Rule of Seven

What is the rule of seven?

Today’s question comes from Trudi a client who wanted to know why I had never mentioned the “rule of seven” to her

The rule of seven is one of the most basic and oldest ideas in marketing, but even though it is an old concept it doesn’t mean that the idea should be ignored. The rule of seven says that a prospective buyer will have to hear your marketing message 7 times before they actually get around to buying from you. This coincides with my often stated mantra that you need to be consistent in your message, we don’t actually call it the rule of seven, we say you must keep on letting people know that your product or service exists.

So does rule of seven mean that after seven times you should stop sending your message? I would argue no, you need to continue your marketing efforts. The rule of seven doesn’t say you should stop after seven messages it merely states your prospect probably needs to hear your message more than once before they will buy from you. It could be argued you could call it the rule of five or six or eight. (I suspect it is called the rule of seven for the same reason the number seven is the favourite number of more people than any other number).

Simply put this means that your marketing messages should be repetitive and consistent. Many people are very disappointed when they place an advert in a magazine and the result is disappointing, or they place a few ads on the radio and nothing really moves forward, they have often listened to the sales person from the magazine or the radio station telling them how many readers or listeners they will reach, whilst their claimed figures may or may not be true (that is another days discussion) if you are approached by them don’t forget the rule of seven you will need to make your message continuous and repetitive if you want it to work.

Why does my message have to be continuous or repetitive (rule of seven)

Wherever you turn today you will be bombarded with information and advertising, I have seen a report that states the average person will be subjected to 3,000 pieces of advertising in a day. Therefore it stands to reason that if you advertise yourself to your prospects just once you are unlikely to be heard.

Your prospects are overloaded with information. So if you want to convey your marketing message to these people, who having been bombarded with the 3,000 pieces of advertising information are likely to be resistant to advertising, you need to be consistent, repetitive and have a good message until they do hear you. You should also make sure that you are advertising in the right marketplace (don’t advertise in a man’s health magazine if you are selling ladies shoes)

If you need any help with any of your marketing give the team here at Assist Marketing a call (0508 20 10 20) or fill in our contact form. We will be in touch to discuss what we can do to help.