Modern Marketers Need To Be Consistent

March 17, 2011 Author Adam Singer In Digital Marketing and PR

It’s an all too common complaint from marketing and PR professionals: how can we keep up with the demands of producing consistent content designed to achieve outcomes? Unfortunately if you’ve heard someone ask this question (in 2011!) they may already be beyond help.

The web (and world) by design churn content. Every day, we all have new stories to tell: it’s just a question of if you are going to be a part of that day’s discussions or not.

Sadly I still think this is lost on most marketers. Ian visualizes how absurd it is, to the point this basic premise of modern communications is being exploited to sell a simple, but missed concept.

But how specifically are marketers getting the consistency thing wrong?

Only thinking in big ideas instead of a consistent, unfolding story told bit by bit

The big idea is pretty meaningless unless you already have consistency down. Buzz is essential, but also perhaps more important is the stuff in between. Your news, event or product is no longer the story. Your ongoing narrative and editorial vision is going to be what wins.

Creating content, but not consistently optimizing and archiving to build equity

A lot of companies engage in tactics like email marketing or white paper creation and vest a lot of effort to do this. But that content is valuable indefinitely, beyond the distribution. Especially if you are creating unique content to send to your list. If you develop a process to optimize, publish, promote and make accessible: each bit of content should be accruing equity for your company. In fact, all of your marketing should be designed in a way to build equity, in a manner you can easily draw a clear line from activity to results.

Consistent on a channel like Facebook and Twitter but not their own blog/domain

If you are using outposts like Facebook and Twitter but lack a hub on the web, you’re doing it wrong. Why is this still so difficult to understand? Blogs are a much higher outcome oriented channel for your brand than Twitter and Facebook where you can easily get lost in the stream. Here are 19 more reasons to blog and not just Tweet: there is just so much more value in focusing opt in at the source.

Counting on others to tell their story without consistently telling it themselves

What many don’t realize is the best way to get others to tell your story is to be consistent publishing stories on a channel you own. This is the place you can condition your entire industry to go to. Then you truly get to shift your PR from push to pull: a far more strategic approach. I know it is counter-intuitive, but if you aren’t building a narrative in the world by becoming media yourself, how can you expect anyone to consistently spread your messages? You can’t, you’ll just keep paying new money to reach the same audience.

Overthinking it instead of achieving a consistent flow

It used to be expensive to invest in both the creation and distribution of content. If you’re spending obscene amounts of time (or even money) on each bit you publish you’re doing it wrong. No one is as good at predicting success as they think they are, you need to try things and iterate and stop worrying so much about it. If you fail, so what?

The solution? Devote resources, kill the legacy mindsets and scrap your broken plans. Then develop a modern digital marketing strategy that plays to the way the world actually functions.

In a world where every company is a media company, and all media is social, it’s up to you whether to activate this or not. And it’s a cop out to say things like “we don’t have the time” or “we aren’t sure how to track results.” Now you’re just making excuses.

Plenty of people make the time personally, in their free time and actually attract more attention than entire media brands. They do this because they have passion.

To say you can’t be consistent (or competitive) in modern marketing is to say you lack the same passion.