Making Impressions
Making impressions is critical for your business success. As you may have read in the article, Rules of Seven, it is important to be deliberate as you go about making impressions. The general rule is that you will need to make seven positive impressions on people before your business solution will come to mind.
If you want to hit a home run, keep the following three things in mind when it comes to making impressions: reach, frequency, and messaging.
Reach
In making impressions, advertisers will usually tout their reach. Reach, quite simply, is how many people your message will reach in a particular effort. Be it a social media post, a radio or television spot, or a marketing flyer, the agency should be able to tell you the approximate number of people you will reach.
If you have a Facebook business page with 1000 people who have liked your page, how many people do you reach? If you say 1000, not necessarily. Facebook post penetration might be, on average, 5% to 10% depending upon a variety of factors. This could be a separate article in and of itself.
In the case above, your reach would be 50 to 100 people (e.g., 5% to 10% of 1000).
Frequency
Frequency is the number of times your message is heard or seen. If you post once a week on Facebook with a 10% penetration, it will take about seven to eight weeks for 100 people to see your message seven to eight times (e.g., 1,000 / 10% = 100 who will see your message 1x per week). And, that is, if it’s the same 100 people each time (which it likely isn’t).
Given the limited reach and frequency of a single channel (e.g., Facebook), it is important that you take your message to at least seven channels. On making impressions, the more channels, the more reach, and the higher the frequency, the better off you are.
Messaging
As the Rules of Seven article suggests, a seven-second relevant message delivered through seven channels will help your cause. Additionally, in our article, Deliver the Deliverable, we discussed how to meter your message by creating different levels for your Deliverable.
The idea is to create something of value to help people engage with you. This value-based offer would be something that you would package as a message. This message – and the “something of value” – must be easily understood and recognized within seven seconds.
Of course, your message should provide people with an opportunity to engage – perhaps in exchange for a name and email.
Summary
In baseball, if you want to hit a home run, you have to put a mechanically perfect swing on a good pitch on a particular part of the baseball with a perfectly timed swing with a round bat on a round ball. It is easier said than done.
In order to hit a home run in business, the same applies. You must be about making impressions:
- produce something of value,
- ensure the item of value is discernible in seven seconds or less,
- and go about making impressions – lots of them.
These impressions are functions of reach, frequency, and a quickly digested/discernible message.
This is maximized when you engage in at least seven channels with a message that reaches as many people as possible with a high level of frequency.
Are you ready to begin making impressions? Contact us if you would like to discuss this for your business!
JAN
About the Author:
Ken Moll is the Principal and Founder of Blue Elevator®. With professional experience spanning four decades, Ken has a breadth of foundational business knowledge rarely found – making him part of an elite class of professionals. Ken's passion is helping clients of Blue Elevator® get their “business to the next level™.”