The amount of time and level of consistency you put into something is directly proportional to your results: part time effort will get you part time return.
- It is with time and consistency that children move from crawling to walking;
- It is with time and consistency that small savings become golden parachutes;
- And, it is with time and consistency that businesses grow from start-ups to household brands.
How many articles have you read on the concepts of passion, determination, focus, etc.? Two often over-looked concepts are time and consistency. They are the little talked about twin towers of power for success. This principle rings true throughout every area of your business, lead generation, sales, marketing and so on.
In marketing, all of your activities require time to work and consistency to build brand recognition to generate a response, be it sending direct mail, attending networking events or buying advertising. Doing any of these activities once, or even sporadically, won't net you the results you want. Direct mail has be to sent multiple times of year to be effective, you have to introduce yourself to people a few times to be remembered and your advertising will be a waste of money if not regularly repeated. And social media can be a waste of your most valuable resource -- your time -- if done hurriedly and irregularly.
- Blogging requires time and consistency to build and maintain a readership. It takes time for readers to find you and trust what you're posting.
- You must consistently blog in order to become a reliable and dependable source of information.
- It is better to not have a Facebook page, then to have one that is out-of-date, rarely updated or neglected, as it can go against the brand you are building.
- A Twitter stream filled with re-tweets, entries selling your services/products or other unengaging messages, such as quotes, will get a lot of bots following you.
You get the point: time and consistency are your allies, use them to grow your brand and better your business.
Additional resources:
Michelle Tennant Nicholson, chief creative officer, Wasabi Publicity: Using Social Networks To Get Publicity
Bonnie Landau, Simple Web Toolbox: Collaborative Blogging For Those Short on Time
