There are many aspects to a successful advertising campaign, but according to advertising's Rule of Seven, one of the biggest errors that both experienced and novice businesses make time and time again is that they think too short-term.

What is the ‘Rule of Seven’

The rule of seven simply states that a potential customer will need to hear or see a specific marketing message at least seven times before they will buy from you. Seven is not necessarily the magic number, some will buy after only seeing your advert once, some may take more than ten times but on average, this is how many times a marketing message needs to be seen to be acted upon.

Don’t Despair

The Rule of Seven can sometimes be disappointing news for new marketeers. It means you can get everything right -the right product at the right time in the right place, with the most perfectly written and designed advert - and still your first foray into the advertising world will, statistically speaking, not give you the results you were after. Understanding the Rule of Seven gives you the knowledge you need to plan an effective marketing campaign, and analyse your results more accurately.

It’s All About Interaction

The Rule of Seven doesn’t necessarily mean that you need to stick to the same advert in the same location, it’s more a case of gaining as much exposure as you can to the right target audience – at least seven times. Interaction can come in all forms, including:
• Press/magazine advert
• Social media advertising
• Email marketing advert
• Online banners
• Google ads
• Reading a company/brand review
• Word of mouth
• Telephone call from the brand
• Billboard adverting
• Seeing the brand at an event

The list could go on and on, what is important is that the messaging is consistent and the more times a potential customer sees your brand, it will push them closer to making a purchase.

Why It’s Important

We live in world where we are bombarded with marketing messages. If a potential customer hears about your brand and thinks “that’s a great product, but I just don’t need it right now”, would it be reasonable to expect them to remember the name of your company three month later? Probably not. Therefore, the rule of seven is important. Just because someone matches your target buyer persona doesn't mean they are ready to buy your product or service right away. It may just be that at this moment in time, their need is not enough to warrant a purchase. Maintaining visibility and reminding your prospects that you are there will put you ahead of your competition.

Understanding the Psychology

If you leverage the rule of seven and increase your marketing methods so that you are reaching the same audience with the same message at least 7 times, you WILL see more leads and sales coming in as a result of your efforts.
There are several reasons for this:
• Your brand remains front of mind. People can be forgetful and easily distracted. A bit like learning lines or a new language, repetition aids recall. It’s no different with your brand.
• It makes sales conversations easier. Any salesperson will tell you a sales conversation is infinitely easier when the potential customer has heard of your brand. Your sales conversions will increase if you become better known amongst your target market.
• It generates awareness across multiple decision-makers.
• You handle various objections over time. There may be a variety of reasons why the customer doesn’t want to do business with you. By encouraging multiple interactions, you can make efforts to address various objections using blog content or case studies for example.

What You Can Do To Get The Most Out Of ‘The Rule of Seven’

Develop a plan to make yourself visible amongst your target customers:
1. Have a very clear idea of who your customers are.
You need to clearly define the characteristics of your target audience in order to help you understand their needs, desires and worries so you can tailor your message to resonate with them.
2. Determine where to advertise and how to reach them.
Create a buyer persona to develop an idea of which events they attend, which magazines they read, which websites they visit and so on. Those are the places you want to advertise yourself – the more, the better.
3. Activate your digital remarketing channels.
Digital remarketing on Google, Facebook and LinkedIn after a customer has left a website is a low cost, low effort way to give you visibility among people that have shown some previous interest in your brand.
4. Put a content marketing plan together that covers the whole buyer lifecycle.
There are various stages that the customer goes through as they consider a purchase – if you think these through and create content (emails/videos/letters/blog posts etc) that addresses each stage of their journey, then you can help them from one step to the next with ease.
5. Amplify your content into social channels.
Ideally your content will get you some SEO visibility, but you should also amplify your content into social channels using both organic and paid techniques. With budget you can get your content in front of your target profiles using LinkedIn and Facebook.
6. Have an email marketing campaign.
Don’t think of email as an opportunity to make sales. Think of it as a way to help and grow your customers and your relationship with them; both potential and existing. Drive email opt ins by offering helpful free content that they can subscribe to.

With the Rule of Seven knowledge and these marketing/advertising initiatives in place, you will create greater visibility of your business encouraging people to purchase. Toddle About can offer help and advice with various advertising options including magazine adverts, website banners, email marketing and social media. Please email advertising@toddleabout.co.uk to find out more.