Reflections on The 3-3-3 Rule in Marketing

Reflections on The 3-3-3 Rule in Marketing

By: Kennedy Wilson- Events and Marketing Coordinator AACC

I recently read an article from AIMarketingEngineers.com regarding the 3-3-3 Rule when it comes to marketing. According to AIMarketingEngineers.com, "The 3-3-3 rule in marketing is a technique where you engage with your customers using three channels, reaching out three times, all within three days. This strategy helps in making your brand stick in people's minds, getting them to engage more, and hopefully, ringing up some sales!" This idea intrigued me! We talk all the time about staying consistent on our platforms, but after reading this article I began to question if posting everyday consistently is really the way to go? Does this method actually work?

Early in the article they provided some very interesting statistics-- all of which wow'd me! 

Let's start with the first statistic, "Companies with strong omnichannel strategies retain 89% of their their customers (Aberdeen Group 2017)," Omnichannel strategies is a term used in ecommerce and retail to describe a business strategy that aims to provide a seamless shopping experience across all channels, including in store, mobile, and online. This was a huge eye opener for me and I actually reflected on my own shopping experiences online and what made me continue to go back and order versus what made me never go back again. Now I pose the question to you as a business owner, is your ecommerce seamless? Is it difficult to navigate through your websites and social media pages? Do you have uncomplicated ways for customers to contact you? If not, are you willing to change those in order to retain customers?

The second statistic from HubSpot in 2021 was not surprising to me. As a millennial, I understand why over 50% of consumers want video content. We can 100% thank Tik Tok and Instagram for that! Rule of thumb: make it fast, make it memorable. Consumer attention spans are similar to that of a newborn or toddler. If you recall last week's Meme of the Week, you have four seconds to grab and hold a followers attention. FOUR SECONDS! But again, this made me start to think about what I get sucked into watching late at night as I'm scrolling. So many companies have adapted to this line of thinking and promoting. I don't know how many clips of a Dr. Phil special that I've watched that made me want to go watch the entire episode after only seeing one minute of the most dramatic part. Realtors, as you're making videos of the houses you're selling, are you saving the best part of the house for last or grabbing buyers attention in the first four seconds with those state of the art pool features or fully finished basements with an entertainment bar? Restaurants, are you starting right away with your best special that you're wanting to push people towards or saving it at the end hoping people will watch the full video? Chances are most people won't watch the full video. I urge you to look at your video content in your insights. It will tell you at what specific point in your video that people stopped watching and help you plan for your future content.

The article suggests three types of content for your channels: Educational, inspirational, and entertainment. It states, "Ever bump into a post that made you smirk or learn something without breaking a sweat? That’s this rule at play. There’s a trio in the mix: Educational content answers the “how-tos,” Inspirational content pushes your mood’s “up” button, and Entertaining content brings that much-needed coffee break chuckle. Using these wisely means your audience might stick around for seconds. Like serving a balanced meal, you keep folks nourished and ready to come back." I urge you to evaluate the content you already have. Are you hitting audiences with these kinds of posts? I have to give special shout out to R&B Auto Glass, Ted's Auto Body, Bondurant Auto Body, and Truman's Automotive ADAS Calibrations for their Facebook content made on an inclement weather day this past year! On each of their pages they had a comical GIF with a to the point call to action in a conversational way. 

Lastly, the article discussed the matter of timing. That brings us to the much asked question of when is the best time to post? The answer is... it varies! Our organization's best time to post might be completely different than yours. While the best time isn't expressed in this article, the article does talk about consistency. It states, "How often do you call a friend? Every day, once a week, or is it a “see you when I see you” deal? With the 3 3 3 rule, you’re locking in your dates, not leaving them to chance. Consistency means your brand isn’t that flaky friend – it’s the dependable one. Figuring out the perfect pace to deliver your content can turn likes into trust and shares into handshakes." After I read this I immediately went to our analytics and measured our pop-up content compared to our scheduled posts like Member Monday and Shop Small Shout Out. The numbers were drastically different. We still have a hefty reach on our pop up posts, but we have so many more interactions with these scheduled posts.

I highly encourage you to read this article and give this method a try!

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Thank you for reading!