Time As Important As Consistency in Marketing
A lot has been written about consistency in marketing, and for good reason. When a consumer hears the same message in the same way at each point of contact, it builds brand awareness. This awareness makes your brand recognizable, differentiating you from your competitors. It also ensures that anyone talking about your brand talks about it in the way you want it to be talked about.
But consistency only takes you so far, especially if you don’t devote time to market yourself or your services. In fact, not spending enough time marketing is one of the biggest mistakes many people make in business.
Let’s, for the sake of example, take the start-up of a new venture. During the first few months of hanging out your shingle, most of your time is spent building a solid client base. There’s little else to do, right? You get a website, send out emails and network yourself until you’re blue in the face.
As your business grows, however, a shift takes place. The time you spent marketing yourself is now devoted to servicing clients. And your marketing materials are now left to the chore. Without some prodding, they’re just not going to do it—sort of like your teenage son.
Of course, no one’s saying to neglect clients. Good customer service can do wonders for maintaining your business, and even growing it, for that matter. But you need to set aside time to market yourself. Otherwise, things can eventually slow down and stall.
So, how much time do you really need to spend marketing?
Some marketers go so far as to say you market daily, recommending you tweet, post to blogs, send out emails and visit social media sites every morning, noon or night.
Others don’t believe such aggressive tactics are necessary, leaning more toward a casual approach. They suggest reaching out to your primary market twice a month and then touching the remaining base less frequently. Your secondary market may only need a reminder once a month, whereas those on the periphery are touched, so to speak, every three to four months.
What's best?
Only you know your audience and business. But no matter how often you choose to market, you’re still marketing. Even when you have more business than you can handle, it’s a good practice to get into. Not doing so can leave you languishing when you could be growing.
Ask yourself when was the last time you scheduled just an hour or two to market. If it’s been a while, open your calendar and pencil it in. You could be missing opportunities to grow your business.
This post was originally published at Beneath the Brand.