Welcome Back.

Hope you’re having a great day today. Are you one in a million? Perhaps one in 100,000? Maybe sneaking in there at one in 3,000? The hardest part of making yourself memorable is finding a way to STAND OUT. In a sea of daily messages, it has been estimated we are exposed to upwards of 3,000 advertising and marketing messages each day. That will be enormously inflated or woefully inadequate, depending on whom you consult.

Even erring very conservatively to say we are exposed to only 10% of that, that’s still 300 messages daily. Starting with the packaging from your soap and toothpaste providers each morning, to your coffee, juice, cereal sources, plus the pitches from radio and TV in the morning as well as e-mail and spam messages. Lets not forget the images you see on your way to work, on the train or bus, on other vehicles, on fixed signage outside, on ads in the newspaper your busmate is reading, and when you go through your entire day- in and out of the office, to school, the health club, and the grocery store.

Of course there’s the prospect of further ads at the movie theatre, the golf course, the restaurant, the gas station, the convenience store, the parking garage, there is an endless barrage of sales messages you absorb every day. Do you remember any of them? Could you recollect five of them for me now? Go ahead- take a minute. It’s just between us. Let me see…did you see an ad for:

Fresh bagels?
Shoe repair?
Fresh breath?
Fast food?
Financial service?

Give yourself a point for each category you remember. Now double the points if you can remember even three of the brand names you saw. We are a forgetful group? Phone number of your first employer when you had a part-time job in high school. No sweat: 555-735-7282. Dennis – what’d you have for lunch today?...Ummmm?

This is what advertisers thrive on. We need to have constant repetition of the message until it becomes part of our subconscious. So how often is enough? The answer to that alone could make one very wealthy. A new brand needs a lot more exposure to get started and build up some profile and equity for the long term.  More established brands have already paid their dues. While they are constantly refining themselves to stay relevant and fresh. Today they enjoy the residual of decades of advertising history which make them household names even today. It’s been expressed in various circles that a 3 to 5 times frequency during a campaign is a good barometer to work towards as far as establishing some breakthrough and recognition.

Conversely it’s been noted it can take 6 to 8 points of contact- ad, e-mail, phone call, newsletter, etc. before people respond to you. Perhaps the optimal is to keep marketing all the time. Maybe not always at the same intensity, unless your wallet can handle this. But continually have some presence out there. You will grow tired of your messaging before your audience does. If they see you in multiple places, over a longer period of time, you will earn their trust and confidence.

As that exposure delivers more awareness and sales, you’ll be better able to keep up the marketing efforts. As we’ve expressed to date, we are trying to build long-term customer relationships. If we make an initial sale, that’s great. But we are striving to compete head-on with potentially multiple thousands of other messages every day.

To paraphrase legendary Roy Williams: Despite your best efforts, you can’t predict the moment any client will purchase any product or service you provide. But you must provide an ongoing stream of service samples and education so that when your client needs your product or service, you’re the one they think of.

In order to make yourself stand out, BE OUTSTANDING.

Stay tuned.

P.S. One of the overlooked benefits of long-term exposure is how it seamlessly becomes part of the fabric and pattern of our daily lives.

When I was a younger- and thinner man- one prominent insurance company used two forms of advertising that I knew of. I heard them on the radio as a regular feature sponsor, and they used exterior rear bus cards. That’s IT. But they were ALWAYS there. For more years than I care to remember. But that consistency made them memorable for me more than 4 decades later.