Repetition as a marketing strategy … Increases recall, boosts returns

There are just about three or four commercials that are played during every scheduled commercial break on CNN.  At first, I thought to myself, those ads are really annoying; but then I found myself miming the words of each commercial and even singing along with the jingles.

I’ve got to the point where I now know if it’s the Weather, Market or Money information that is being shared based on the instrumental being played!   If CNN’s intention was to use its information repetitively to increase information recall, then it would have succeeded.

So why am I sharing this with you? Simple, repetition as a marketing strategy can help to increase information recall which in turn can boost your business’s returns.  A client’s power to recall your business when a particular product or service is required is critical to the success of a startup business but equally important is the frequency, intensity and variety with which your message is sent to the customer.

Also important is methodology.  What methods are used for sending the message? Is it creative, unusual and requiring thought or just plain Jane?  Is your message sent when another equally important message is being sent?  What frequency is too intense for the customer?  Will my product or service become an annoyance to my potential customers?  All these questions must be answered when considering repetition as a marketing strategy.

But more important is the concept that most people do not respond to a single piece of communication, it is more effective when repeatedly brought to the attention of the target market.  And the fact is that as a startup, your potential customers are not yet familiar with your offerings.

The following are some tips taken from The Financial Brand – www.thefinancialbrand.com which you may use to get your strategy right:

·         Few messages, more often. You should limit the number of messages you try to communicate through marketing. If repetition fosters both awareness and trust, you’ll do better working with a shorter list of messages communicated more frequently than the long laundry list of messages many marketers try to work with.

·         Beware of Boredom. If you’re doing it right — saying the same thing over and over — you will get bored of hearing yourself speak long before your message sinks in with consumers.

·         Stick to your script. You’ll have to fight your boredom, because the temptation to do something new and different will always be great. You may try to convince yourself that “the audience has already heard what we have to say — they know this already.” Don’t fool yourself. It takes years for some messages to connect with consumers, and even longer if you’re trying to reshape perceptions consumers have held for years.

·         Rethink how you spend your media dollars. Would you rather get your marketing message in front of 30,000 people one time, or 10,000 people three times? Instead of targeting your entire customer base with the same message all at once, you’ll find greater success if you segment your audience. The process of segmentation will force you to use better data/analytics when choosing the right groups to target (i.e., which 10,000 consumers should you hit three times?), which also allows you to tailor messages with greater relevancy/specificity for your audience.

If you happen to get the strategy right, you will successfully grab the attention of your target audience.