In sports and business, we like to talk about momentum or the “Big Mo”, the idea that once we get things moving in the right direction it is easier to keep moving, move faster, and do so with less effort.
How do we create momentum in our marketing? The key to building momentum is consistency. One of the best ways to build consistency is to live by a marketing calendar. By sticking to a planned routine of regularly scheduled marketing activities (daily, weekly, monthly, etc.) you can build a marketing system that grows your business and leaves your inconsistent competitors behind.
What does the opposite of momentum look like? Let’s look at referrals as an example. Many business owners will begin a new year by resolving to attend more networking events in the hopes of receiving more business from referrals. They often start out with a flurry of activity – joining new groups, scheduling lots of appointments, going to lunches and after hour events, etc.
By the middle or end of the first quarter, it is very common for one of two scenarios to arise that breaks our marketing momentum and sabotages our marketing success.
Sometimes we experience success relatively early out of the gate. We get some business from referrals and then we stop our networking activities to “do the work”.
In the second scenario, success doesn’t come immediately, so we quit right before our efforts are ready to pan out. We don’t meet anyone at the first few networking events so we stop attending – only to decide to “try again” months later.
This stop and start progress kills progress in any endeavor, not just marketing. When we break our marketing rhythm, we kill our momentum. Reviving that momentum takes an enormous amount of energy and time. Worse yet, we are spending that time and effort just to get back to where we were rather than making further progress.
Plan, Do, Review, Improve
Once you have set your goals use your calendar to plan the marketing behaviors that will help you attain them. Write these behaviors on you calendar as action items and do them. Use your calendar as a review tool in order to make sure you stay on track and hold yourself accountable. Don’t use your calendar to beat yourself up by highlighting your failures, commit to continuous improvement – track what you need to do, hold yourself accountable, measure the results and adjust (improve) accordingly.
Consistency Over Quantity
Pick a few marketing activities, do them well, and do them consistently, and watch your business grow in 2012.
photo credit: Emil Manolov via Flickr
