There is a fly in my office, and it is driving me crazy. For the better part of an hour, I have been trying to find it and smack it! Whenever I want to find it, it disappears. Whenever I start working again, it starts flying around – darting into my line of sight while I am looking at my computer, buzzing up next to my ears, landing on my head and then speeding away before I can hit it with my hand. I have tried to ignore it, but just as I get focused on what I am doing, there it is again.

Here is a question I get asked often: how much marketing is too much? In other words, how many times can you put a promotion in front of your target market before they tire of it and begin seeing your brand as that pesky little fly that won’t go away? Marketing is concerned with more than just the frequency of advertising. It is also in charge of managing the reputation of the brand. So if you cross a line with your customers and they get fed up with your marketing, they could stop buying from you, or so that line of thought goes. On the other hand, if you ask your customers how often they would like to get a marketing message, they will tell you zero! We are inundated with marketing messages all day long. No one will admit they want to get your marketing. However, it still works. Those same people will buy from you even if they complain about the number of ads they receive from you. As a marketer, what should you do?

Here is a way of testing your marketing frequency and messaging. First, what are the goals you have set for your marketing in terms of awareness, attracting new customers, the number of new sales and the retention of old customers? (If you haven’t set goals, stop and do so now. It is your starting place in marketing.) Second, measure how effective your current marketing is in helping you achieve these goals. If you are right on track, wonderful! Keep doing what you are doing. If you have fallen short in some area, find out why. There are typically four reasons why your target market would not buy from you. One, you have not put your brand out with any kind of frequency, so the target market is unaware of you. This is a matter of placement and frequency. Two, your messaging is confusing and not to the point, so they never buy from you because you have not made it clear how to do so (or maybe easy for them to do so). Three, you are not competing well with your competition. If so, you need to figure out your best features and where they differ from your competition in a way that helps meet the needs of your customers. Promote this difference. Four, you have no idea who your target market is. Either you are selling to the wrong people who will never buy your brand or you have no idea what they really want from you. Define the people who are most likely to buy what you are selling. Get to know these people. Their opinions should shape your marketing.

How do you know when you have the right frequency in your marketing? The easy answer is when your target market responds to you in a way that helps you meet your goals. If you are looking for brand recognition, are people asking for you by your name? If you are looking to meet a sales goal, are people asking you questions that indicate they are interested in finding out more about your brand’s offerings? If you are trying to retain your customers, how many of them are recommending you or buying from you again and again?

Is there too many times you can promote your brand to your target market? Probably not. In the world we live in, where so many marketing messages are pushed on us each day, keeping your brand out in front is key to remaining relevant in the eyes of consumers.

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Fly photo by Janet Graham