7 Tips for implementing the ‘Rule of 7 Principle’
This month, after 4857 Jobs booked in, 97 Websites designed & built, 5273 Twitter followers, 1798 Financial & Fintech projects and 7 staff, along with everything else we’ve achieved, Plan B has turned – you guessed it – SEVEN!
Amid the celebrations, we’ve put together a blog in line with our anniversary; as always, offering useful advice to help build your brand!
Today, we’re going to tell you all about the Rule of 7 Principle aka the 7 Times Factor – an essential marketing concept that states, when advertising your brand, your selling point should appear to your audience at least 7 times.
Why is it important?
Think about how often you don’t pay attention to advertising. How many times do you ignore posters, online ads, social media posts, TV adverts etc.? If you’re lucky, some might take action the very first time they see your ad, but most will need to see it multiple times – either because they’re not initially convinced, or simply not paying attention.
In this age, where we are constantly exposed to mass information and surrounded by attempts to capture our concentration, it’s vital that you stand out. To do this, your brand needs to follow other basic marketing principles, your advertising needs to appeal to a specific demographic and/or emphasise your unique selling point (USP).
Once you have the basics right and know what aspect of your business to advertise, you can consider what marketing channels to utilise. Many brands will use endorsements, exclusivity, or some form of discount to boost the desirability of their product or service. Once you know what to advertise, the Rule of 7 is all about how you advertise it.
Use a range of Content Marketing
When building brand awareness, the best way of ensuring your advertisements are seen, is by encompassing the information in many ways that can be shared across a variety of platforms. Think of how the bigger businesses do it – when a new product is released, there won’t just be a poster somewhere, but also social media posts/ads, emails to their mailing list, blogs/news articles, webpages, online videos; not to mention TV & radio adverts.
Post frequently
When advertising online, it’s pivotal that you keep posting about your products & services as frequently as possible if you’re trying to be seen. The more you post, the more chance you have of generating traffic to your website & other online channels; thus more potential for generating leads.
Encourage Engagement
Just like frequent posting, online engagement not only helps build an affinity with your target audience, but creates more possibility for your brand to be seen. By creating engagement on social media in particular, there is more chance of your page appearing on the feeds/timelines of those who aren’t aware of you.
Keep up appearances
Following from the previous two points, whatever marketing channels you choose to utilise, the all-important idea is that you keep being seen. Even if people aren’t paying attention to your content, just recognising your name & logo builds familiarity. This repeated appearance ultimately, even if only subconsciously, builds trust when they come to browse a product or service you provide.
Become an Expert
Build a reputation in your niche by contributing to industry forums or any other relevant media.
Don’t restrict your content to just social media and other mainstream channels, if you have knowledge and expertise about your niche, find places that attract your target audience and show them you know your stuff!
Always consider Return on Investment
We would argue that advertising is becoming more and more of a necessity, but not at the risk of your profits! While using as many avenues as possible can certainly be beneficial, if your budget is tight, especially as a new business, focus on the cheaper methods that produce a good ROI. Mailing lists are a great way of generating leads with minimal expenditure.
Keep up with the latest technology
In recent years, incredible marketing technology has emerged. Social Media, SEO and Email marketing are examples of methods that have become intrinsic to advertising businesses across the globe. Just a few decades ago these things didn’t exist, and only in the past decade or so have they become recognised as fundamental forms of marketing for the big brands. Currently, there are techniques such as remarketing & retargeting, as well as push notification technology that have arisen. With the rapid advancement in data analysis and artificial intelligence, we can only see more of these things being produced – stay in the loop!
After 7 years of helping our clients build brands, we remain proactive in keeping up-to-date with industry trends and revising the crucial elements of advertising. Contact us today for a no-obligation chat about how to improve your branding – here’s to another 7 years!