It is true that most people do not buy a product the first time they see it. Usually, it takes three or four times before there is enough product recognition to create a desire to buy. Most retail outlets post new products in several places in the store knowing that the repeated exposure to the product will enhance the desire to buy the product. Book authors send out press releases and post posters well in advance of a signing to create the same product recognition and to increase sales. A great example of this concept is the marketing of “Sticky Sheets”, an innovative new pet hair clean up product. The grocery stores display them in the pet aisle, the household cleaning products aisle, and to increase the awareness they also place them on an end-cap of other aisles.

Online marketing of products can take advantage of this same product awareness technique. Take the example of John Craig, coauthor of the best selling book Secrets to Creating Passive Income. As a young man on break from college, John decided to create his own employment opportunity by painting address numbers on curbs during his summer break. At first, almost no one responded to the young man knocking on doors and explaining his service. In a flash of inspiration, and possibly a weariness of saying the same thing over and over again, he decided to print up one-page leaflets and leave them on the door knobs of his future customers, one day before he knocked on their doors.  As John explains the situation, “I left the flyers there with a brief introduction, explanation of the service, why everyone else was getting their numbers painted and the price. The next day, I got more than 80% of the people to hire me to paint their curbs!” John prepared the customer with an expectation, and then they were actually looking forward to his visit. Some of them told him they were glad he arrived when he did because they were afraid they were going to miss him!

An online example of this same principle comes in the form of the recorded phone call (phoneburner.com). Most people with ‘Caller ID’ ignore numbers they do not recognize and let their answering machine pick it up, which is exactly what one online marketer wants them to do. He leaves a recorded message on his potential customer’s answering machine about an e-mail he will be sending them soon. This Internet marketing expert reports that 90% of the people he then sends an e-mail to actually open it. 90% reading rate for any piece of mail, electronic or otherwise is a stunning result.

EJ Thornton, publisher at Books to Believe In suggests to her authors who buy print advertising to buy two ads in the same magazine. Her belief is that once the book has been seen in the magazine, it has registered in the psyche of the reader, and the second time the reader sees it, they immediately remember it and check back to see if the book is actually the same book. When they realize it is, this solidifies the name of the book in their memory much more so than seeing it only once. She also encourages her authors, for the very same reason, to take an ad out immediately in any magazine that publishes an article on their book.

Priming your customers by exposing them ahead of time to your new product is a great way to boost sales and marketing success.