So many times we hear of businesses deciding to carry out Marketing activity and then, after a short period of time, deciding to immediately stop because it hasn’t produced the results they were expecting. “Marketing doesn’t work!” “Marketing is a waste of money”….
Think of Marketing like exercise. It’s not necessarily something you want to do, it’s not necessarily something you know how to do properly, but you know it’s something you really should do on some level. We’re not talking all out IronMan competitions, or Olympic speed sprinting 5 times a week if it’s not something you’ve tried before. We’re talking toe in the water, steady walk, gentle cycle in the park – just to suss it out and get started. The one thing it does have to be though is consistent.
If you’ve been for a few dips in the pool on previous holidays you don’t expect to be able to swim like Adam Peaty or Ellie Simmonds. You’ve been for a jog once or twice during lockdown, does that mean you’re fit enough to be able to run a 10K at a day’s notice? For most of us, the answer is no. That’s because results don’t happen overnight and nor do we expect them to.
We know we have to commit some time to identifying what we want to achieve – increased fitness/weight loss/overall wellbeing or whatever the personal objectives might be. We know we need a plan (even if a loose one) to ensure we know what we need to be doing and when – yes, we might need to deviate from the plan occasionally, however, the point is there’s one there in the first place to keep us on the right track. We also know that we need to commit to it and put a time scale in place to ensure we stick with it to achieve our goals.
Marketing is no different. You won’t trial one Marketing tactic once and see incredible results. It’s unlikely that running one single campaign over a week will see immediate results. If you don’t have the right building blocks in place – strategy, objectives, activity, timescales and the ability to test and measure the results then you’re unlikely to see much positivity from your Marketing.
Just like exercise (for a large number of us at least), it’s not always easy to get started and it can be a challenge to choose to stick with it, however, more often than not, if you do stick with it you’ll reap the worthwhile rewards and see measured improvements.
If you'd like to look at your current Marketing and where we could support, get in touch with our team here.
