Optimising for Familiarity

How important is familiarity in marketing?

In Cleese’s book, “Creativity”, he cites a psychological experiment where volunteers were shown various Chinese characters.

A week later, Panel A they were asked to recall the ones they’d seen. They failed.

Panel B we’re asked which they liked better. They recalled the characters they’d seen before.

They not only remembered more, but liked them more.

These familiar characters didn’t need to shout and scream to be remembered. They certainly didn’t benefit from being asked about. They just showed up again among strangers.

Consider it a call to action:

• Twitter ‘likes’ consist of quality and familiarity. Not shouting, but showing up.
• Follow-up that generates interest consists of value and familiarity. Not harassing, but showing up.
• A “grand product launch” from a stranger can’t compete with familiar faces who routinely do great things.

We see a lot of online personalities making a lot of noise in hope of getting our attention and our interest.

Perhaps calmly and routinely showing up for your choice of market might be the better path?