Everyone is familiar with the feast and famine cycle that seems to afflict so many businesses. It can be difficult to manage, but understanding why it occurs is key to reducing it.
The cycle comes about as follows; the business gets busier, we are forced to simply deal with the day-to-day needs of the customers, and we put to the back-burner activities that we consider unnecessary. So, our marketing gets pushed back, and we concentrate on the customers that are right in front of us. Which is fine, but what happens when those customers are no longer right in front of us? At this point we panic, our sales have dropped, and we act in response by pushing our marketing quickly and suddenly, this then creates a sudden surge in sales, which we then tend to, forgetting once again about our marketing. This cycle of behaviour is both tiring and inefficient, for you, your employees and your business.
If we regard marketing as an on-going process, we are consistently refilling our sales funnels, and cultivating them as they come to fruition. Businesses run more efficiently with a consistent flow of customers, you are able to handle your resources effectively and optimise your processes when you know the level of output that is required. By creating a structured plan, you allow the capability of turn your marketing up and down, as necessary, which is a far more controlled method than marketing in bursts of activity.
As we approach the New Year, now is a perfect time to lay your foundations for the coming year. By creating a feasible plan for the year ahead, with carefully controlled activities at regular intervals throughout the year, you have the power to the reduce the feast and famine cycle.
There are so many fantastic automation solutions available today, that have made it much easier to build continuous marketing through the year. The time spent on implementing the plan, and ensuring that it is running smoothly, is time well spent. When you are busy, those scheduled activities that you have built into your marketing plan will work away in the background for you, providing you with reliable and consistent marketing that lasts throughout the year.
And those tiny seedlings that you plant? Well, they grow into abundant crops, waiting for you to harvest them…
If you are struggling to implement and manage a coherent marketing campaign for your business, why not consider our Marketing Manager service, providing you with consistent marketing at a surprisingly affordable rate.