This post is a follow up to “Capturing Attention: Why Marketing Efforts Fail, Part 1.”
There are two main reasons that marketing and promotion efforts fail to capture attention:
1.) The message is unclear
2.) The message is inconsistent
In my last post, I talked about where we go wrong when we put out unclear messages, and some steps we can take to fix that. Now let’s look at the second reason, inconsistency.
Inconsistent messages
You sabotage yourself. Here’s a common mistake you may be making if you do your own marketing: you might get bored with your message and think your prospective clients are, too. So you think you have to constantly reinvent yourself, and liven things up.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Just about the time you’re getting tired of being The Marketing Guru or think your clients are bored with your customer service message, is about the time they’re finally getting used to it, and really hearing it. They’re just “getting it.” They don’t want you to change it, especially if your message is a good fit for you. Change it, and you risk losing the attention you just gained, and confusing their brains.
Only the deeply emotional or relentlessly repeated gets remembered by the brain.
Deeply emotional: If you live in the US, there’s a good chance you remember exactly where you were and who you were with the moment you heard about the terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Why? Because it was deeply emotional for you, so it was seared into your brain.
Relentlessly repeated: Advertisers know this, and take good advantage of the fact that repetition helps the brain hold on to things. For instance, while there are a variety of stats available, some experts say that it takes a minimum of 7 to 9 impressions for direct mail to make an impact on you, and it can take up to 56 times for an ad to enter your conscious awareness.
And then there’s the Rule of 151, which politicians know so well, and it goes like this:
The first 50 times someone hears something, they don’t really hear it
The second 50 times someone hears something, they don’t believe it
The third 50 times someone hears something, they start to believe it, but they don’t act on it
And it’s not until the 151st time that someone hears something that they’ll believe it and act on it.
The brain can’t pay attention to everything, so the inconsistent, not repeated, and emotionally flat messages will be lost.
The brain likes to group things. The brain assumes that objects having something in common go together. Your awareness may see a group of messages like this;
At the same time, your brain is trying to organize the information. It saves time and energy by processing things in groups, and is categorizing the messages like this;
This is a really good reason why you want to be consistent — so that your clients’ brains can recognize your repeated messages and put them in the right “container” in their brains. The messages build, and by their sheer volume, become more influential.
The brain likes to link things. The brain also links new information with existing knowledge it may have already stored, from the conscious to the subconscious, so it’s quick to pay attention to information it’s already used to, like the Nike logo (“There’s something familiar! I’ll let that enter my attention, and I’ll file that with my already large depository of Nike information.”) — which explains why so many companies spend so much on branding. Not being consistent with branding goes against how the brain works to store information. Is this starting to make sense?
People value consistency. People are looking for consistency to increase their comfort level. That’s why you always go back to the same restaurants, even if it’s not your favorite food. It’s because you know what you’ll get. That’s valuable.
Consistency also develops trust — you trust people who consistently behave in the manner you expect them to. You probably didn’t trust Uncle Eddie if he behaved erratically, picking you up after school some days and not on others. And your clients won’t trust you if your messages aren’t consistent, either.
It costs less to be consistent. Reinventing the wheel is expensive — just think how much money the big guys save by sticking with the Maytag Repair Man and Nationwide . . . On Your Side. And wouldn’t it be weird if they changed to some other marketing message?
Building meaningful consistency takes time, but it’s pretty easy to do. Combine it with clarity, and you’ve got a powerful one-two punch. Clarity and consistency can be two of your most important tools for capturing, and keeping, your clients’ attention.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Very helpful and so true. I could see myself as I read through your descriptions. It also rings true with a couple books I’ve read about how our minds work.
I used to fly on an aircraft for a living. And before every flight, we had to inspect the plane inside and out. There were SO MANY parts and pieces to look at, I quickly found out the way to a quick, successful inspection was to look for things that looked different rather than trying to make sure everything looked right.
And we all do that…we’re so dependent on patterns and past experience that sometimes we totally miss new things.
You also bring up a good point about sticking to message and persisting. Thanks for the reminders!
Hi Todd,
Wow, I often wondered how those guys check the aircraft. Sounds like your brain found an efficient way to work around the problem.
I just think the human brain is an amazing thing — might as well work with it instead of against it, right?
Thanks, Todd.
M