The Power of Email Newsletter Marketing: 7 Touches

Photo by Christin Hume on Unsplash

The Rule of Seven is a guideline in the marketing industry that suggests that a potential client won't buy from you until they have heard about you 7 times. Each time a potential client hears about you, it's considered a 'touch,' so the Rule of Seven is also known as 7 Touches.

With the advent of Social Media and the constant stream of advertising it delivers to us every day, 7 is no longer considered enough touches. While the true number remains unclear (and depends on your industry), it hovers somewhere between 12 and 21.

It also depends on your price point, and the regularity of the need for your services or product. A $5 coffee is an easier yes than a $ 3,000 HVAC service. And coffee is likely purchased most days, whereas HVAC servicing is an annual affair, and likely put off even longer if someone doesn't know they need it, or where to get it done.

Marketing touches can be a referral, a newspaper write-up, a coffee chat at a networking event, a podcast episode, a social media ad, a presentation. There are many ways to be seen, and the most influential basis for all of them is still a monthly email newsletter.

Email newsletters, sent out time and time again, are powerful because they are guaranteed to reach your audience. A flyer, a podcast episode, a social media post - all of these are subject to the algorithm and your audience's movements throughout their day. An email newsletter - even one that isn't opened (because a subject line read as the email is deleted is a 'touch') - is landing every month and building trust, reliability, and connection.

Email newsletters are especially useful because they can be repurposed. If you wrote something educational, shared a client testimonial, or presented a real world example of how you helped someone - those can all be turned it into blog post, a social media asset, a LinkedIn update, or a sales page.

The way I learned the Rule of 7 was seven touches in seven different ways. Meaning it's the accumulation of exposure, as well as the different formats, that eventually tip the scales. Testimonials, social media posts, speaking engagements -- all of them do the work of building your community.

But no one is buying based on an Instagram post, or one testimonial. We need time to understand who the person behind the product or service is, why we can trust them to deliver, and why it's important we invest our resources in this way.