Consistency

Drew McLellan writes: "Be Consistent, Be Consistent, Be Consistent". In this blog entry he relates one form of consistency, but there is another (equally, if not more important) variation (which he relates elsewhere,as do other successful marketers.)

Always remember...you get tired of your message much quicker than your audience does. You may not even get noticed the first few times someone hears from you. You just have too much competition for their attention. After six or seven times, there might be recognition, but perhaps they don't need you yet. Typically it takes 8-13 interactions for your audience to really register that you are talking to them.

But what would happen if you stopped talking to them after attempt #7? Or if you speak to them differently each time?

We've been sending out a weekly e-mail marketing tip since 1999. We get calls from people who want to hire or interview us - some who have been putting our weekly e mails in a 3-ring binder for several months or even a couple years, but they just hadn't needed us until that moment.

Thank goodness we didn't take them off the list after the first five contacts didn't elicit a response!

Yes, and of course, your marketing message must resonate with the real life experience you share with your existing and prospective clients. If you convey a sensitive, respectful and client-centric model in your advertising, and someone calls your office, and ends up in voice-mail jail, or (worse, even) encounters an insensitive or unresponsive employee, all your efforts go to waste.

In other words, if you get things right, you need to get them right within your business first -- then your external marketing initiatives will pay off. And once you find a model that works, as long as it is working, keep doing it (and give any new idea you introduce enough time to validate whether it is working, or not.)