Four States Small Business Blog

Frequency of 3 and How It Works

Posted by Mark Zimmer on September 5, 2017 at 8:00 AM
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frequency of 3Every marketing campaign relies on effective advertising frequency, which is to say, the number of times that a consumer is exposed to an advertisement or brand message per week that’s best at effectively influencing them to respond. It may sound like a magic number, but we know what that number is: a frequency of 3. Hearing an advertisement three times builds recognition and trust while inspiring action without the risk of wearout. In today’s post, we’ll talk about three ways to make the most of the first three times consumers are exposed to your marketing in Joplin, Missouri.

Reaching Audiences

The foundation of every marketing campaign needs to be understanding and targeting the audience you want to reach. Do you know who they are and where they live? Which music genres do they listen to? When do they tune in, and are they particularly influenced by certain DJ’s or radio hosts? These are important to selecting the right stations and dayparts for your radio campaign. How do they like to be spoken to, and how long or short should your commercial be to appeal to them? This helps you develop and strengthen your creative.

Brand Consistency

Consistency is important to making your brand recognizable across channels, but it shouldn’t be confused with having a static creative that can become dull, or worse, annoying. Having multiple ads with variations on the same message but slightly different creative is wise. Strong elements should be the same, such as a brand jingle, slogan, or tagline. Recognition is key for building trust, which in turn breeds loyalty.

Radio Scheduling

The frequency at which your audience needs to be exposed to your advertising is not the same as the number of times your ad needs to run on the radio each week. If you only advertised three times every week, the odds are very high that your audience would miss it entirely every week. Reaching the magic number would be difficult and time-consuming at best. Instead, you need to air the advertisement much more often. We recommend the 21/52 plan, which we’ve discussed previously. By airing your commercial on the radio a minimum of 21 times every week of the year, you can easily and affordably reach optimal frequency.

We cannot understate the importance of leveraging all three of these components in your Joplin marketing. Reach is critical to ensuring you reach enough of the right audience for your advertising frequency to matter. Hearing your ad multiple times won’t matter if your products and services aren’t something they care about, and if only a few of the right people are exposed to your ad, even an effective frequency of 3 won’t impact your sales or generate ROI. Similarly, brand consistency ensures that your brand and message are recognizable. After all, hearing your ads three times won’t inspire action if your audience can’t even recognize your brand. That’s where our 21/52 plan comes in; one you’re reaching the right audience, this marketing schedule is the best for actually achieving the coveted frequency of 3. With this knowledge in hand, you can develop a truly effective marketing strategy.

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Topics: Radio Advertising, Marketing Strategy, Joplin Market