Consistency is key – in everything you do. If you want to get better at any skill or sport, you need to practice and keep practicing. Just turning up to the golf club once in a blue moon isn’t going to help to improve your game. Going running every day for a week and then not running for a month won’t help you to complete a marathon.

The same is true of marketing and this was really highlighted to me recently. I saw post on Facebook that invited members of a group to which I belong, to introduce themselves to the rest of the group. “Tell us a bit about your business, what you do and who you work with” was the request. Because most people like talking about themselves, there was a flurry of activity on the post, with many members introducing their businesses. Some of the responses where quite short – just a few lines; some other people decided to write essays!

Of course I added my own, fairly succinct response to the thread and was delighted when one of the other members, Belinda, messaged me to ask if we could have a call to discuss her marketing needs. Before calling her, I looked at what she had written about her business. It was very long and contained quite a lot of business jargon. It sounded rather corporate and left me not really understanding what her business was about. I decided to look for clarification, so went to Belinda’s website. The copy on her website was completely different to what she had written in the Facebook post!

Reuse and Repurpose

How often do we do we do this? We see a post online, asking for information, or we’re sent a form to fill in about an event at which we’ve been asked to speak. Or we’re asked to introduce our business at a networking event. How often do we scrabble around for something to say, instead of using something that we’ve already prepared and taken some time over?

In today’s age of social media, it is very easy to quickly dash off an answer over breakfast, or even at the weekend. We want to get it done quickly, while we’re thinking about it. We don’t want to have to remember to go back and look for that post and then write an answer. And yet how often would a more considered response be better for attracting the attention of potential clients?

This week I have been preparing the content for a number of talks that I’ll be delivering in the coming weeks and months. I have been asked to submit details about each talk, to help promote them, so instead of writing everything from scratch, I have been looking at what I can resuse and repurpose. Each talk will be different, but there are certain standard elements that I’ll be including, and similar reasons for people to attend. I’ve looked back at previous talks to see how they were marketed, to see which parts of the promotional material I can use again. Not only does this save me some time – it also gives my marketing a much more consistent message.

The next time you’re asked to describe your business, your service, or your ideal clients, take some time. Don’t rush to answer, but think carefully about what you need to say, in order to create a consistent message.

Time to Talk

Here are the details of some forthcoming online marketing talks that you might like to attend:

9.30am on Friday 1 May 2020 – Why Bother to Plan Your Marketing? A short talk for the Creative Cumulus networking group. It’s free to attend. Click here for more information.

7pm on Monday 4 May 2020 – The ABC of Marketing Your Coaching Business with the Bath & Bristol Coaching Group. Non-members are very welcome and it’s free. Click here to join online.

10am on Wednesday 6 May 2020 – Stop Wasting Money on your Marketing – a free online workshop as part of a week of events being run by the Salisbury Coaching Group. Click here to book your ticket.

6pm on Thursday 21 May 2020 – How Can You Market Your Speaking Business Right Now? An online talk looking at what you can do to promote your speaking business RIGHT NOW. £10 for members of the Professional Speaking Association and £15 for non-members who are very welcome. Click here to book this event.