Oddly enough, simple consistency is one of the most overlooked things in advertising and marketing.
Time in the market and familiarity are huge advantages for pretty much any business.
But even if you have those things sometimes people just need a little reminder, a nudge.
As with anything, there are degrees to this.
On the larger end, there’s a story I was told by an advertising professor a little over a decade ago. The story may be apocryphal but it’s illustrative. Concerned about their advertising spend, McDonald’s decided to go dark in a few cities for a week. Not a long time, just a week, just to see what it would do.
After the first weekend, they turned the ads back on and said never again. Didn’t even make it the week.
Now there’s a reason this (possibly apocryphal) story was told by an advertising professor, it aligns nicely with a worldview. But when you think about all the other advantages that McDonald’s has compared to almost every other business on earth it’s a little jarring. Sky-high awareness, great locations, and a ton of customers on just about any given day.
On the other end of the spectrum is an example that we’ve probably all experienced. I’d guess that most of us have had a small restaurant or shop that we liked close down. And when we find out it’s closing we think, “That sucks, I liked that place.”
But if you thought about it a little more maybe you haven’t been there in a month, or three, or now that I think about it, not since last year. Not because you didn’t like the place, just because we’re all busy, it wasn’t top of mind…etc.
Maybe all you would have needed was a nudge, a coworker suggesting it for lunch, a friend asking if you wanted to stop in, a social post or ad, something you heard on the radio. Enough nudges for enough people and maybe it’s still in business.
The thing that marketing consistency gets you is more nudges. It doesn’t matter if it’s getting someone to try for the first time or reminding someone who already likes you to make an extra stop.
Obviously, places like McDonald’s understand this. But truthfully I think it’s much more interesting at the smaller levels. I’m sure there are more than a few local restaurants where a couple extra tables a day are the difference between a good day and a bad one.
All that may take is a couple of people saying “Oh yeah, let’s go there” and maintaining some marketing consistency is the best way to increase the number of “oh yeahs.”
No matter how big or small the business, consistency helps. Even if it’s just regularly boosting posts or maintaining a billboard nearby or a schedule with a local radio station.