A few weeks ago I had the honor of taking an Instagram strategy workshop with Dr. Shante Cofield and I learned a ton of great new insights to up my Insta game. But the line that stuck with me (and keeps proving to be true) is the idea that in marketing that “once is never.”
Granted, I’ve been in the marketing world for years so I have long understood that you have to tell people more than once about whatever it is you’re promoting. People are busy, easily distracted, and they’re going to forget, so it’s your job to tell them, and then tell them again.
But when Shante put it in such stark terms that if you only tell people ONE time about something, it’s like you’ve NEVER said anything at all.
So many of my clients get so worried about being obnoxious if they’re promoting something “too much.” So they might just write one newsletter announcing the launch of a new offer and call it good. Or they post one photo of their work on Instagram with something like “DM me for details.”
They think, “well, I told them. If they’re interested they know where to find me” and just like that their marketing efforts have ended.
It’s no surprise of course when the response is disappointing. They were hoping for interest, traction, and sales, but instead, they heard crickets…and this is where it gets ugly.
They think that the issue is with whatever they’re promoting. They instantly think “oh jeeze, people don’t even want this thing I’ve poured my heart and soul into. Whyyyyyy do I even bother?” They take it personally and make it mean that people just don’t like what they have to offer.
Instead, this is the moment where I’d encourage you to remember “once is never” and get back into action!
Just this week I got an email from a potential client who saw an update I made about a group program I’m running and said “wait! How did I miss this? I had no idea that program was an option and I would have loved to join.”
Of course, I felt my heart sink. She would have been a perfect fit but she didn’t even know about it even though I’d done the following to promote it:
2 sales emails to my list
1 Instagram post
8 Instagram stories
1 Facebook post
10 personal emails to warm leads
Now, luckily I felt good about the result of my efforts and I got a great group of folks in the program.
However, it highlighted to me that even with telling people as much as I did, there were still people who had NO IDEA this offer even existed.
All this to say, tell people what you’re up to, then tell them again, and again, and again, and probably 3 more times. You get to decide how much is enough for you, but please know that the answer is definitely not “just once.”