How Many Times Do Customers Have To See an Ad?

By Eric Shafer

When we think about this question, we think about how effective repetition is. Repetition is one of the cornerstones of any advertising campaign and especially important in today’s world of one-second pop-ups and social media hungry short-term memories. That being said, we have to think about exposure as well, which is essentially the presentation of your advertisement. If 1,000 versions of the same text or pop-up advertisement keep jumping up on every website you visit, you may view the product or service 1,000 times. Still, you’re probably no more likely to buy it than you were initially and may actually be turned off to the idea. Smart advertisers look at a combination of these factors and try to zero in on the best way to reach their clients. Mail-out coupons, billboards, or even grocery store advertising can be an easy way to guarantee the right customers see your ad —and multiple times a day at that.

Repetition

At IndoorMedia, repetition is something we talk about a lot. Modern research believes that the average consumer needs to view an ad at least 7-8 times before it’ll really sink in. It can be hard to make sure your customers really view your campaign that many times, so for most businesses, it’s just about finding a happy medium and understanding why repetition works in the first place. The first thing you have to accept is that even if you’re not advertising, your competitors are. Consequently, it’s likely your advertisement will not be the first restaurant ad a customer sees, and in that first impression, they may glaze over your sign. Catching their eye repeatedly will ensure that your product or service stays with them and begins to take shape as an option. This is just as true for your existing customers as it is for prospective ones. We like to think that your “rent” your customers. You can’t buy them. For this reason, you’ll need to reach your customer at least more than once. Furthermore, the time between viewings can’t be too long. Just as you’re likely to lose them to another advertiser, your ad may get lost in the daily hustle and bustle of life, which could mean advertising costs running down the drain. The worst outcome would be having your customer forget their first impression of your ad and then treating their second impression as the first time they’ve seen your campaign. Understanding how to reach your customers and reinforce your image on them is just part of smart advertising.

Repetition in Print Advertising

Most businesses who mail out coupons attempt to reach the same zip code at least twice —if not more. This is because the second sighting of the same coupon is always going to be more effective than the first and often hammers in your business’s locality. Unfortunately, one of the biggest challenges in traditional print advertising is the cost. Securing the right repetition at the right price is even more difficult to find, and for some, this will become an expensive process of experimentation. Having to ask yourself if your business can afford print advertising in the first place only makes asking yourself if you can afford a second or third round more difficult. With high print costs, repetition suddenly becomes a high-cost proposition. Printing generally sees the best results when the same thing can be printed thousands or even tens of thousands of times. Mailers and door hangers may be a good option for hyper-local advertising, but they’re often only available in small runs. Conversely, newspapers and magazines can be a good venue for ads, but they’ll have to be reprinted daily or weekly to ensure repetition, and there’s no way to know that customers will even see them. In this way, they’re often less successful than mail-out campaigns and pit advertisers against each other by placing businesses side by side. Due to its long history, we know that traditional print advertising is nothing to scoff at. However, as with any advertising campaign, you’ll need to be disciplined, and it can be difficult to maintain momentum on a platform that doesn’t offer much feedback.

Unconventional Print Advertising

As businesses grow and times change, you may begin to look into unconventional print advertising. For us, this is often linked to grocery store advertising, which we have found to be one of the best venues for local businesses. There are many ways to present your previous mailers as supermarket advertisements by printing them on the back of receipts or printing your campaign on SmartSource carts. Additionally, examining shopping cart advertising rates against the repetition they yield is an easy way to understand what makes this an affordable and ingenious business option. As mentioned, if you want to print your supermarket advertisement somewhere effective, you should look into printing on grocery store receipts. These slips are the only piece of paper customers are guaranteed to take with them, and often more successful than simply renting a coupon stand for your in-store supermarket advertising. By cashing in on paper the grocery store is already paying for, grocery store advertising is often cheaper than paying for all those mailers out of pocket. Your other option is to look into SmartSource carts. You can get a free quote on what your business can expect in shopping cart advertising costs and peruse the system’s stats while you’re looking over the process. Not only does grocery store advertising play on a hyper-local consumer base, but it also means reaching thousands of local consumers who might never read a mail-out coupon. With the average American visiting the grocery store at least once a week, SmartSource carts guarantee a huge consumer pool. Moreover, customers aren’t just viewing your ad on their own carts, but on every other shopper’s SmartSource cart as well. Suddenly your impressions per minute are soaring, and you have a reliable audience viewing your supermarket advertisement multiple times an hour. Every recognition of your advertisement reinforces your company’s image in your customer’s minds and hammers in the likelihood of their business. Furthermore, there’s no pressure on you to redistribute the ad. Just get ready for it to fire off every time a customer needs to visit the supermarket.

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