“The Rule of Seven” is an old marketing axiom. It asserts that a prospect needs to see or hear your marketing message at least seven times before they take action and buy from you.
It’s argued that in traditional (print & broadcast) marketing efforts there is so much noise that your message must be repeated time and again before a potential customer even hears you. In digital and social ads, the rule may not hold as true but we do know that with the emergence of ad-blocker technology, even the most well-crafted digital ad campaign can miss its mark.
The new reality is that consumers are bombarded with more marketing messages today than they ever have been before. While every new medium presents a new opportunity for your brand to reach consumers, those consumers are finding new ways to stem the tide. Marketers are no longer in control of the delivery of the message or the moment it evokes.
So what’s a marketer to do? New channels are emerging, the noise is growing and you need to find a way to amplify your voice just to have your message heard. There’s not enough of a budget and certainly not enough minutes in the day to get it all done.
You don’t need minutes or even a day. It Only Takes A Moment.
Famed American Composer Jerry Herman wrote the classic Hello Dolly hit song, “It Only Takes A Moment” to explain that life is made up of encounters, and even a single, fleeting moment can change the course of our lives forever. It’s true in Broadway, in love and in marketing.
Consumers may prefer to self-manage their brand interaction. We’re more aware than ever. We ignore ads, we avoid being marketed to, unless it’s an experience that connects with our innate desires to feel. People want to live a life full of tangible events that stimulate all their senses. They want to touch the sky, taste victory, smell the roses, see the fireworks, and hear the thunder. They want hair raising thrills, goose bump inducing chills, and butterflies in their stomach. These are uniquely human experiences, these are uniquely human moments. These moments are what we seek.
And so too should brands seek these moments. After all, the smart marketer knows that it only takes a brief exposure with a consumer to make them feel again. To connect, to grow, to embed something deep within them. It only takes a moment. It’s time for Moment Marketing. It’s time for #TheShop.