Identify Your Core Message and Repeat It Often
A powerful message succeeds because it reminds us of the good things we celebrate and want to remember. Whether you are marketing lawnmowers or investment products, you need to connect with your target audience on a human level. It’s people on the other end of the transaction, not robots (at least not yet). Unfortunately, without repetition, your marketing dollars are likely to yield scant results. Content may be king, but repetition is the ace card that helps you grow sales, turbocharge market share, and amplify visibility. Combine them and you are that much closer to exceeding your business goals.
Rule of Seven
Repetition is a tricky thing since end users consume information at different rates and in different ways. That’s one of the reasons why creating a buyer profile for your most vaunted customers is important. Notwithstanding differences in how and why people buy, Lant’s Rule of Seven (originating in the 1930’s to sell movie tickets) states why a prospect needs to see (hear or read) a message at least seven times before that person decides to engage with a seller in some fashion. George Miller, a Harvard University psychology professor, clarified this concept in his 1956 paper, “The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two: Some Limits on Our Capacity for Processing Information.” Instead of fixating on an alleged magic number, he said it’s far better to create behavioral nudges by packaging information into micro chunks of information. They should appear often enough to be remembered but not so often or in such large amounts that people would feel overwhelmed and frustrated.
Benefits of Repetition
During a period of crumbling trust in business, government, media, and non-governmental organizations, according to surveys such as the Edelman Trust Barometer of 2026, repetition can help build familiarity and make a brand seem reliable and reputable. (Ideally, perception matches reality.) Benefits of repetition include:
- Building a lasting connection with a brand.
- Encouraging action by a prospect.
- Enhancing brand recognition.
- Ensuring brand consistency across content distribution channels.
- Establishing credibility.
- Expanding the potential buyer base by diversifying content channels and formats.
- Fostering brand trust.
- Growing visibility by making content easy to share with other target buyers.
- Keeping messages fresh.
- Simplifying a brand’s value proposition.
ROI of Repurposing Content
The great news for B2B and B2C brands as well as influencers (such as industry thought leaders) is that repetition is easier today than ever before. With a variety of outlets, supercharged by low-cost technology, you can create a core, theme-driven library of content and then repurpose your branded content as an article, assessment tool, blog post, case study, email, newsletter, op-ed, podcast, sales call leave behind, shareable infographic, survey report, video, webinar, white paper, or any combination thereof.
Tips for Effective Brand Repetition
- Identify your core message, the one you want people to remember. Think of it as a logline to your story. What is your brand all about?
- Know your audience. It’s not about quantity. It’s about quality. If you are pitching a product best suited for high-net-worth individuals or institutional investors like pension plan fiduciaries, don’t create content for financial advisors who work with cash-strapped start-ups.
- Respect your buyer’s time. Make it easy to consume your message, however short. If you create content about a new financial product or dramatic shift in economic conditions, avoid jargon, lead with your main point, and explain why your audience should care.
- Go visual. Infographics, digital slide carousels, and videos are excellent ways to reinforce your message for individuals who increasingly favor nice-looking presentations, not terse paragraphs of text.
- Engage your audience with interactive quizzes or assessment tools. Offer to send the personalized results to prospects inside an email note or downloadable mini report that reflects their specific inputs.
- Include a call to action, along with the name and contact information of someone who can answer questions. Include a website link to your knowledge center. (If you don’t have one, build one as soon as possible.)
As sales legend Zig Ziglar said, “Repetition is the mother of learning, the father of action, which makes it the architect of accomplishment.”
As an industry-tested communications expert, I help business, finance, and investment executives and innovative companies turn their wisdom and insights into actionable thought leadership that can move markets and minds. Think of me as your content partner who does the heavy lifting of outlining, ghostwriting, and revising so you can share your ideas with your target audience sooner than later. Schedule a complimentary discovery call to talk about growing your brand with the kind of content your clients want and need.
Share this!
Susan Mangiero
Connect With Susan
Browse Categories
Browse Tags