Cramming Doesn't Work....

In college, a friend encouraged me to take Chemistry instead of Biology. Everything about my decision was wrong. The teacher was boring. I didn't get the content. The class started at 8 am well before I was awake. And the biggest problem: my friend wasn't in the class.

So, when finals came I found myself cramming. I'd never really crammed before. My roommate's girlfriend, a Chemistry major, offered to help me.

"Where did you start having problems?" she asked.

"Something about moles," I said.

"Moles?" she said looking in both my eyes.

"Yeah. Not the animal, the..."

"I know what you mean," she said. "Phil, that's the first chapter!"

Needless to say, I didn't ace Chemistry.

However the experience gave me a lot of sympathy for those who think cramming works in advertising. You can't learn chemistry overnight. And you can't expect advertising to work overnight. People rarely buy an unknown brand from an unknown merchant. Building trust and awareness takes time. It's a process -- much like the learning process. Prospects need to learn about you a bit at a time, with knowledge building on knowledge.

And the more complicated or expensive your product, the longer it takes for the prospect to "get" your sales message and understand it's relevance to him or her.

I never put off studying for an exam until the last minute ever again. Nor should a wise marketer put off advertising until the last minute.

By the way, I still don't understand moles.

-Phil Sasso