While marketing is a field that evolves at a fast rate, certain basic rules are applicable and relevant even in today’s day and age. One such rule is the marketing rule of 7. It is one of the oldest in the book and can be used for B2B marketing today to yield better results. But what is the rule of 7 and how can it be implemented into your B2B marketing strategy? That is what we will talk about in this blog post.
The Rule of 7 Explained
According to the rule of 7, the marketer or brand needs to reach the prospective buyer an average of 7 times in order to convert them into an actual buyer. When this rule was discovered, the 7 ways a prospective buyer could be reached included them seeing an ad in the newspaper, hearing a recommendation from a friend, listening to a radio commercial or viewing a billboard.
While the ways to get buyers’ attention have changed drastically over the years, the concept remains the same. Today’s ways of reaching potential buyers include social media, websites, search engines, podcasts, webinars, events, white papers, blog posts, online media channels and a lot more.
Why the Rule of 7 Works
The idea behind the rule of 7 is that if you repeatedly put your brand in front of your potential customers, they will notice. When a prospect sees or hears about your brand from different sources, they are more likely to choose your brand over your competition. By repeatedly putting your brand in front of your prospects, you familiarise them with your brand message and values, which helps your brand gain their trust.
While the rule states that an average of 7 contacts is required, the more you increase your brand visibility, the better the results you are bound to get. Hence, consistency is extremely important for the success of any B2B brand strategy. This is especially relevant for high-value products and services as these purchase decisions tend to be slower and involve multiple decision-makers.
Successfully Implementing the Rule of 7 in B2B Marketing
If you want to build the rule of 7 successfully into your B2B marketing strategy, you need to create a well-rounded strategy that will allow you to target and retarget your leads effectively. This way, your leads will have multiple chances to interact and engage with your brand and your message, increasing the chance of conversion.
Here are five tips to keep in mind while creating a strategy based on the rule of 7:
1. Understand Your Leads Better
Start by building a buyer persona that you would like to target for your brand. Take a closer look – try to get a clearer understanding of what their usual work day looks like, what problems they face. If you can get some real insight into who your customers are, you will be much better able to target your content to appeal to them.
2. Create a Strong Content Plan
Taking the insights you collected about your buyer persona, create content that will effectively educate, entertain and engage them. Make sure to spread your content strategy across various platforms so that you can reach potential customers at multiple touchpoints. These could include social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram; your company website and blog; certain keywords on search engines; niche-related podcasts, webinars and other events; and so on.
3. Opt for a Mix of Organic and Paid Campaigns
The best way to maximise the results of your content marketing efforts is to use both paid and organic campaigns. Paid campaigns can greatly help increase reach – that is, they can get you more targeted leads for your business.
4. Add Value through Third-Party Platforms
Collaborate with other leaders in your niche to cross-promote your product and gain additional visibility. This could mean participating in industry-related panel discussions, getting your brand featured in various industry-related podcasts, digital and traditional media channels and more.
5. Keep Engaging with Your Audience
Use additional tools such as email marketing to keep in touch with your leads – newsletters and other relevant reading materials build recall.
Book a call with our team at Marketing Essentials Lab to get help implementing the rule of 7 in your B2B marketing strategy.
