There's something about marketing that many people don’t like. And that’s doing it too much.
There’s nothing that sends people into a bit of a panic more than: When is enough enough? How many is too many times? and What if I’m being annoying?
I’ve heard it all and don’t think I’ve not thought about it either, as of course I have. I’ve thought about all of it—not just about my own marketing but about other people’s too when I’ve been on the receiving end.
Because you’re never going to please all of the people all of the time (*nod to Abraham Lincoln there for his sage advice), doesn’t mean you can’t please some of the people some, if not most, of the time if you are talking to the right ones. There’s going to be an audience who always loves hearing from you. And your job is to figure out that balance so your message and your frequency meet in the middle of being enough—but not too much—and match that to your audience. You want to get your message across and, absolutely, you don’t want to be tight about that, but you don’t want to be all over everywhere like a rash either
But we can all be over-cautious, I know that for sure. Or over-zealous! Those of us who are polite and courteous and ‘don’t want to bother’ people, much less ‘hassle’ them about our Thing, will always err on the side of not enough marketing:
- "Well, I sent an email out already this week so I can’t send another one"
- "Ohh, I did an offer last month so if I do one again this month I’ll look a bit desperate"
- "It’s so obvious I’m chasing sales if I do more promotion this week, so I’ll leave it 'til next..."
- Etc, etc.
You know if you’ve had this conversation with yourself about your marketing... go on, admit it...
Or you may have gone the other way and launched a full-scale marketing attack on your market—they can’t move for your message in their face every time they turn around. Email, email, email, bam, bam, bam, Facebook, Facebook, Google Ad, Affiliate promotion, and again, and again, and again, phone call, text...you name it, you sent it to them. This could well be too much!
I believe there is a balance—a fine line between being frequently enough with your message to be front of mind but not frightening.
I call this being nicely irritating.
Being nicely irritating it like an itch. It's not an injury that must be treated right away. Unless you're an emergency service, you're under the 'nice to have' category for what you do. If only I had time/the money/the inclination type area. So you need to get irritating. Until that itch has to be scratched or dealt with in some way.
And don't forget: you're not always the answer. The point of being irritating (nicely) is to get people to make a decision about you—do they want to buy what you have or not. The NOT is just as important as the "Yes, please". But you've made your point—you've got that person to make a decision about you.
Imagine a fly buzzing around a room... you'll probably sit and carry on with whatever you're doing until it becomes so irritating you get up and open a window and shoo it out. Because it might go quiet for a time, then buzz again, then land and be quiet again, then buzz again. If it's a crazy fly and buzzing super-loud in your ear, your reaction could well be violent—this is when the swatting takes place! But if it's just a buzz now and then, you'll do something about it when it's irritating enough. You'll get up and take action.
So yes, I've just compared you and your marketing to a fly. My apologies. But I needed to make a point. Be irritating enough not to make anyone violent (that's the hitting the unsubscribe button at the very least!) but get them to open a window. Buzz enough to make them get up and do something—have that conversation with you, click on buy now, watch a webinar. I don't know what the action is you want them to take, but get them to take it. And even if that action is to say "No, thank you—it's not for me" then you've had success.
The point of being nicely irritating is to get people to make a decision.
That is all.
Enjoy your buzzing :)
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