For decades, marketers have used the funnel to explain how consumers move from awareness → consideration → intention → conversion.
The funnel itself isn’t the problem.
The problem is that consumers no longer move through it in the neat, linear way our media plans often assume they do.
Think about your own behaviour.
You see a brand on Instagram. Three days later, you search for it. You watch a video. You forget about it. Someone you trust mentions it. You read an article. You compare alternatives. Another ad appears. You visit the website. You leave. Then, weeks later, something triggers you to come back and buy.
From the marketer’s side, that final search or click might get credited with the conversion.
But it didn’t necessarily create the demand.
Dozens of experiences may have contributed to making that conversion possible.
That’s why I find the 7-11-4-90 framework so useful.
It gives marketers another lens through which to think about the media funnel, one based on the time, interactions, environments and consistency required to move someone from:
“Who are you?” → “I recognise you.” → “I trust you.” → “I’m considering you.” → “You’re the one I want.”
WHAT IS THE 7-11-4-90 FRAMEWORK?
The framework asks marketers to think about four dimensions of the relationship they are building with a potential customer:
7 hours of exposure to and engagement with your content
11 interactions with your brand
4 different platforms
Over 90 days of consistent visibility
I don’t believe marketers should treat these numbers as a mathematical rule for every customer journey.
That misses the point.
The real value is in recognising something much more important:
Trust is cumulative.
One ad shouldn’t have to create awareness, explain your proposition, establish credibility, overcome objections and generate a sale.
Different media experiences can do different jobs.
A 15-second video might introduce you. An article might educate. A podcast might build familiarity. A publisher partnership might add credibility. Search might answer a question. A webinar might demonstrate expertise. A consultation might turn intention into action.
The power comes from how those experiences work together.
Watch: Aleisha McCall explains the 7-11-4-90 framework
In this video, Aleisha explains how the 7-11-4-90 framework changes the way marketers should think about familiarity, trust and the traditional media advertising funnel.
PUT THE 7-11-4-90 FRAMEWORK TO WORK
We’ve turned the framework into a practical 7-11-4-90 Framework Guide to help you assess how effectively your media and content are building familiarity, trust and demand across the customer journey.
Inside the guide, we explore how the framework connects with the media funnel, including:
- how different interactions contribute to the relationship
- why familiarity across multiple environments matters
- the role of consistent visibility over time
- how parasocial relationships can influence awareness and trust
- what happens through the messy middle of consideration
- where demand creation ends and demand capture begins
Use it to review your media mix, content ecosystem and customer journey, and identify where you may be asking individual channels — particularly performance media — to do too much.
Download the 7-11-4-90 Framework Guide and use it as a practical reference for your next media planning session.
