4. Effective Messaging
When you’re ready to engage in your campaign, whatever the platforms are, it might have just one single message. Pay attention to ads on TV and radio, in newspapers and magazines and in online banners, and you’ll see this every time. The nation’s biggest advertisers—Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson, Kraft, Ford Motor Co., you name it—all sell a slew of products, but any one ad only addresses one of them. It’s the SUV, the shampoo, the mac and cheese, the cat food—but never more than one product in the same ad. (Unless it’s an “institutional” ad, where the company itself is what’s being promoted, as in General Electric’s campaign that it “brings good things to life.”)

I know you have a lot of knowledge and a lot to say. You have so much to tell people. Tough. If you want your campaign to be successful, make it a single message. If you have lots to say, run lots of campaigns. Otherwise, people will be confused. They will lose interest. They won’t understand. They won’t remember, or if they do, they won’t remember you favorably.

Another important point: Your message must reach each target at least seven times. Why seven? Because the first two times, the audience isn’t really paying attention. The third time, listeners or viewers might recall that they’ve heard or seen it before, but they won’t make a connection to it, or to you.

By the fourth time, they’ll start to recall that they’ve seen or heard it and, if the topic is of interest, try to remember. By the time they get to seven exposures, there will be some recognition and retention. I’m not making any of this up. Academic studies of advertising have confirmed all this for decades.

This explains why local car dealers run ads constantly, even though you only buy a car every four years or so. They continuously run ads so that you’ll think of them when you’re ready to buy your next car.

So you can’t just advertise in April because that’s when people get their tax refunds. You have to advertise throughout the year so when that refund check finally arrives, prospective clients know it’s you they need to call.

You must keep your message fresh, too. Every message, no matter how good it is or how well phrased, eventually becomes stale and has to be redone. That’s why you don’t see the Budweiser frogs anymore and why the Geico cavemen are gone and the gecko is on its way out. “Everyone knows that.” And when everyone knows it, you need to start getting them to know something else.   

Finally, be sure your messages are as professional as you wish to be perceived. Never disparage. Our firm doesn’t waste any of its time (or communication budget) telling people that we think a given competitor is foolish or wrong. Let your competitors spend their money disseminating their message. You spend your money giving out yours, and leave it at that.

So if you build it, will they come? Only in the movies. In the real world, we not only have to build it. We have to tell people that we built it. If you don’t want to spend the time, effort and money that this requires, then join a larger, more successful firm that will do it for you. This will let you do what you do best: provide advice to clients. 

Ric Edelman is the chairman and CEO of Edelman Financial Services LLC, a registered investment advisor. He is an investment advisor representative who offers advisory services through EFS and a registered principal of (offering securities through) Sanders Morris Harris Inc., an affiliated broker/dealer, member FINRA/SIPC. You can connect with him on LinkedIn or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/RicEdelman. Follow him on Twitter at @RicEdelman.

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