The power of seven

The Seven Wonders of the World, seven seas, seven colours of the rainbow, seven continents, seven days in the week. Even lucky number 7 for those of us partial to the slots when we’re in Vegas. The number 7 is seemingly everywhere in our lives.

But did you know that 7 is also a big player when it comes to branding? This is referred to as the Marketing Rule of 7, and it originates from the movie industry in the 1930s. Back then, studio bosses found it took their advertising to be seen or heard seven times for it to register. And once that movie became familiar to someone, it usually convinced them to buy a ticket.

The rule of 7 is still relevant to this day, and it’s all about one thing: brand consistency. To build familiarity and trust, your brand’s message need to register at least seven times. When this happens, the idea is that your prospect is much more likely to buy from you.

Here we look at what’s important in this journey.

Repetition, repetition, repetition

Naturally, the more we see or hear something, the more likely we are to remember it. So your message needs to be repetitive… to a certain extent. Not like rolling a newspaper up and cracking someone over the head seven times. Yes they’d remember you, but not in a good way. Doing the same thing over and over again can be annoying.

To achieve effective brand consistency you need a level of subtlety and sophistication in your messaging. This can come through the content or the visuals, but a blended approach using various channels is very effective.

Understanding quality

It is vital that the quality of your output is of the very highest standard.

What happens if someone sees your brand seven times but the quality is poor? What if your designs are off, if there are spelling errors or no attention to detail? What if they receive two communications where one looks different to the other? If you’re doing any of this, it’s safe to say that prospect won’t be buying from you.

The ability to understand brand quality is what holds so many businesses back. With smaller firms you sort of understand why, but medium and larger businesses really should know better.

As mentioned before, softness and subtlety is advised. Don’t take every element of your brand (logo, graphics, artwork effects, colours, fonts) and cram them into everything. Instead, it’s about understanding what to use and when. If you’re using wrong or inconsistent fonts, you’re sloppy. Adding a lens flare effect to replicate sunlight on a picture set in the evening is laughably sloppy. If you are a UK financial services firm using imagery of foreign currency, you are sloppy. UK-based, but using images of sunrises over mountains in Japan or a German village? That’s 100% sloppy.

You should be using styles and artwork which is not only high quality, but relevant to your business. And relevant to your clients. Because if you’re sloppy with the basics, how do you think prospects view the way you run your business? That’s what they’ll be thinking about, and again that costs you sales.

Brilliant branding

Back to the rule of 7 it’s all about brand consistency, but being brilliant with it. Don’t cut corners, don’t take a ‘near enough is good enough’ attitude. Only settle for brilliant.

Visually, everything you do across those seven or more touchpoints should tie together. Side by side, they should look part of the same family, but not jarringly repetitive (remember the newspaper?).

Only this way, will your brand become memorable for the right reasons.

Are you a business owner or decision maker who wants that superb brand consistency but aren’t sure where to start? Get in touch with us and we’ll happily put you on the right path. Have a look at what we do, to get a full picture on how Seven98 can benefit your business.