When I listen to hit songs, I’m often struck by how repetitive they are. The secret sauce seems to be singing the same chorus over and over. Pay attention the next time you’re listening to music!
We need to take lessons from these catchy tunes and repeat our messages multiple times. Too often, people think “I TOLD her how to do X,” “I SHOWED him what to do,” or “It was COVERED in onboarding, so they should know it.” It doesn’t work that way. Telling someone something once, whether you are trying to educate them, persuade them, or just communicate instructions, rarely sticks. We have too many inputs, and a message without context or proper timing is lost in the shuffle.
Some theorists believe that you need to repeat an advertising message seven times for it to be heard. Maybe you don’t need all your communication to be shared that many times, but once is clearly not enough. If you want everyone singing the same tune, think like a songwriter and create a chorus to add some repetition to what you’re hoping others remember.
