“Holy forking christos, is he EVER gonna learn to pick up after himself!?”

This is a question most parents can relate to. And in my case, it’s a reference to my 8yr old son, Ivan.

Are you familiar with the character from the Peanuts cartoon, Pigpen? Charlie Brown’s crusty broham who’s always caked in dirt and forever ensconced by a cloud of perpetually swirling debris?

Well… That’s Ivan. Maybe not the whole “always caked in dirt” thing (though convincing him to hop in the shower, even when he’s looooooooong past due for a hosing off, is sometimes a challenge ;—). But the “swirling cloud of debris,” is an all too irritating reality of life with this (mostly) lovable little guy.

And in this uber-frustrating reality… No matter what room Ivan winds up in, suddenly every available surface is littered with toys, games, books, drawing pads + pencils, clothes, blankets, electronic devices, cups, plates, bowls, crumbs, and lots, lots more.

To make maters worse, since the pandemic stuck, which has Ivan holding up in our apartment 22 out of every 24 hours, the “his crap is everywhere” storm has intensified to the power 10x!

But, despite asking the “holy forking christos” question (about 100x daily), I know there’s a solution.

In fact, I’ve exercised it elsewhere with Ivan…

It used to be when he stumbled out of the bedroom every morning at, if not before, 6am (UGH kill me now!), he left his “sleeping chamber” in fully optimized “sleep-mode.”

In other words, the blinds were pulled, his toy Christmas tree (which serves a night lite) was burning brightly, and his sound machine (set “rain mode”) was blaring away like a driving storm.

This, of course, left my wife and me to handle the “sleep-mode” shutdown. But after a couple ofyears of this annoying daily task, it occurred me to… “Hey, why can’t this joker take care of all this jazz himself!?”

And what a revelation this notion proved to be. Because, yes, he certainly can… Open the blinds, unplug the toy Christmas tree, and switch off the sound machine entirely under his own steam.

Now, the routine didn’t take immediately. But after a couple of weeks, during which some days he completed the shutdown himself and other days had to prompted, it became a rote morning activity. And remains as such today.

There’s a Valuable Marketing Lesson in this “Routine Revalation,” too…

Where do most businesses fall down when it comes to marketing? For those business owners savvy enough to grasp the value and importance of marketing, it’s consistency.

With sooooooooo many tasks already bloating your to-do list, and the endless demands on your time, it’s easy to forget about marketing.

And it’s understandable, too. Marketing isn’t a part of your client work. No one is blowing up your phone line or bloating your email inbox DEMANDING that you promote your business. And it’s not like chasing clients for money owed, to pay your ever-rising, never dwindling pile of bills.

If you don’t invest time in marketing your business, no one says a thing. Your business just doesn’t grow. Which makes an impact over time — when existing clients move on and no new prospects appears to replace them. But it’s not obvious in the moment.

How Do You Solve the Consistency Problem?

Ivan can help! Or at least the concept behind his morning “sleep shutdown” routine can help.

Because that’s what marketing consistency bakes down to:Routine!

I call it the Marketing Habit. But it’s probably easiest to think of it in terms of organizing and following a schedule.

What do you need to address regularly to market and grow your business?

For argument’s sake, let’s make a potential list…

== > Update your website Home + About pages — Add fresh content and period updates to keep Googles indexing spiders interested and continuing to crawl your site

== > Regularly publish blog posts — Also to keep Google interested in your site, along with providing important info and valuable content to existing clients, establish your authority as thought leader, and to serve as fodder for your email marketing campaigns, and eNewsletters.

== > Send regular email updates — Blasing out links to your latest blog posts, delivering your eNewsletter, and sharing timely and topical industry updates relevant to your clients and prospects.

== > Post regular social media updates — Sharing website updates, your latest blog posts, invites to sign up for your eNewsletter, and timely + topical industry updates relevant to your clients and prospects.

So, this example list provides the WHAT. And your routine provides the HOW.

Fire up your Outlook, iCal, Google Calendar, or whatever scheduling tool works for you, and schedule yourself calendar reminders…

MONDAY
10:30-11:30am — Draft weekly blog post
1:30-2pm — Post social media updates + reply to comments

TUESDAY
10:30-11:30am — Edit + finalize blog post and schedule for delivery (to your email list (via MailChimp)
1:30-2pm — Post social media updates + reply to comments

WEDNESDAY
10:30-11:30am — Research resources (online) to share with clients + prospects (through your weekly or bi-weekly) email update (broadcast to your email list, via MailChimp)
1:30-2pm — 1:30-2pm — Post social media updates + reply to comments

THURSDAY
10:30-11:30pm — Format and schedule delivery (for your weekly or bi-weekly) resource email update; Review your website Home page + About pages for potential updates
1:30-2pm — Post social media updates + reply to comments

FRIDAY
10:30-11am — 1:30-2pm — Post social media updates + reply to comments
1:30-2:30pm — Work on monthly eNewsletter (broadcast to your email list the last Thursday of every month)

Again, this is just an example schedule. Your schedule may look RADICALLY different. And may not include a daily time slot to address your marketing efforts (though I STRONGLY recommend it).

The point being, it’s on your calendar. You see the DAILY (or at least several times weekly) reminders. It becomes part of your ROUTINE. And eventually, a regular habit.

Also, notice I included time to develop content AND schedule broadcasts and handle other administrative tasks. This is key, because if you’re not working with an outside vendor, you need to handle BOTH content creation and research as well as adminsistrative tasks to make your marketing GO.

And on that note…

Need Help Developing and Management a Marketing Schedule?

Well, you’re in LUCK! Because I can help… If the schedule above looks daunting, don’t have an anxiety attack. Outsource the whole show to me :—)

If this sounds like a plan you can get behind, let’s chat! ryan@ryananys.com | 310.466.7893