I was seeing my younger brother (we're quite a few years apart), as I'm prone to do. He's a great kid. When he smiles, you've gotta smile along with him. It's just impossible not to.
But this is about one time he got on my nerves a little.
Ok, a lot.
We were driving to the park to play tennis. I'm trying to teach him how to play so he'll be as good as me... err, better. Anyway, there we are, driving along. I'm flipping through the stations, looking for something good. I go past something he likes. He says, "Turn that back on."
At this point, the radio dial has stopped on a classic rock station, playing CCR, always a favorite of mine. They just rock! Well, because this is on, I say, "Sorry, but I wanna listen to this song for a minute."
Yes, I'm mean, cruel, whatever. But the song he wanted to listen to was some new whiney alternative band, which I don't particularly like (ok, that's an understatement).
He says, "I'm going to do this until you turn it back on - (high pitched voice) nah nah nah nah! nah nah nah nah! nah nah nah nah! nah nah nah nah! nah nah nah nah! "
This goes on the entire ride there. I turn my music up a little. But I can't give in now. I'm too stubborn and it will give the kid a bad message.
I weather the storm.
By the time we got to the park, which was about 15 minutes away, I'd heard him say "nah nah nah nah" about 7,300 times.
He informed me he was going to do it on the way home too, unless he got control of the radio. So I caved. I said he could have it.
We got out and walked towards the courts.
What’s the marketing lesson, you ask? Repetition.
Repetition.
Repetition.
It's been proven in traditional media like direct mail that a consumer must be exposed numerous times to a sales message before a firm gets the optimal number of sales. In direct mail, it can go as high as the 7th mailing or more before you get the bulk of the orders.
The online environment presents a different challenge. Online we must either get immediate action from a skeleton site with no further interaction, or create a more personal system with lots of contacts. An ezine is the perfect place to develop a rapport with your subscribers that allows you to cut down on this rule of repetition. Or, you can use it along with repetition, by repeatedly offering your newest product to your readers. But, please, if you're going to do this, reword your offer every time. This will be the most effective way to present your offer.
Now, of course, you don’t want to irritate your visitors with your repetition like my younger brother did. You just want to get your message in front of them enough times that it actually gets their attention.
And if you ever, ever run into me and say "nah nah nah nah" to me, I will not buy from you. I will clock you. But if you present your sales message to me repetitively in a professional, yet personal manner, I may become a paying customer.
About the Author
Erik Lukas is the publisher of “Erik’s Marketing Soapbox”, and some people are even crazy enough to subscribe to it. Erik delves into web site promotion, direct marketing, and all sorts of online advertising. You know, the good stuff. To subscribe to his weekly newsletter, go to: http://lukasink.wso.net/FormMailExample/formmail.htm