Repeat Until Memorized


By Larry Galler


I remember, as a child, raptly watching a Saturday morning adventure TV show where the hero was captured by the “bad guys” who gave him the “Ancient Water Torture” in order to extract secret information. Seems our hero was tied down while an endless amount of water was dropped on his forehead, drop by drop, until he would capitulate and divulge the secrets. Of course, the hero managed to miraculously extract himself “just in the nick of time” and save the world as he did every Saturday morning.

Today the “Ancient Water Torture” is still in use. It is an effective technique employed by mass marketers. They drip, drip, drip the same information in the same “voice” over and over until we, as consumers, can never forget it. The technique works in all media. The critical element is repetition (drip), repetition (drip), and still more repetition (drip, drip, drip).

So maybe you don’t have a budget that makes it possible to purchase media for constant repetition or your marketplace is very small. If you only need to communicate with a miniscule universe of customers and prospects “Water Torture” is an effective technique for you also. In fact, every business can make use of this technique by having all communications repeating the same message constantly and congruently in logo, name, and tag line by using them in your business cards, letterhead, signage, envelopes, web site, on the sides of vehicles, apparel, memo pads, email signatures and everywhere else you can think of.

The goal, of course, is to have your targeted audience retain positive information about your company, products, and services at both the conscious and unconscious level. The amazing thing about “Water Torture” is that your message doesn’t necessarily have to be creative, funny, attractive, or meaningful. While it in the memory is easier if the message has those qualities, the key element is repetition – I’ll bet every reader knows telephone numbers of a number of constantly communicating firms just because they keep dripping it on your brain constantly.

Remember, repeat it until it is memorized, then repeat it some more.

Larry Galler coaches and consults with high-performance executives, professionals, and small businesses since 1993. He is the writer of the long-running (every Sunday since November 2001) business column, "Front Lines with Larry Galler".


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