Marketing (folk?)law says you need to 'touch' a prospect 7 times before they will respond. By 'touch' here be clear that I mean a message touch-point—so an email, Facebook post, a video, a talk, a letter, etc. There are exceptions to every rule as sometimes you can get a response the very first time someone sees you—I know I've had this happen when I've spoken at an event or met someone at networking. It's more likely the 'one touch' conversions happens in person but it's not always the case.
Of course the opposite is also true—some people take a LOT of touches before they convert. Just in the past week, I've had 2 people contact me to find their Thing who have been 'following' me for a year and 2 years respectively. Clearly with a weekly newsletter they've had more than 7 touches (over 100 touches for the 2-year prospect!).
Why am I telling you this?
It's not to dishearten you that it's going to take years to get famous for your Thing, as don't forget... sometimes it just takes 1 touch. But to also say: keep going and don't stop touching!
It easy to get disheartened if you're expecting to always get a result in 1 touch and you might think some of your marketing isn't working. Not true, as also remember that not all marketing is designed to be 'direct response'. Doing exactly what's it says on the tin, direct response marketing is a message with 1 call to action—are you in or out?
In or out?
Direct response marketing looks like this: do you want this free gift/program/ticket/call with me, etc. or not? There is no option other than to say "Yes" or "No" to direct response marketing. Do you want to get my free gift or buy my special deal when I do a talk—yes or no? Would you like to have a conversation with me about taking the next step—yes or no? Fill in this coupon now to get your brochure (write or leave it). Sign up for this webinar, join the mailing list, get the sale special. All direct response with 'in' or 'out' options.
So why touch more?
If you're always doing direct response marketing, it can get rather relentless for your audience. It will feel like you’re always selling. And while you should always be open for business, you don’t have to always be selling like an auctioneer :)
There are other ways of marketing that will ‘sell’ for you. Take storytelling, for example.
When you tell your ‘interesting story’ it shares your 'why'. And your 'why' is why people buy. People want to know about you, what you think, why you do what you do, how you do it, what it means to you, what you disagree with, what your values are, how you like to live, why you don’t do some things but do do others. Lots of storytelling!
Get your 'why' in your message and you’ll connect with people. You’ll build a relationship. THEN when you do offer a direct response marketing message, you’ll get more ‘in’ to get your Thing.
There’s no perfect length of story—just like there’s no perfect number of touches for your marketing. It might take 1 touch, a week, 100 touches, a year, who knows. What you can know is that if you keep on sending your message out there, when someone gets to the end that makes them take action, they will.
Want to talk more about this?
Nice practical tips Lucy. I see too many businesses sending 1 type of communication only (a little bit like the guy at a dinner party who tells the same story to everyone he corners… and why do I always sit next to him?). Like your ‘thinking’!
Not the dinner party bore… uh oh! :)