The power of frequency in marketing.
- Jayson Houghton
- Sep 22
- 2 min read
FREQUENCY noun: the rate at which something occurs over a particular period of time or in a given sample…
Have you seen the movie ‘Inside Out’? If not, you should.
It’s a charming kids’ movie about a young girl navigating a particularly traumatic, life-changing event (her family shifts from the Midwest to San Francisco to start a new life). The movie’s creative direction is particularly clever. The audience gets a bird’s-eye commentary on what’s going on in her mind courtesy of a cast of characters, each one representing a specific emotion. The movie also explores how life events and memories are stored in our subconscious, much like data on a computer, to be retrieved at a relevant moment in time when required. Events of significant emotional impact or repetition occupy the most brain real estate. Moments of least significance are cast into the recesses of the mind to be largely forgotten. In the movie, when the mind is full, memories or data of least significance get dumped into a deep hole to be discarded forever (forgotten).
Hang in there with me, I’m getting to the point now.
What does frequency have to do with marketing? The movie ‘Inside Out’ shows us in a comical and fun way how our brains work. The things or happenings we like most and emotionally connect with occupy the most important real estate in our minds. Fleeting moments, if not repeated, fall to the dark recesses to be largely forgotten.
If someone tells you they love you, the emotional context of such a powerful comment goes to the top of your mind. If it happens once, in time you may forget. If they tell you over and over, you never will.
There’s a saying: 'If you tell someone something one hundred times, they’re one hundred times more likely to believe it.'
Frequency in marketing is powerful.
Audiences exposed to a certain marketing message that they love, that aligns with their values or that simply interests them, will store the message in their minds according to how they value it. High value at the top, low value in the recesses. Even if the exposure is fleeting (i.e. they see the message on a billboard), it will be stored somewhere. Initially, they may not do anything about it (and they shouldn’t if they’re hurtling down the motorway), but the magic happens when they see or hear it again. A jingle, print ad, flyer or post in their social feed will entrench the message and elevate it to more accessible brain real estate.
The more exposure to that message, the more positive cognitive things happen in our brains.
And then, kaboom, there’s a Call to Action.
A 'learn more' button, a ‘buy now’ sign or even a good old 0800 number and the deal is done. That’s how frequency works. And of course, the muscle behind frequency is good creative. Creative that sparks an emotional reaction, causing us to store that message in our brains to be retrieved at the appropriate time, but that’s content for another blog.
Go on, we know you sing jingles in the car on the way to work, and you remember the words. Why?