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I’ve met a lot of people lately who are attending seminars for social media marketing and email marketing. When they arrive they are hesitant to join in with these “new” marketing methods. Being unfamiliar with them they are naturally a little skeptical and the first question they ask is, “Why should I do this?”.

There are several reasons why, but today I’ll just cover one: Market Familiarity.

Now I’m not sure if Market Familiarity is an actual term (if not maybe Donald Trump can help me trademark it and it can become the new “You’re Fired!”), but let me provide an example from my life and then I’ll elaborate:

Back when I was in high school I would visit my cousins a lot and they would always play this weird music in the car. It wasn’t my style and because it was new and unfamiliar I hated it. We had music that we all liked, but they never played it anymore. I would try to switch out the CDs, but they would only play this one band I had never heard of before, the Dave Matthews Band, and it drove me nuts. This continued for some time.

Fast forward a few months later and I’m in the car with my best friend and this familiar tune comes on the radio. He immediately perked up and said “I love this song” and turned it up. I recognized the tune and instantly decided that I liked it, too. 20 seconds into the song I realized it’s the Dave Matthews Band, the band that I hated! However, because the tune was now familiar having been exposed to it several times from several sources and because I also gained a second recommendation from a trusted source, I was suddenly open to liking the music.

Fast forward a few weeks later and I bought the album my cousins had been playing and listened to it exclusively for the first 4.5 months of having my driver’s license.

Since then, the Dave Matthews Band has gotten their fair share of sales from me: CDs, Posters, Concert Tickets, Fan Club Membership, etc. All of this revenue that they probably wouldn’t have received otherwise had I not been exposed to their music from several outlets and received recommendations from several sources. And this is where Market Familiarity ties into everything.

While creating a Facebook page, starting a blog, or creating an email marketing campaign might not send your sales through the roof the second you click your mouse, it will set up your company to gain long term exposure in front of an unlimited audience. At little or no cost you can have all of these marketing sources in place and with the interactivity offered, someone like me can be exposed to something new, read feedback from several sources, and become a fan (or customer, client, employee, volunteer, etc.).

So don’t shy away from new marketing methods.  Be confident in who you are and what you do and realize that there are people out there who would love your product or service, they’re just not familiar with it. Actively give them the opportunity to get familiar and you’ll be surprised with the results.

And if I’m riding in your car, please please please don’t play country music.