How many marketing touches does it take to affect buying preferences and to increase your brand preference? I was going through some of my old files and ran across one of my all-time favorite pieces of advice. It goes like this:
- The first time people look at any given ad, they don't even see it.
- The second time, they don't notice it.
- The third time, they are aware that it is there.
- The fourth time, they have a fleeting sense that they've seen it somewhere before.
- The fifth time, they actually read the ad.
- The sixth time, they thumb their nose at it.
- The seventh time, they start to get a little irritated with it.
- The eighth time, they start to think, "Here's that confounded ad again."
- The ninth time, they start to wonder that they may be missing out on something.
- The tenth time, they ask their friends and neighbors if they've tried it.
- The eleventh time, they wonder how this company is paying for all those ads.
- The twelfth time, they start to think that it must be a good product.
- The thirteenth time, they start to feel the product has value.
- The fourteenth time, they start to remember wanting a product exactly like this for a long time.
- The fifteenth time, they start to yearn for it because they can't afford to buy it.
- The sixteenth time, they accept the fact that they will buy it sometime in the future.
- The seventeenth time, they make a note to buy the product.
- The eighteenth time, they curse their poverty for not allowing them to buy this terrific product.
- The nineteenth time, they count their money very carefully.
- The twentieth time prospects see the ad, they buy what it is offering.
I confess I read a reprint of this, not the original. Since Thomas Smith originally published it in 1885, that's probably not a bad thing.
As much as things change in 122 years, they stay the same as well.