I’m going to do a little guesswork here. If you market a small business and this title inspires you, you probably have some amount of concern that you do too much marketing. Even though there isn’t actually a limit to how much you can market, you may feel like you’ve surpassed one or you’re close to it. I want you to know that this is a concern I hear a lot. Let’s talk about if your audience is tired of hearing from you and how to decide when enough is enough.
First, we should identify some of the ways that this same concept can be expressed. Maybe you’re wondering whether more outreach will “annoy“ your audience. Or maybe you are focusing on the end result and worrying that more people will opt out or take some action to remove themselves from further outreach. All of this stems from the same concern: that you are reaching out too much.
Wondering if your audience is tired of hearing from you is a loaded question. I’ll explain why it’s loaded in just a moment. But if you’re asking this question for the reason I think you’re asking this question, my advice to you is that you should do more.
One of the most important principles of sales is called the Rule of Seven (read more about it here). This is a key concept to know, and it suggests that it takes at least seven touches with a lead before you have built enough comfort to go in for a close.
Companies with more structure to their systems often study their data and determine a precise number of touch points they need to have before they go in for the close. The number is typically more than seven, and it has a lot to do with the price point of the product, the urgency that customers are likely to have to resolve their issue, and a myriad of other factors.
I can tell you for my own business I do a weekly marketing tip just like this. I have been doing these every single week for years and sending them out in a weekly newsletter (scroll down to subscribe if you’re not getting them!). I have had many occasions where new clients called me up and opened with, “I’ve been reading your newsletters for two years, and I’m ready to work with you.” That’s over 100 touch points. Think about that. Over 100. And I love working with these people, and I am very glad I had a process that allowed me and them to stick around for that long.
The key is that it takes more than one touch point most of the time. When we plan out follow ups to email outreach or networking, we tend to see a data spike in the number of people who respond after 3 or 4 emails. In the big picture, if you keep stopping at one or two emails, you are sabotaging yourself!
If you keep stopping at one or two emails, you are sabotaging yourself! #business #smallbusiness #smallbiz #smb #followup Share on XBest practices in post-live event and post-webinar outreach suggest that 7-10 touch points in the couple weeks following the engagement generally yields best results. Of course, what you say matters, but just keep that volume in mind!
Worried that you are posting too much on Facebook? What if I told you that only 5% of your audience is seeing each post, so it could take 20 posts before everybody saw one? What if I told you that the people who “saw” the post actually scrolled past it in a light speed of 2 seconds and don’t even remember that they saw a post from you?
You’re spending a lot of time thinking about your business. Other people aren’t. It is the consistency and the value over time that will help you move the needle. Repetition and consistency is the sweet spot! We WANT to get there. Not to avoid it. When you think your audience is getting tired of hearing from you, they may only be seeing your message for the first time.
When you think your audience is getting tired of hearing from you, they may only be seeing your message for the first time. #business #smb Share on XOf course, as I said, this question is loaded. It is loaded because every single person in your audience is different. They have different thresholds for communication and some may more urgently need your message at certain times than others. Those who don’t want to hear from you will silence your TV commercial, opt out of your email list, hang up the phone. It’s always been that way. Those people are either not your customers, or they feel they have enough information from you and will come back to you on their own time when they are ready.
It is also loaded because the nature of your message matters. There is a difference between asking someone to have a 1-hour phone call or read a three-page blog once a week versus once a day, for example. There is a difference in sending a daily newsletter that is comprised of a word of the day versus being comprised of ten different articles. All of this goes into the equation.
A healthy business is always adding new leads into the pipeline somehow, but it is also following through on existing conversations to make sure that the best relationship is built with each lead. You want to do both of these things. Stopping after the first or even second outreach is the equivalent of throwing away the time and money you just spent!
When you are deciding if, when, and how to follow up, try to keep average behavior in mind. On average, push yourself to do the most you feel comfortable to do – because it may only be at that point when you are starting to get noticed. And look for the average cues from your audience. If you see an unusual number of people dropping off, take a hard look at the outreach you just did. If you see signs of overall fatigue, look to see if you have more individual data and find out what your audience really cares about. Study the data and what it tells you about what YOUR AUDIENCE feels, on the whole.
Remember to keep the focus on your audience and their behavior. You may be wondering if you’re audience is tired of hearing from you. But if you feel insecure about sending your message, please recognize this for what it is: self-doubt. It has nothing to do with your audience. That’s about you!
If you feel insecure about sending your message, please recognize this for what it is: self-doubt. It has nothing to do with your audience. #business #smb Share on XAs frustrating as it may seem, there is no hard and fast rule for exactly how much to market your business or exactly how much outreach to do. Push yourself to find the fullest extent of every conversation in a respectful way, and let the results be your guide!