“What are the top things I should be doing to make my marketing better?” A good friend who is also a business owner asked me this question not too long ago. As she waited for my answer, I saw big expectations in her eyes… as if she was waiting for a well-kept secret. I actually teased her about it and told her I was flattered she actually thought I had the key!
Then I gave her a very boring (but true) answer. “Just do something you haven’t done before as it relates to marketing consistently and you will see a big lift.” She laughed, and waited, and then realized I was serious.
It’s safe to say that I have now been squarely in the marketing field for more than fifteen years, and like a good borderline Gen X/Millennial, I’ve always made it a point to keep up with the marketing Joneses. Remember Friendster? I was on that. Remember when MySpace was the leading social platform? I do—I met my husband there (don’t laugh too hard).
Despite my always trying to be on the cutting edge of what is new, fancy, and techie in marketing, when I look back, I notice a pattern that has nothing to do with technology: To be effective in marketing, it’s not so much about if a business was in a “circle” on Friendster that made or broke its marketing success. Rather, it’s about making consistent actions to get the word out.
For example, I know a local, small business who religiously hands out fliers and puts regular ads in the newspaper. That business has been successful for over four decades. Could they be MORE successful if they added some digital marketing and paid traffic to the mix? Sure… but they are wildly successful now by being consistent. After all, the first person to own a fax machine had bragging rights to being a technical maven, but didn’t have anyone to send a fax to.
So when it comes to all these marketing tools and innovations, what’s one to do? Just as I said to my friend, pick something and do it consistently. Maybe you’re already on Facebook and want to give Instagram a try. Maybe you do email marketing but don’t do it consistently and haven’t added an email capture system to your website. Whatever it may be, pick one thing and do it consistently. Your results will be much better than trying to do everything inconsistently. There’s just too much out there to do it all well (and often).
And before I go—what if life gets busy and consistency wanes? That’s okay… just pick up where you left off and go at it again. The important thing is not to get stuck in analysis paralysis. Now the secret’s out… there is no magic “key” to marketing success but consistency is the one timeless ingredient that points to conversions every time.
