When I got into the newsletter publishing business, I already had decades of radio experience and knew the value of consistency and repetition in sound advertising. I quickly came to find out that this principle works equally well in print.
You may have used this or seen this, but when I was presenting the concept of frequency to a radio client or prospect, I would whip out a pad and pen and draw three concentric circles:
Then I would fill the outer circle with a bunch of dots, representing most listeners, who were not even thinking about the advertisers product or service at the moment:
Then I would fill the middle circle with a bunch of dots, representing those listeners who were beginning to think about that product or service, for a couple of reasons:
- Whatever they had now needed to be replaced.
- They were beginning to think that they wanted or needed that product or service (prompted, to some degree, by the ads already run).
Then I would fill the inner circle with some dots, representing those listeners who were ready to buy:
The power of frequency is that you can move the listener from awareness to attention to action—you have laid the groundwork, and you are there when they are ready to make that purchase decision.
For newsletter advertisers, I always recommend that whatever budget they have in mind…
Then double it right off the bat (I’m kidding—or am I?)
Count on doing at least 13 weeks—year after year is better—apportioning the budget accordingly.
I have had many advertisers who have run our smallest size ad week after week, month after month, year after year. From experience or intuition, they recognized the value of consistency, and their investment was the gift that kept on giving.