Online Marketing Effectiveness 101: Consistency is Key.

8 times.
On average, (for effective online marketing, or any marketing) it takes 8 times before a message gets into our mind enough to take action. Sounds like a lot, but when considered all the information we get inundated with everyday, it’s a drop in the bucket. And those 8 times should be spread out between 7 days through 30 days.

Play nice.
These “8 times” should be informational, and not “pushy-cheesy-sales” kind of messages. We are trying to introduce ourselves and show what we can do to help our prospective customers to overcome a problem, or perhaps see a solution. Promote what makes you and your company better, or unique. Then drive that message home in as many ways as possible. 

Get to the point.
Unless you are the next coming of Shakespeare, leave the prose to the masters and be concise. We are all busy and and barely have time to just skim the subheads. Let folks know what you can do for them, offer them a painless way to get the info (ie: a downloadable eBook), then follow up asap. Within 20-30 minutes is best. Why? It’s back to that “busy thing” and folks may not remember what the “eff” they did yesterday, since they solved 1,000 issues between here and there.

Variety is the spice of life.
This is where your branding becomes really important, have several messages and ways of showing what you can do, and all displayed with 2-5 different headlines, images/videos, all with your consistent (there’s that word again) branding. Your beating the drum in a rhythm, not the same beat-after-beat. This way you will get into a buyer’s mind from a few different angles. And, the potential customer won’t get tired of the same ad.

Know your prey.
The more you know the potential customer’s likes and dislikes, needs and wants, the better chance you have of crafting a message that will resonate with them when you discuss how you might be of help to them. (It’s called the buyer’s persona) Treat people the way you would like to be treated. Start off with bite-size information, and they will let you know if they would like more.

Set it and forget it.
At least for awhile. You know your buyer’s persona and set up your ad buy with just the right demographics to show the and not a lot of others, giving your ads the best chance of getting you customers eventually. You have those ads set up with various headlines, images/videos, and call to actions. Determine how much to spend, and press play. Within a few days results will come in and in your online media platform “should’ be showing you which of the pieces work best, then let that run, and (with that new information) attempt to make better-and-better versions. More and more effective