The Power of Repeated Exposure
Startups and B2B organisations often operate with limited marketing budgets, yet they face the challenge of making their brands known in competitive markets. I’ve worked across B2B and B2C brands, and often, the core thing I’ve been asked for is ‘something new’. New ideas, new campaigns, new strategies, new channels. I’m asked less for something that will provide long-term recognition and visibility that gives people a consistent approach in the long term. There’s a lot of research that says this isn’t ideal.
One thing has always amazed me in advertising. If you’ve ever lived in London and taken the Underground, you’ve likely seen a Jack Daniel’s advert across the track. It’s usually in black and white, and it’s usually a full wall of text. You rarely get a chance to read a few paragraphs of text, but if you’re waiting 2-4 minutes for the next Tube, you certainly do. The format, the placement, and the concept of a short story have been the same for as long as I can remember.
These ads are part of a long-running campaign by Jack Daniel’s, developed by Arnold Worldwide, the agency behind the brand’s enduring “Jack Daniel’s Country” platform. The campaign leans heavily on black-and-white visuals and long-form storytelling rooted in the real history of the distillery. The tone is subtly tailored for the UK market while preserving the same visual language and narrative style. Many of these stories draw from Jack Daniel’s archives, oral histories, and small-town folklore from Lynchburg, Tennessee. The copy is often crafted by dedicated writers who treat it more like literature than advertising, and the brand has been deeply protective of its voice, ensuring that even across decades, the tone, format, and feel remain unmistakable. The brand itself plays a large part in maintaining the consistency of these ads.
Jack’s got it right
A key insight from almost all marketing research is that customers rarely act on a brand message after just one exposure, it usually takes multiple ‘touchpoints’ (marekting speak for ‘someone saw it’) before a brand is remembered or trusted. After looking at the 95:5 rule last week and how so few people are ready to buy, I thought about the longevity of a campaign idea and its effectiveness without consistency, assuming you want to hit that 95% at some point in the future.
Marketing and psychology research agree that repetition is fundamental to brand recall and perception.
The “Rule of 7”
It’s a long-standing marketing adage that people must see a message several times before it sinks in. People often need multiple exposures to a brand message before they take action. Modern digital noise has often raised this “rule of 7” closer to 8–10 exposures. A consistent finding is that 5–7 interactions are needed before a consumer remembers a brand. If a prospect only hears from you once, there’s a good chance your brand will be forgotten.
Mere Exposure Effect (Familiarity): Psychologically, humans favour what’s familiar. The mere exposure effect means the more we encounter something, the more we like or accept it. In advertising, seeing a brand repeatedly breeds familiarity, which subconsciously builds trust and perceived reliability. Over time, repeated exposure fosters positive associations – audiences feel “comfortable” with a brand they’ve seen often, even if they haven’t purchased yet. This can increase brand affinity and loyalty down the line (when they get to be in the 5% you’re targeting).
Top-of-Mind Awareness: Being the brand that comes to mind first is a big advantage in crowded markets. Repetition keeps your brand name “top of mind”. When a potential customer later faces a relevant need or problem, they are more likely to recall brands that have been consistently present in their consciousness through repeated messages. In short, staying visible over time ensures your company is remembered when it counts.
Trust and Credibility: Repeated exposure signals stability, especially for startups without an established reputation. Consistently appearing in feeds, inboxes, or media tells the audience that the company is active and legitimate. Consumers often choose the “less risky” option, the brand they’ve heard of many times, over an unknown name. Building this familiarity through ongoing marketing can instil the trust that tilts decisions in your favour.
Each additional exposure to your brand (within reason) increases the likelihood that a potential customer will remember you, trust you, and eventually consider you. Marketing studies confirm that frequency is directly tied to brand lift: showing an ad 5–9 times can improve brand awareness metrics by up to 51% compared to a single exposure. The first few touches may barely register, but persistence pays off as recognition accumulates.
Playing the Long Game
My old strategy director used to say “strive for coherency not consistency”. But wrapped up in that is still the concept of repetition and brand recognition that can’t be divorced from multiple exposures.
For small businesses, marketing often feels like a pressure to generate leads now (I had a conversation about this literally today). However, an overly short-term focus can undermine brand-building. It’s crucial to distinguish between one-off campaigns and consistent long-term marketing.
As I covered last week, The “95–5 rule” is essential: at any given time, only a small fraction of your potential buyers are actively “in-market” to buy; the rest (perhaps 95%) are not ready yet. Rather than only chasing immediate leads, smart marketing invests in brand programs that keep you visible to the other 95% until they enter the market. This strategy underscores the importance of patience, brand building, and creating familiarity through consistent, long-term marketing efforts. In practice, that means continuously sharing your message and expertise so that when those future buyers become ready, your brand is the one they recall first.
Avoiding the “one and done” trap: A single ad blast or a viral post might create a brief spike in attention, but without follow-up, the effect fades. Many brands that rely on a big launch or short campaign see awareness fizzle out in weeks if not sustained. On the other hand, brands that commit to always-on marketing see cumulative gains. Each blog post, monthly newsletter, or social update might yield small increments of exposure, but over months and years, these add up significantly. Consistency essentially “compounds” your brand equity (like compound interest in finance).
Long buyer cycles demand persistence: Startups in B2B often face long sales cycles and high-ticket purchases that require multiple touchpoints. Short-term marketing is ill-suited to nurture such leads. It’s been observed that an average B2B sale can take 7–13+ touches across several months. Marketing should be viewed as an ongoing nurturing process rather than a one-time push. Stopping marketing after a short burst is like stopping a conversation when the customer starts recognising your face.
Cost efficiency of steady efforts: Spreading your spend and effort steadily over time can be more cost-effective than occasional big splurges. For example, maintaining a modest monthly social ad budget that targets the right people repeatedly could yield better recall than a single expensive Super Bowl-style ad that people see once. Research data supports upping the frequency. The optimal frequency is seven and upwards for digital campaigns, and most campaigns under-invest in frequency. It’s a better use of money to expose the same person seven times than to stop at six and use that budget to reach a new person only once. This is key for a small budget: rather than reaching 1000 people one time, it each might be more impactful to reach 200 people 5 times.
In essence, brand awareness is a marathon, not a sprint. Startups with consistent messaging, even on a smaller scale, gradually build a reservoir of market awareness that one-off campaigns can’t match.
Next week we’ll look at some strategies for repeated exposure across different channels and how the difference manifests depending on audience and platform.
