Why Your Marketing "Isn't Working" (You're Just Not Done Yet)
You post a great photo of your shop. You share a helpful tip, a new product, a behind-the-scenes moment. And then, crickets. Maybe a few likes. Maybe your cousin comments. But no rush of new customers walking through the door.
So you start thinking digital marketing just doesn't work for a business like yours.
Here's the truth: It's not that it doesn't work. It's that it hasn't had enough chances to work yet.
The Old "Rule of 7"
For years, marketers have leaned on the Rule of 7, the idea that a person needs to see your business about 7 times before they decide to buy. It gets repeated so often it starts to sound like scientific fact, but it isn't really. These days we're all scrolling past thousands of messages daily, so most marketing pros agree that seven probably isn't enough anymore. The number is more like eight to thirteen now, sometimes higher for bigger purchases.
The exact number isn't really the point, though. The point is that one post was never going to be a strategy. Showing up again and again is.
Why It Takes a Little More Effort Today
A few everyday numbers help explain why a single post rarely moves the needle on its own:
The average social media post only reaches around 5 to 10% of your followers, so most people who follow your page never even see any one post. Of the people who do see it, only about 1.8% engage with it at all. That's a lot of scrolling happening around your business, especially with over 33 million active social media users right here in Canada, all being pulled in a dozen directions between Facebook, Instagram, and whatever review they're checking next. And most of them are doing exactly that. Over 90% of consumers research a business online before they ever step foot inside.
What This Looks Like for Your Customers
Think about how someone in your town actually comes to trust and buy from you. It rarely happens all at once.
It looks more like this. They scroll past your post on a Tuesday and don't think much of it. A week later, they see your logo on a flyer at the community event. Someone mentions your name in a local Facebook group. They finally check your hours before stopping in on Saturday.
None of those moments felt like "the ad that worked." But together, they built enough trust that walking through your door felt easy and obvious. That's the real magic of showing up. It's not about repeating the same message over and over. It's about being visible enough, in enough different ways, that you're already the name they trust by the time they're ready to buy.
Quality Matters Too
Someone who watches your video to the end or leaves a comment is building a lot more trust than someone who scrolls past without really noticing it. A simple way to think about your content: most of it should be genuinely useful or fun, the tips, the behind-the-scenes, the real moments from your day. Some of it should tell your story, who you are and why you started. And only a little of it needs to be the direct ask, the sale, the booking, the "come on in."
If every post is a sales pitch, people tune out fast. If most posts give a little value first, people stick around long enough to become customers.
The Takeaway
No magic number guarantees a sale. But the data is clear on this much: your customers are busier and more distracted than ever, seeing more marketing messages than ever, so it just takes more consistent, genuine touchpoints to earn their trust than it used to.
So if you posted once last month and didn't see results, that's not proof digital marketing doesn't work for you. That's touchpoint number one. The businesses that win aren't the ones with the flashiest single post. They're the ones who keep showing up until being seen turns into being trusted, and being trusted turns into being chosen.
Don't give up on touchpoint three. Touchpoint eight might be exactly where the magic happens.
