You’re tired of your own message. You’ve said it a hundred times. At every event. In every mailer. In every email. It feels stale. Repetitive. Boring.
Here’s the cold truth: your donors and voters have barely heard it once.
They’re busy. They’re distracted. Their brains are swimming in a sea of competing messages – from their boss, their kids, their phone, their inbox, their television, their neighbor.
The human brain is literally wired to filter almost everything out. It’s a survival mechanism.
Which means your brilliant campaign message? It’s probably getting filtered out too.
Legendary adman David Ogilvy famously said a message doesn’t even register until the audience has heard it at least seven times.
Fundraising consultant and podcast host Liz Stuck puts the real number closer to fifteen.
There’s an old sales adage that says it perfectly: it wears out in the boardroom long before it does on the showroom floor.
You’re tired of saying it. Your voter hasn’t absorbed it yet. The first time they hear your message, they’re cautious. Analytical. Skeptical. Weighing all the reasons to say yes and no.
But hear it enough times – see your name consistently, recognize your story, absorb your message – and their brains shift. Decisions about you become more instinctive. More personal. Less cold.
Don’t switch messages because you’re bored with the old one. Don’t reinvent your brand because your consultant wants to try something new. Don’t go quiet for weeks and then suddenly reappear with a completely different pitch.
Show up consistently. Say the same core thing. Over and over and over. Your donors probably didn’t hear it the first time. And even if they did, they probably don’t remember it.
Say it again. Then say it again after that. Repetition isn’t weakness. It’s how you win.
Dr. Chuck Muth, PsD
Professor of Psephology*
(homeschooled)
* Psephology (see-follow-gee): The study of campaigns and elections