Quick…how many advertisements have you seen today? 

If you’re like most people, you may be able to remember a dozen or so. However, the truth is that you’ve probably seen thousands.

The average person is exposed to at least 5,000 ads and brand mentions every single day. It seems like an impossible figure, but one marketer who tried to do his own count gave up at breakfast.

Between the commercials on his alarm clock radio, the brand labels on the clothes in his closet, and the logos on the products on his bathroom counter and in his kitchen cupboard, he was up to 400 by the time he poured his cereal.

So, what can your company do to be among the elite handful that people recall?

The answer is to do some of everything. 

Companies that have emerged through the clutter have usually invested in a balanced marketing effort that avoids getting trapped in any one channel. 

Here are four reasons why balance brings business:

1.    Repetition is critical to make a lasting impression.
How many times do you need to hear something before you remember it? Repetition is not just a matter of saying the same thing over and over again. That’s noise. The better approach involves balance. Reinforce key messages and themes by using different marketing channels. That not only helps make you memorable, but also helps you feel more familiar to your audience.

2.    Different communications channels serve different purposes.
No one marketing channel is right for everything. Balancing a number of channels is more likely to generate results. For example, while companies are investing more to reach people on social media, a study published by the Journal of Marketing Research found that “likes” by themselves do not typically lead to sales. Social media can be a great place to introduce yourself, but it’s not a place where your audience typically takes action. You can magnify its impact by backing it up with other forms of media that help turn awareness into action.

3.    Print still provides benefits.
Don’t discount the role of print publications. First, they tend to do a better job of capturing our attention. It’s partly because they appeal to our sense of touch, but also because your email and instant messages aren’t on the same page begging for attention. Second, people find print publications more trustworthy. A survey by the advertising firm Clutch found that about 40% of people trust what they see online or on social media; about 60% trust print.

4.    Your competitors probably have holes in their marketing strategies.
 For all the benefits of a balanced marketing approach, not all companies adopt it. In fact, 26% of suppliers don’t do any print advertising or direct mail marketing, according to the 2019 PMMI Media Group 2019 Packaging End User and Supplier Buying Insights Study.

Create a marketing plan with balance, and give your company visibility where many of your competitors are absent.