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How much frequency is enough?

by Stephen Hawley Martin
for Virginia Business
June 13, 2006

Ever notice how some people never seem to get the message and others will pick up on it almost before it's out of your mouth? How many times does something have to be repeated for it to penetrate the brain of the average person? This may seem like an abstract question. Nonetheless, there was a time in my career when it was my job to measure such things, so I went about trying to find the answer to that question and spent many thousands of dollars in the process. This was back when I was in charge of media and marketing services at The Martin Agency in Richmond.

Perhaps 100,000 interviews were conducted from 1979 to 1986 tracking awareness of clients' advertising to determine how much frequency is enough. We wanted to know the optimum number of times to run an ad. Like most things, once you know the answer, it's really rather simple. The short answer to this daunting question is at least two times, but seven or eight is optimum.

The first time people see something new, whether it's an ad or anything else, their reaction is usually to categorize it terms of their existing knowledge. Suppose, for example, they see a purple cow. The reaction might be summed up as, "What is that? Oh, it's a cow. Humm. But it's a purple cow." Once they've got it in a pigeonhole, they feel free to move on.

The second time they see the cow, their reaction is likely to be more personally evaluative. "Ah-ha. There's that purple cow again. Odd. But what does it mean to me?"

If they decide the purple cow holds some relevance for them personally, the third and subsequent exposures will reinforce this feeling of relevance. They may take action after the second exposure, or many more may be required to push them over the line. We found diminishing returns after seven or eight, but in one study, an ad was still bringing in customers after 48 repeats.

If people decide, however, that the purple cow holds no relevance, no amount of repetition will convince them otherwise. In effect, they've mentally turned off and tuned out the purple cow. You might say that subsequent exposures go in one ear and out the other. Their minds are made up, so to speak.

Repetition can be important and helpful in bringing in customers or in getting employees on board, but only if your audience sees something for them in what you are trying to get across.

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Stephen Hawley Martin is a former principal of The Martin Agency in Richmond and the author of more than half a dozen books including his newest, Lean Enterprise Leader: How to Get Things Done Without Doing It All Yourself. He is editor and publisher of The Oaklea Press, a book publishing business dedicated primarily to helping business executives increase productivity.