times and get poor results. But you'll never really know how good or bad an ad is until you give it a chance by running it several times.

Does it cost more money to repeat? Absolutely not! It costs less to conduct repetitive marketing techniques because you make more money when your effort starts clicking. If you run an ad once and it bombs, you've lost that money for good, unless you try again! That's expensive! This doesn't mean you should try a different angle or a new approach - but you have to keep hitting away until you break through.

The law of repetition applies to all forms of selling - from face-to-face sales, to telephone sales, to direct response marketing through the mail.

All this reminds me of a great aphorism: 'Call a man a dog once, and you insult him. Call a man a dog a thousand times and he may start barking!'

Continue reading here: Never underestimate the intelligence of the buyer

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