Guerrilla Marketing

by Bill Gallagher Ph.D.

Quickly now, think of a number between zero and ten.

Unless you're trying to be difficult or you're from Mars, we know you probably thought of seven. Remarkable? Actually, yes, quite remarkable. Predictable, too. We have a pretty good idea why you picked seven; and why most people do. If you didn't think of seven you are somewhat exceptional. By the way, three is the usual second choice.

It's important to understand why sevens and threes come up so often in our culture. You can use this information in your selling and marketing strategies. We'll show you how.

By the way, a big majority of us will choose thirty-seven when asked to pick a two digit number. That response is merely a variation on the normal reply to our first question.

Need more proof? Why 7 Wonders of the World? 7 Deadly Sins? 7 Days of the Week? The 7 Seas? 7 Colors of the Rainbow? And on and on. Why 3 Little Pigs? 3 Baseball Bases? 3-D? 3-R's? 3 Blind Mice? Why not 2 or 5? We have 2 of a lot of things from our eyes to our feet. And 5, of fingers and toes. But, we don't have 7 or 3 of anything! Or do we have something, somewhere very deep within us that forces us to see the world around us in terms of threes and sevens? Yes.

From memory experiments in Germany, dating back over one humored years and replicated in every decade since, we also know that your short-term memory buffer can only hold about seven items at any one time. That's probably why telephone numbers are only seven digits long. Plus an occasional area code of three digits!

So, when presenting choices of products or services to a customer, never give more than seven choices. Three is better. Then three more, but that's it. Most of us can't keep all six choices, clearly in our heads in order to make a business decision in your favor.

And, if you're designing a sign to be read by passing motorists or an ad to be read by readers skimming through the morning newspaper, keep the main copy under seven words.

Choose powerful three-letter words. New, now, you, sex, and FREE. This last word is always spelled with all capital letters. Okay, so free has four letters. But there are only three sounds.

Here's a great seven-word guerrilla marketing line. It should be in every ad, including your Yellow Page ad. "Call today for your FREE brochure." Not only is it under seven words, but tells your potential customers exactly what you want them to do.