Have you heard of the Rule of 151? It relates to how many times people need to hear something before it enters their conscious minds, before they pay attention to it. It goes something like this:

It takes 7 to 9 times for a message to be heard through direct mail.

It takes up to 56 times for a message to be heard through advertising. (“Up to” because advertising varies widely, and because much of it is mistrusted.)

It takes 151 times for a message to be heard through conversation.
The first 50 times people don’t hear you.
The second 50 times they don’t understand you.
The third 50 times they don’t believe you.
And it isn’t until they’ve heard it for the 151st time that they finally hear, understand, and think, “Well, it must be the truth.”

I’m sure many politicians can vouch for the last part of this. Does anyone know where this theory came from?

[tags]message frequency, marketing frequency, direct mail frequency, advertising frequency[/tags]