Effective frequency is the number of times a marketing message must be transmitted to consumers before they fully understand it. The exact number is debated, but it is important for marketers to determine to avoid wasting advertising money. Exceeding the optimal frequency results in a lower impact on the consumer.
Effective frequency is a marketing term relating to the number of times an advertising or marketing message must be transmitted to consumers before all information is transmitted. In other words, at some point the consumer watching or hearing the message will have a complete understanding of what the marketers are trying to say. The exact number of actual frequency has been widely debated over the years in marketing circles, ranging from one to three to as many as 6-12 messages before consumers have fully absorbed the message. This can be a crucial number for marketers to pin down, as it represents the most cost-effective use of marketing messages.
Companies that market a product must find a way for their messages to be heard and seen by the public. In the modern world of marketing, so many different messages are conveyed that it can be difficult to get past the clutter. For that reason, businesses may need to be patient with delivering a specific message until it reaches the audience correctly. The number of times an advertisement or marketing material has to be broadcast to the public before it is truly realized and understood is called the effective frequency.
For a long time, the effective frequency of an advertisement was believed to be three. In other words, by the third time the ad is heard or seen by a consumer, he or she will have taken all the necessary information from the ad and processed it. This assumption is problematic because no two consumers see or hear a message the same way every time. In many cases, it may take some consumers to be shorter or longer to truly get the message.
However, it is crucial for marketers to try to reach an accurate total for an effective frequency. This way, they can correctly plan the number of advertisements to run. If a marketer’s research shows the frequency to be six, that’s how many times an advertisement should be broadcast for best results.
Without a proper indicator of effective frequency, marketers can end up wasting advertising money. This is because advertising works on a principle of diminishing returns. This means that the more times an advertisement is shown beyond its optimal amount, the lower the impact on the consumer. Advertisers that exceed this optimal frequency are essentially spending more money for a lower return.
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