How hard is it to attract your potential customer?

THE GREATEST STUMBLING BLOCK

The following list demonstrates just how hard it is to really attract your potential customer.   You may find thinking about this really useful as you start to put in place a mixed media marketing campaign for your own business.

1. The first time a man looks at an ad he doesn’t see it
2. The second time he doesn’t notice it
3. The third time he is conscious of its existence
4. The fourth time he faintly remembers having seen it
5. The fifth time he reads the ad
6. The sixth time he reads it through and says “ oh brother!”
7. The seventh time he says “ here’s that confounded ad again”
8. The eighth time he wonders if it amounts to anything
9. The ninth time he will ask his neighbour if he has tried it
10. The tenth time he will wonder how the advertiser makes it pay
11. The eleventh time he  will think it must be a good thing
12. The twelfth time he thinks it might be worth something
13. The thirteenth time he remembers he once wanted such a thing
14. The fourteenth time he is tantalised because he cannot afford it
15. The fifteenth time he thinks he will buy it someday
16. The sixteenth time he makes a memorandum of it
17. The seventeenth time he swears at his poverty
18. The eighteenth time he counts his money carefully
19. The nineteenth time he buys the article or asks his wife to buy it for him
20. The twentieth time he will refer other people to your product

I believe this was written by a Thomas Smith in London in 1885