Ronco Veg-O-Matic
Reach and Frequency are advertising terms. Reach is the number of different people who are exposed to an advertising message. Frequency refers to the number of times an audience sees a message. Frequency is the most important number. Creative branding is about showing the message to create awareness. Showing it over and over and over and over.
When my son was a baby there was a six weeks period when he didn’t sleep well and my wife and I took turns sitting up with him. I watched a lot of late, late night TV that was filled with infomercials. The reach at that time of the night is very small and the cost is low. The strategy utilized by late night marketers is to get a high frequency to build the brand and sell the product by running on a consistent basis. It works. The ads were not very good from a creative standpoint but frequency will overcome such sins. Creative branding is not necessarily about ‘good’ ads it is about creating awareness.
Ronco sold tons of products…Veg-O-Matic and Showtime Rotisseries; and Susan Powter’s book, Stop The Insanity, became a best seller. It’s a small audience but if the advertiser has a high frequency, they can create awareness and become mesmerizing. You begin to think that maybe you could use that product and find yourself picking up the phone to call. Frequency builds value and overcomes the perception of the price being too high.
Anything that is as powerful as frequency can have a dark side and frequency does. Lenin said, “A lie told often enough becomes the truth.” Propaganda is effective if it is told often enough.
Have you heard of the 3/7/30 Rule? Probably not since I just created it—the name, not the facts. You may have seen the research that defines it. The research report is on sales and it states that at any point in time there is about 3% of your market in an active buying mode, 7% is receptive to the idea of buying and 30% will buy one of these days. Of the remaining 60% about 30% are somewhat turned off by the thought of buying your product and 30% are not interested in your product at all.
Your competitors are going after the same 3% who are ready to buy. The 7% who are receptive are actually the most attractive prospects because, even though they are not actively buying, they can be persuaded. If you can convert them, you can triple the size of your active market. With the 30% you have to have faith that they will buy, if not this week maybe next, but you have to be there.
Frequency with good creative is what has made GEICO so successful. State Farm’s creative branding and frequency has featured Mayhem to sell its message. Frequency gives you an advantage. “Just showing up is half the battle” and creativity is the other half. Frequency is about ‘being there’ all of the time with a consistent message. It takes patients for frequency to do its work.
Advertise, it pays.
Brand Image-Maker
About Ken Gasque
Ken Gasque is a brand developer, marketing planner and designer. Ken works with small companies and Fortune 500 companies who recognize the need to differentiate their products and services to stand out in a cluttered market. Ken is a highly visual, outside-the-box-thinker on advertising, branding and marketing—his work reflects his belief that “We buy with our eyes.” Ken writes and lectures on his experiences developing brands (good and bad). www.gasque.com