How to Make Advertising Work

Scenario: "Dude, that last advertising campaign sucked. We give up. Ahh!" New players advertising their wares:

1. Do it once.
2. See shabby results.
3. Quit.

Star advertisers on the other hand:

1. Do it once.
2. See shabby results.
3. Do it again.
4. See better results.
5. Do it thrice.
6. See awesome results.

Notice the trend? Advertising effectively takes repetitively exposing your business's value to an audience. The more you do it, the much likelier you'll boost your sales.

Why Repetitive Advertising Rocks

Say you're entertaining a client, and you're given tickets to two movies happening at the same time:

1. An George Clooney film.
2. A Kathie Griffin film.

Without knowing anything about the two films, what movie would you probably choose? Probably the George Clooney film. Why?

1. You've seen more Clooney films.
2. A handful of those films probably rocked, imprinting your unconscious with positive associations.

According to rules of psychology, familiarity -- provided it's in a positive light -- breeds liking. That is:

• The more times you see Tomas, the more you like Tomas.
• The more you play basketball, the more you like it.
• The more you visit CoolMoDee Bookstore, the more you like it.

Repetitive advertising then builds that familiarity concept -- where the more you expose your ads/brand/products/name to Dave, the more he'll like you -- and as a result, likelier buy from you. According to a psychology study Virginia Commonwealth Researcher Scott Vrana that tested the effects of familiarity:

Exposure to novel stimuli increases one's liking for such stimuli. Response competition is one theory attempting to account for this effect: as a stimulus becomes more familiar, competing responses drop out in favor of one dominant response and the stimulus becomes better liked.

Think of your five closest friends. If any one of those badasses opened a shop, how likely would you buy from that close friend? Probably: 99.980989124910%. Familiarity breeds liking -- ultimately, breeding buying.

What the Best Advertisers Do

You probably can't expect to spam the shizzle out of your prospect daily, and anticipate miraculous revenue jumps. Nor can you annoy your audience with the same frickin'-ad-all-the-frickin-time. Oh no.

Repetitive advertising only works when:

1. "I'm not annoyed when you advertise."
2. "I actually like your advertising!"

How do you do it?

1. You can add crafty/funny ads like so many advertisers who have caught on to its effectiveness (through positive associations).
2. You can vary your ads to prevent that negative-annoyance-mumbo-jumbo.
3. Or, if you want to take it a step further and be the badasses of advertising badasses: Add some frickin'-juicy value to the lives of your prospect (e.g. add some tips, resources, free advice, the yadda).

As Customer Bonnie notices your business repeatedly adding value to her life, she'll gradually grow to like you -- and open herself more to your pitches. El rulo thumbo: The more you advertise, the sexier you'll boost sales.

Advertise like a mofo.

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