16 months ago my wife and I had a baby. This “life changing” (the understatement of all understatements) experience has taught us (the hard way) that wrangling a 1yr old is the toughest job you’ll (n)ever love.
Sure, he’s cute as the Dickens (whatever that means), with gorgeous canyon-deep stone blue eyes, and an intoxicating full body laugh that could melt the hardest hardened heart.
His boundless, frenetic energy, however, has turned our household upside down, and left us struggling to maintain a stable foothold in our day-to-day life. It’s like the most outrageous traveling circus you could imagine has come to town, but it never leaves, and you have to take this circus with you wherever you go.
In trying to regain some stability and sense of order in our life, my wife and I have learned an incredibly important lesson…
The Value of Consistency
Junior is (almost) manageable if we keep in tethered to consistent schedule…better enabling us to keep our feet (somewhere) near the ground.
Example
Morning routine:
- Bottle
- Fresh diaper
- Fresh fruit and Honey Nut Cheerios for breakfast
- Get dressed and hit the park
Midday action:
- Lunch
- Lay down for a nap
Night time ritual:
- Dinner
- Bath
- Bottle
- Bed
Next day: repeat.
Consistency also applies to reinforcing positive behavior and discouraging negative behavior.
We’ve learned (the hard way, once again) not to laugh when Junior hoists his plastic plate of food above his head and flings it across the dining area with sheik of glee…because when we laugh, he thinks it’s appropriate and even appreciated behavior. Instead, we (with great struggle) have to maintain our harden frown and stern “adult” baritone in scolding him with a resounding: “NO!”
At daycare, everyone sits down for snack time, and stays seated for the duration. And at home, for our sake and that of the lovely woman running our fantastic daycare, the same rules apply.
The Small Business Marketing Power of Consistency
Interestingly enough, these “rules,” at least in spirit, provide a perfect blueprint for managing your small business marketing program.
A successful small business marketing program is borne out of creating and adhering to a consistent marketing schedule.
Whatever is in your marketing mix, whether it be:
- Reaching out for customer contact “touches” via email, phone or in person
- Broadcast email updates or newsletters
- Physical mailers
- Facebook, Twitter and other social media platform updates
Should be plotted out and scheduled in advance, using some type of calendaring application that provided reminders.
Just like Junior’s routine helps keep
him (relatively grounded) and on track, consistently updating your customers and clients keeps you top of mind in their regular routine. So when it’s time to act, who else would they think of, but you?
Consistency and Conditioned Behavior
Behaviorally speaking, maintaini
ng a consistent schedule in effect conditions your clients to expect your marketing messages. When properly conditioned with consistent treatment, your clients and customers are expecting to hear from you, they’re waiting to see what you have to say, and this conditioned expectation is pinnacle of relationship building – the summit you should be trying to reach in your marketing efforts.
What About You?
Could creating a consistent marketing schedule help bolster your small business marketing efforts? Have you used a consistent schedule in the past, and if so, what were the results: positive, negative or somewhere in between?
Talkback: Please share your experiences with attempting to maintain a consistent marketing schedule – we would love to hear more about it.
