It looks like magic when you see it. They make it seem so easy. You wonder if what you’re seeing is real. They conquer the markets. Wow audiences. You wonder how they do it.
How Great Marketeers use “The Seven Touches” From the day you first search, all the way until you buy — and it's pure genius.
Marketing SecretsOnly 3% of any given market is actively buying.Chet Homes
Iknow — All that hard work. All that care and attention. All those long nights fiddling and refining the content.
Pairing that perfect sales patter with razor edged graphics. Celebrating that article that got published in the press.
That SEO guy that finally got you on the 1st page on Google. (Well almost.)
Surely, with all that traffic the new business is going to flood in?
Of course, deep down you know it was never gonna be as easy as all that.
Only 3 in every 100 newbies sailing by actually drop anchor long enough to hand over their cash.
Sure, 100% of the people who see your stuff aren’t all actively looking to buy your stuff right then and there. They might have an issue, but right now it’s not pressing enough to pull the trigger.
And even those who don’t have an itchy trigger finger on their digital wallets right now, might be more amenable in the near future, or they might know someone who really is.
Maybe they’re not at the right point in the buying cycle or they simply got distracted.
Which brings me on to ‘The Marketing Rule of 7’.
This sage marketing law states that a prospect needs to “hear” your message at least 7 times before raw newbies begin to soften up into friends and finally take action.
Google even suggests it could be as high as 11!
Whatever the real figure, this is of course all based on something obvious:
TRUST!
And trust is something that only ‘repetitive visibility’ in all the right areas fills nicely.
Every interaction with customers and prospects, however small, provides further opportunities for you to provide more value, get to know them, and vice versa.
To prove this point, I want to share with you an amazing story.
Something to this day I’ll never forget.
Meet ‘Whisky the Formidable Fox.’
Every Monday morning, I head off for a cobweb blowing walk around Greenwich cemetery –
Yep, I know that kinda sounds creepy but I do get to enjoy a stellar view of the city.
And believe me, seeing lots of gravestones first thing is a great motivator to getting things done.
Now if you know anything about foxes, they’re a timid bunch.
As soon as you spot you one — if they clock you — they’re off like a bullet.
But after seeing me a few times, this one fox started to get used to my presence.
Of course he still kept a wary distance.
He’s a fox right?
But it got me thinking about the Marketing Rule of 7.
What if I decided hit the cemetery circuit 7 days a week?
Would it earn me some trust with my new friend?
I decided to give it a shot.
A few weeks went by and zip.
Other than a prolonged stare in my general direction ..
He just went about his day.
So I kinda concluded that foxes didn't buy into the “rule of 7’
But as I was about to give up using my marketing skills — with a fox — one day something amazing happened ..
It was an experience I’ll never forget ...
The takeaway here of course is obvious.
What we see everyday begins to become the everyday.
Become non threatening.
Even reassuringly familiar.
And as a brand, that’s your goal.
Forget trying to take customers from “how you doin?” to “let’s have children” in the blink of an eye.
Focus on the pleasantries.
On chit chat and rapport building.
On empathising, courting, wooing.
Focus on telling a brand story that sells itself.
In other words, build relationships online in the same way that you build relationships in the real world.
People buy from people.
Words still sell things.
And relationships are two way.
Every interaction you have with your potential clients, however minuscule, provides a golden opportunity for you to get to know them — and vice versa.
