If you’re still expecting over night results and success from your marketing, you can stop reading now! If you’re in it for the long haul and would like to know more about how to keep going, no matter what, then this blog is for you!

About 10 years ago I decided to take up running, as a way to get fitter. I was doing a lot of horse riding and dog walking, but the horse and dog always seemed to be fitter than me. I needed a way to keep up. So I found a basic running training programme online, which took me from nothing to running for 5×5 minutes (with a 1 minute walking break in between each of the 5s) in just 3 weeks. That went well, so then I found a schedule to progress me from 5×5 minutes to running continuously for 30 minutes – that’s about 3 miles at my beginner’s speed. So far so good and no injuries.

When you can run 3 miles (or 5k) people start asking you if you would like to take part in a charity 5k run. So I completed a few of them and they went well. Then people start saying “Are you going to do a 10k next?” That’s 6 miles, so you do a bit more training – longer runs at the weekend and a bit more during the week – to make sure you can do the distance. You eat up the miles in the 10k run and before you know it, you’ve entered a half marathon – 13 miles!

“OK but that’s as far as I’m running,” I told them. A 2 hour run (my PB was 2:04) is all very well, but there’s also a lot of training to do at weekends and on cold, wet weekday mornings. With less time for horse riding.

Double the Distance

So when my favourite charity asked me in January 2013 if I would like their first ever place on the London Marathon, on 21 April that year, I nearly turned them down. And then I realised that at 42 years old I was probably the fittest I’d ever been (and probably ever would be). “Why not? Let’s do this,” said the voice inside. “Let’s create a proper training plan for the next 4 months.” That’s exactly what I did – I worked backwards from marathon day, planning in 2 x 20 mile training runs, gradually building up to that distance. Tuesday and Thursday mornings – 4 miles before work. Saturdays were long run days. Sundays for recovering and eating loads of carbs! It all went into a spreadsheet that was stuck to the fridge door, so I knew exactly how far to run on each day. No excuses. No getting out of it just because it was raining, or sleating, or snowing …

One day, after a particularly energising run, I found myself wondering “If I can create a training plan that is easy to stick to, can I do the same for marketing?”

The Answer of Course, is Yes

If you have a copy of my book, Magnetic Marketing, turn to page 65 (or page 64 of the first or second editions.) There you’ll find a ‘training plan’ for your marketing. It shows you how to build up a spreadsheet of running (activity) on a weekly and monthly basis. How far will you run on Tuesday and Thursday = what marketing will you do/which networking events will you attend? Plan in race day = speaking events or big presentations. Work back from those dates to make sure you do enough training, i.e. marketing to promote the event.

The final element to this Marathon Marketing Training Plan is to put it somewhere you can see it on a daily basis. Pin it to the fridge, or the board in your office. My annual marathon Marketing Plan is written onto a white board in my office, so I can look at it on a regular basis. This makes sure that I don’t miss any important events/races. It also helps me to maintain the momentum I need to keep going. I’ve written before about why ad hoc marketing doesn’t work. In running terms it would be like attempting to run 6 miles, when you’ve never run before, in the hope that it will be enough to prepare you for a full marathon … then not doing any more training until race day because your feet hurt too much!

Business success does not come over night. You won’t win all the new clients you need in the first three months of running a business. I’ve been running Appletree for nearly 21 years and I still have to do regular weekly and monthly marketing to keep a steady flow of new clients coming in. It’s an ongoing marathon, not a sprint!

Time to get your running shoes on?! If you need a running buddy, call me on 07773 252 744 or click here to email me.