Many things in life can be improved simply through the idea behind the saying, “consistency is key”. Whether we are talking about our family lives, marriage or children, this saying is true. The truth is that in any influencing relationship, consistency brings value in and of itself.
In this blog post, we will explore the theory and implementation of consistent marketing. In this, we can better BUILD and GROW our online businesses, having a more significant IMPACT with our audiences.
To read the other posts in this five-part series, check out:
- Online Marketing 101 [Beginner’s Guide]
- The Practical Guide to Relationship Marketing
- The Practical Guide to Value-Focused Marketing
- The Practical Guide to Consistent Marketing [this post]
- The Practical Guide to Being You in Marketing
Why is Consistent Marketing so important?
You can read hundreds of articles that will tell you that you should be more consistent with your blog posts, social media interaction, and other marketing channels. Which should point to the fact that we are talking about an important topic, but what do I have to bring to such a saturated conversation?
I will simply present my studied perspective on consistent marketing practices and several of the techniques I personally use to be consistent with my online business as a person who researches, writes, and markets all of my content, myself (many other resources on this topic can’t say the same, but I’m sure my audience can relate).
In this section, we will see how consistent marketing will enhance many parts of your user experience and even help make you a better content creator.
It gives you more time in front of your audience
The first, and I think most obvious result of more frequent posting, is a higher frequency in front of your audience.
This does a couple things for you and your brand: First, it allows you to help, support, and influence your audience more often. Second, it allows you better access to ask your audience what it is that they need and/or want.
The more we listen to our audiences and respond to meet their needs the more likely we are to succeed in online business. In other words, the more frequently we interact with our audience, the greater chances we have to be discovered, serve our audiences, and get feedback on how to improve our business.
It helps to train your audience to anticipate new content
The next thing consistent marketing does for your brand is that it helps to train your audience to expect and look forward to your content on a consistent basis.
Don’t believe me? Television has done this for years… Imagine if you watched a TV show that didn’t have a consistent episode release. That would be pretty frustrating.
Getting an audience is hard. Sustaining an audience is hard. It demands a consistency of thought, of purpose, and of action over a long period of time.
Bruce Springsteen
Having a specific day and time you publish content (blog posts, newsletters, videos, social media posts, etc.) can significantly help you hold on to your engaged audience.
It makes you a better content creator
When we retain the discipline to consistently create and publish content, we over time, become better creators.
Many times, we set the standard at complete perfection and never publish, because “it’s just not good enough”. The desire for quality is great, but the hold-up caused by perfectionism can significantly limit the reach of our business.
When we stick to a consistent marketing strategy, we push out “sub-perfect” content (and will even hear about it, at times). But, the more content we put out (with value) the more we grow and can provide even more value in future pieces.
My recommendation is always: Don’t stop! If you are creating value for your audience, you should be meeting your goal. The goal can’t be – perfection. I struggle with this every time I create something for my audience.
How can we become more consistent with our marketing?
We’ve covered the “why” behind providing content on a consistent basis, below I will share five things I try to do to consistently create valuable content to my audience.
#1 – Create a Content Calendar
The single best thing I use to create consistent content is a “Content Calendar”. This is a framework used to show your blog post ideas, posts in the pipeline, and completed posts. When you apply this setup to due-dates on a calendar, you create your content calendar.
This can be of your blog posts, videos, and social media. When we plan out what we want to create, we give ourselves a guide to being consistent and productive.
You can do this in several different tools. For me, I first started using Google Sheets and Google Calendar to create a list of blog posts and putting them on the calendar. I have since moved to
#2 – Stick to that Calendar
Now that you have a content calendar: all your ideas are organized and your next month’s content has consistent due dates. The key here is to stick to that calendar.
It’s easy to let things interfere with your schedule – a busy week here, or a vacation there. But, it’s so important that we stick to that calendar. Getting ahead of your content calendar, anticipating a tougher week is good to maintain your publishing frequency.
One way I try to make this easier is that I will research, outline, and write multiple blog posts in a single sitting. Then, using the functionality of WordPress, I will set a future publishing date and let it be, knowing that it will post and all I will have to do is share that new post by social media and email!
If you tend to work in bursts, like me, this technique can be really helpful to you.
#3 – Schedule some of your Social Media Marketing
When it comes to social media, it’s important to be consistent if you intend to grow your audience.
One way that you can help yourself to be more consistent, is to use a tool that can help you automatically post to your social media profiles. For many businesses online, social media is the front door of your brand. The more surface area you can create online, the more likely you are to be discovered and impact a larger audience.
For a consistent presence on Twitter, I have used a tool called Buffer. This tool allows you to create a custom posting schedule and add content to your queue. A tool like this can be utilized to post on practically any social media platform.
NOTE: I want to emphasize that automating ALL your social media posts is not the best for your business. The reason for this is that you want social media to remain well… social. Scheduling your posts should be value-focused (quick-tips, helpful articles, etc.) while leaving the discussion/relationship-focused posts to be manually published.
#4 – Maintain the expectations of your audience
Another important consideration you must manage as an online business owner is the expectations of your audience. You must clearly communicate to your audience, the frequency that you will publish content and interact with them.
In my opinion, the best way to do this is through your “welcome email” when someone subscribes to your email list. This allows you to clearly set the expectations of your engaged audience members.
For more information behind this method, see Anatomy of the Perfect Welcome Email.
When the established expectations of your audience are for whatever reason, broken, the results range from confusion to frustration. It is vital that you communicate any changes in the expected “posting schedule”.
#5 – Maintain Quality and Value over Quantity
Lastly, I want to clearly state that consistency cannot be an excuse for poor quality work. The goal in this series is to explore what makes us better online marketers. With that in mind, the contents of this post alone can sound like I’m advocating for only… more and more content.
This is not true, I’m challenging you, the reader, to produce valuable and impactful content regularly. Not just once a month (because the other 5 ideas you had weren’t PERFECT) but every week, giving your audience something they can use and look forward to.
Consistency is only effective when you already create valuable and relational content. If our content is not these things, we simply put out consistently unhelpful blog posts or videos. The key is to focus on maintaining quality and value while consistently impacting your audience.
This guide was simply an overview of practical steps to optimize your consistency in your marketing efforts, online.
I want to hear from you! Comment below describing your experience with these principles: Is there one that has helped you grow your business? Is there one that you struggle implementing into your brand? What tools or content would help you grow in these areas?
More resources on this topic –
Crushing It!: How Great Entrepreneurs Build Their Business and Influence-and How You Can, Too by Gary Vaynerchuk
