A wise man once said that when it comes to marketing, the key to success is repetition. In fact, this wise man (also known as Michael Pote, EyeCarePro’s COO and sales and marketing expert) says that every message you want to promote needs to be said at least six times. That’s right, I’m sorry to say it but the first five times you say something, most of your audience is not listening.
Why? Well according to the psychology of marketing, there are a number of reasons.
First of all, your audience is busy and distracted. While you have optometry and eye care on your mind at least all of your workday, most people only think about it when they have an eye care need. Therefore, they probably aren’t paying attention to your ad unless it is relevant, so much of your audience is missing your message completely.
Additionally, they are being bombarded constantly with other messages that they have to filter through. So even if they do pay attention to your message, there’s a good chance that they will be distracted by something else before they are even able to follow up.
Further, even if your message is relevant, a potential patient will have to keep the message and information about your practice in mind until they are ready to act. If they don’t act immediately (which is why we need a really good Call-to-Action, right?) they may forget your name, lose your ad, delete your email or throw away your mailing even if it caught their attention at the time.
Lastly, they may have not yet decided that you are the practitioner they choose to fulfill their eye care needs.
Clearly, your marketing message has a lot of hurdles to overcome. Repeating the same message over and over and across all marketing channels (email, social media, website, print, ads etc.) can be the answer to many of these obstacles.
Generating repetition creates familiarity with your name and your message, so you will be the recognized provider that comes to mind when that time comes that they think “eyecare”. When you repeat it over multiple channels, you increase the chances they will see it. If the message is right, repetition, and the familiarity that it creates, can lead to trust and credibility.
So if you are wondering why your first marketing promotion didn’t bring in as many appointments as you’d hoped, send it again, and then again and make sure that it is consistent for every potential touch point with your audience. Eventually your message will penetrate through the noise of all the other communications vying for your audience’s attention and your persistence will pay off.
