Why it’s important for small businesses to be consistent in their marketing activity

As an owner of a small businesses, I know that it can be challenging to juggle everything you need to do to make your business a success. It can be frustrating on one hand, but immensely rewarding and totally worthwhile on the other.

I’m an experienced marketer, so that side of business comes naturally to me (and I also enjoy it, so it gets a lot of focus!). But I’ve talked to a lot of small business owners who are frustrated that their marketing isn’t working as they’d hoped, or they find it difficult to spend the time needed to improve and maintain their marketing activity.

Maintaining a consistent level of marketing activity is vital to generating more and better quality leads, and ultimately making more sales. It can seem like a slog, but the results are worth it!

Benefits of consistency in marketing

1.      Building awareness

Consistency in marketing is a key way of building awareness of your business and brand. That doesn’t mean just using the same logo and colours, but also making sure your tagline, messaging, and tone of voice are the same no matter where a customer might see you. This makes your brand recognisable and memorable.

2.      Creating trust

As a customer starts to recognise and remember your brand, they will become more familiar with it and in turn start to trust it. When they come to the point of purchase, they will think of you first, and in a positive way. This requires a long-term, consistent approach to marketing, not a day-to-day approach.

3.       Differentiating your business from your competitors

Consistency helps customers understand what makes your business stand out from your competitors. Make sure your unique selling point is clear (and, of course, consistent) within your messaging.

4.      Increasing sales

The biggy! Being consistent will increase sales. Dipping in and out of various marketing channels won’t work – select the marketing channels you think will work for your business in terms of generating leads and sales, send out clear messaging, and give them time. Not days or weeks – at least three months. Minimum!

5.      Learning what works for your business

Over time, you’ll learn what works for your business and what doesn’t – and you’ll have the data to prove it. That means you can be much more targeted in your approach.

6.      Becoming more efficient

It’s much more efficient to do a couple of things consistently well than it is to stop and start different things – you will save yourself time that you can then use converting all the leads you’re generating!

It really is worth taking the time to plan out and maintain your marketing activity, no matter which channels you’re using.