Two words: Frequency and Consistency

These two things are key to successful advertising. Without both of them you will most likely find that your results are poor – and at worst, you’ll confuse your audience and damage your brand.

So, let’s start with CONSISTENCY

In the context of marketing, we are talking about ensuring your message is consistent and your brand is consistent:

1. Your message is what you are trying to communicate with in a particular campaign.

2. Your brand is what your business represents on the consumer landscape. Well, actually, it’s probably better described as what consumers believe you stand for – which could be different to what you want them to believe! Think big banks, Richard Branson, Aussie Home Loans.

Brand Consistency
Sounds easy, but your brand permeates across your entire business – from how your staff relate to customers, to what your website and advertising looks like. I’ve confined my comments to the look and feel, and here are a few rules to follow:

1.Create a logo for your company or brand.
2.Identify the colours and fonts that are incorporated in the logo and in any slogans or tagline.
3.Create a style guide that documents these things and presents them in different ways and dimensions. Remember your logo and tagline will need to work in your adverts and brochures, on your website, and will be on everything from your signage to your business card.
4.Build an audit list of where your branding appears. Be specific and include each brochure, website, poster, banner, stationery, sign. By doing this, you’ll be able to ensure that the brand you put into the marketplace remains consistent.

Message Consistency
Your brand remains consistent – consumers should know who you are just from seeing your brand. When we design an advert, it’s consistent with its company or products’ brand – but the message can change. Your message may change to stay relevant with consumer trends, to align with the season, or because you are promoting a new offer.

What needs to stay consistent is the message within the campaign, and this needs to be reflected across all the different channels you may be using. If you are promoting a summer skincare product via your print advert, then the gist of the message will be the same on your website and in your digital campaign. Failure to do this will lead to confusion amongst your consumer base. It will impact recall and, worst case, generate negative sentiments towards the product and the company as consumers doubt the integrity of the claims you make.
Your brand provides the framework or launching pad for your message. They go hand-in-hand and should be symbiotic in nature. In the perfect world, your brand has provided the trust and receptiveness for your message to be heard and engaged with.

Frequency of Message
Too often, I come across business owners who have an expectation that if they put out the message once, their world will change. Seriously! If that was the case you wouldn’t need advertising consultants, and all businesses would be raking in the dollars.

Taking a person from being apathetic towards your product, to purchasing your product requires a whole punch of touch points. A touch point is a piece of communication that is noticed by the prospect and allows them an opportunity to engage with your business. Each industry will be different – in publishing, I think there’s around a dozen touch points needed before we do business with someone. Yours may be different, and often it will depend on the value of the purchase or the trust required.

In all these touch points, there needs to be a consistency of brand and message. The more frequently your prospect sees your brand and message, the more likely they are to be influenced and to remember. You cannot expect results from one-off marketing, unless, of course, you are giving it away. If we are doing a product campaign, we will target our audience with a postcard, a series of emails, a copy of the magazine, phone calls and some digital remarketing. Our prospect is being fed a consistent message and as frequency increases, their engagement with our brand and campaign increases. Without frequency we are left with hope – hope that we get lucky, and that our consumer sees our message at exactly the time they intend to purchase!

So remember these two words, FREQUENCY and CONSISTENCY, are the essential ingredients for a successful marketing campaign.