The faster, the better, right?
Our pizza should be delivered in 30 minutes or less. We hate waiting in the fast food drive-thru for too long. We don’t even want to sit through commercials anymore thanks to streaming services. Instant gratification is expected with everything. With the world at our fingertips, it’s the way of the world these days—and we have no plans to slow down. We don’t have to check the answering machine when we get home, we don’t have to wait for bank statements to be mailed to us, we don’t even have to walk around the store to grocery shop for ourselves anymore! So why wouldn’t we expect these same instant results for our marketing dollars?
One of the first questions we usually hear from a new client is something along the lines of, “When can I see results?” They paid good money for some website or social media help, and they want to see that return on investment immediately—no matter what. But that’s not how it works … or at least that’s not how it works effectively.
Studies show that slow consistent marketing over a longer period of time will show a greater ROI than quick flooded marketing. It’s a bummer, I know. But here’s why you should consider adopting this process and, more importantly, here’s how to do it.
Who Are You
Creating a voice for your business is vital because it makes you consistent and real. Regardless of your industry, your clients or customers need to trust you. One way to build this trust is being consistent with your message and the voice in which you spread that message. You will not gain a long-term following or new customer base by just throwing your dollars at a media platform for a month or two; this takes a while. We don’t become friends overnight and the same applies for business connections.
Know Your Marketing Why
Speaking of friends, we all have that one friend … The Pusher. They sell something, and they never stop talking about it. Or they have a dog and show us photo after photo every time we grab coffee. Or even worse, they share whole concerts on their Snapchat stories while you mindlessly click through. After a while, you want to unfollow that friend or stop inviting them over for fear of being cornered with a whole album of costumed dog pictures from last weekend. The same applies to how you share content. Instead of flooding your followers with a wave of boring or repetitive content, strategically plan and schedule content you know your followers will want to see. You don’t want to see negative trends like unfollows, fewer page visits or negative feedback just because you want results now.
Quality, Quality, Quality!
The idea of quality over quantity isn’t new by any means, but it should be on sticky notes all over your desk because it is basically the golden rule in the world of successful marketing!
You’ll also need to search out some talent to ensure results. Quality content means hiring quality writers. We’re not suggesting a detailed and lengthy search for the crème de la crème of the digital content world that consumes your entire marketing budget. Do the research, but look for those writers who have quality examples, who are well spoken, and who show passion in what they do. If they are passionate about their own topics, think about how passionate they will be about your brand.
Make A Slow Consistent Marketing Plan
So let’s recap: successful marketing takes time, trust and talent. But we are missing something here… tactics!
You have to have a plan because going slow isn’t just uploading content all willy-nilly at a slow pace. No, it’s knowing when your audience is paying attention and striking then. It’s getting feedback from every level of your organization so you can get the broadest view of your own company. It’s looking at the different channels of media you use and seeing what’s actually working for you. Posting on everything may not be as beneficial as posting on one or two channels strategically. When you make a decision to act in a certain way, you’ll need to stick with it.
For example, if you are only responding to comments and website contact requests during business hours, don’t deviate from that. Your customers will expect from you what you give them and if you answer after business hours once, this will be the expectation from there on. When you don’t respond the next time a late message comes in, the trust you started with this customer will falter.
At Rooted Web, we will meet with you and not only get to know you as a person and company, but also learn your voice and use it to create a slow consistent marketing strategy to provide the greatest results—in time. Let’s get started!
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