"Keeping Your Marketing Consistent" Feature Article in Ezine Advertising Sept 6, 2007

From: http://rumblesfromthejungle.com/arc/523.htm

Keeping your Marketing Consistent
by Bill Gallagher, Ph.D.

Do you know how many repetitions of your message it takes for all of us to
move from absolute apathy towards your product or service to making a buying
move, like calling your 800 number to get that "FREE brochure?" Well, the
easy answer is seven, plus or minus two. In other words, it takes from five
to nine times for us, to see your ad and pick up the phone and call you. But
wait, like your typical reader, we're not paying attention all that often.
Usually only about one in three occasions are we even semi-consciously
inspecting your ad.

This means that for your ad to be maximally effective it needs to show up in
my newspaper, on my TV, or whatever twenty-seven times. Three times the nine
we talked just about. So, you can put together a killer ad, but you'll have
to wait for about a month for that phone to start ringing! Marketers must
learn to be patient. But guerrillas aren't very patient.

There is a way to cut into that number a bit. The answer lies in being
consistent, in being consistent with a passion. Let me explain.

After you've decided how you wish to serve the public with your product,
products, and service; identified your niche within that public; selected
your business name clearly describing what you do; chosen your marketing
colors and logo shapes based on your prospective customers' preferences;
developed your sub-conscious buying message, your slogan; and, ordered
business cards and stationary. Stop!

Before you go on, all of this must be coordinated together. Remember,
consistent with a passion! Meaning that your primary and secondary colors
must always remain exactly the same. Always and exactly the same. Your type
font, type style, and relative type sizes must be the same on your business
card and stationary as on the sign in front of your store, as in your future
TV, magazine, and newspaper ads. Always the same.

If you decide to advertise inexpensively on local cable TV, for example, you
will want the last few seconds of that ad to show your business name, your
telephone number, and your slogan. This visual should look exactly like
everything else in your marketing. So later, when your future customers are
looking through the yellow pages, a sub-conscious part of them will be
attracted to your ad because it will be familiar to them. And, many of them
won't even remember the TV spot where they first saw your offer.

Said another way, you can shorten the number of needed exposures from twenty-
seven down to fourteen or so by having a consistent, clear, consistent
selling proposition. This number shrinks even further to about nine, when you
use several different marketing vehicles for us to see your consistent
message. It looks like you're everywhere. And it looks like everyone, like
me, is buying from you, 'cause we probably are!
--------------------------------------------------------------------

Over 500,000 business and salespeople have invested in Bill "Guerrilla"
Gallagher's Guerrilla Selling: (Unconventional Weapons & Tactics for
Increasing Your Sales) because they are serious about doing a lot more
business with less hassle and frustration.
Check out his website here: http://www.guerrillabusiness.com/