Discover the Enormous Value of Repetition in Advertising and Marketing

One of the most powerful tools in advertising and marketing can also be one of the most simple: repetition. It’s not uncommon for clients to push back against repetition. They want to avoid appearing lazy or redundant by recycling messaging, which makes sense at first glance.

However, when you examine the value of repetition in advertising and marketing more closely, you discover some interesting facts about how this tool can be used effectively and how it influences your audience.

Keep reading to discover why repetition is important in marketing and how it impacts your audience.

What Is Repetition in Advertising and Marketing?

Repetition in advertising and marketing involves repeating a message multiple times to your audience across various channels and even in the different areas within those channels. For example, a website should revisit consistent and similar messaging across pages. Social media posts should follow consistent thematic elements so users can more easily spot your posts in their busy feeds. Email subscribers should know what to expect from your content when it arrives in their inbox. Repetition is part of presenting a consistent brand image, ideal for driving brand awareness and loyalty.

What Is Repetition Important in Marketing?

Especially for products that involve a substantial investment, the purchasing process involves a lot of investigation and discovery for consumers to feel confident they are making an informed choice. If you think back to your school days, you’ll recall that repetition is essential to the educational process. For example, when you memorized multiplication tables or studied flashcards for an exam. Each time you saw the information, it became easier to recall.

The “rule of seven” is a classic marketing concept that asserts people need to see a message at least seven times before they take notice and will remember it. While the number seven may not be a literal “magic number,” there’s no doubt that repetition is critical for making sales. As buyers’ journeys become more complex, every customer who clicks through your website should encounter a consistent message echoing across the different sections.

In the next section, we’ll explore the many ways this consistent, repeated message influences the audience.

How Does Repetition Influence the Audience?

There are five primary ways repetition in advertising and marketing impacts your audience.

Builds Trust and Familiarity

People appreciate knowing what to expect, so repetition and consistency can boost your reputation with your audience. With the constant stream of marketing messages put in front of today’s shoppers, it’s increasingly essential for them to develop a feeling of trust and familiarity with a brand before (and after) making a purchase. Trust with consumers is built by offering a consistent message because consistency conveys reliability and dependability. With consistency and repetition, your audience will feel they know who you are and what you care about.

Reinforces Emotional Responses

Repeated exposure to a message that invokes an emotional response can strengthen its impact, embedding that emotion in consumers’ memories so they associate it with your brand. If you can elicit positive feelings with your messaging and echo those emotions throughout channels and materials, your audience will begin automatically thinking of it. For example, when people think of Nike, many think of inspiration, determination, and strength.

Encourages Better Understanding

Advertising and marketing often have to encapsulate complex ideas. The more your audience sees your messaging, the easier it will become to understand the content and its implications. You could compare this to a student preparing a history paper: the more familiar they become with the facts and events of the time period, the easier it becomes to make connections and formulate original thoughts and theories.

Offers Greater Control Over First Impressions

Buyers’ journeys get more complex every year, with new advertising and marketing channels appearing as technology evolves. You never know where your audience will first encounter your message, so repetition and consistency allow you greater control over that critical first impression.

Reminds Busy People To Take Action

We’re all incredibly busy these days, so even when a consumer wants to take action, it’s easy for them to be distracted away from doing so. Repetition of calls to action (CTAs) can be a great way to remind them to take action, especially as they explore your content and learn more about your brand and product.

Learn How to Use Repetition in Advertising and Marketing

From learning how to use repetition in advertising and marketing to Search Engine Optimization to building a content marketing calendar and measuring its ROI — and more — we can help! Contact &Marketing today. If you want to DIY your brand’s messaging, download our narrative marketing outline as a guide.

About the Author

Content Specialist Kim Steinmetz helps brands and thought leaders discover and develop their unique voice and tone while establishing authority on a topic through compelling messaging and copywriting. An accomplished writer and marketer with over a decade of experience, Kim is well-versed in both B2C and B2B content.