Latest / Imperfect Marketing / 175: The Compounding Returns of Consistency: Doubling Down on What Works with Host Kendra Corman

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175: The Compounding Returns of Consistency: Doubling Down on What Works with Host Kendra Corman · Imperfect Marketing

• 0:28
  Speaker 1: Hello and welcome back to another episode of the Imperfect Marketing Podcast.
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: I'm your host, kendra Corman.
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: Today, let's talk about one of the biggest yet most overlooked success drivers for any business.
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: Can you guess what it is?
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: Consistency.
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: Whether you're looking to turn new contacts into regular clients or wishing to retain your clients longer, doubling down on consistency in all areas is key.
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: I'll share why it's so critical, plus some of my strategic tips for making consistency attainable even in a chaotic entrepreneurial life.
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: So let's go ahead and jump right in.
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: I cannot emphasize enough how vital consistency is when trying to gain momentum and scale any business sustainably.
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: Over time, the companies seeing the hockey stick growth trends have mastered consistent delivery of value, value, top-notch experiences and responsive communication.
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: But consistency is hard.
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: Sometimes Life throws curveballs, motivation fluctuates, new ideas distract focus.
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: So today I want to help you with offering some mindset shifts and some tactical ideas to help you with implementation.
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: So let's share a story of failure to be consistent by yours truly.
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: Yep, been there, done that, have the t-shirt.
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: I was so busy with new prospects and clients.
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: It was awesome.
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: Guess what I was doing?
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: Yep, I was handling my client work.
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: I was focusing on them and getting that stuff done.
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: I was working in my business.
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: I think I was even taking a course on being more profitable at the time.
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: I was on top of the world.
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: Then I got an email from a person who leads a group I was supposed to speak to.
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: We were locked in months in advance and I was ready to go.
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: Her email said Kendra, you still around?
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: I was looking on your social media and you haven't posted in months.
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: Do I need to get another speaker?
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: Where are you going to be there?
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: She almost got another speaker.
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: I almost lost out on an opportunity to speak in front of a group of prospects.
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: Can't afford to lose that kind of stuff.
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: It was not good, not good at all.
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: That's why consistency is so important.
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: What's the right consistency?
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: Not necessarily two to three times a week and then nothing at all for a long time.
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: It still happens and I still struggle with it.
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: A couple of weeks of December definitely had that issue.
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: I get it At the time of recording.
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: I am furiously creating some social media posts because I felt behind due to the holidays.
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: It happens.
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: You need to forgive yourself and move on, but you also need to know that this is important and you need to focus on it.
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: Before we get into tips on how to stay consistent and what to do, I want to give you a core, few things that you really need to look at.
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: Everyone is due less.
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: Yep.
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: Do less, not more.
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: Don't sign up for every social media platform every day.
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: I wish I had like four less social media channels.
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: It would make being consistent so much easier.
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: I actually had a guest on the podcast in 2023 who's a marketing strategist.
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: The only channel she has is LinkedIn.
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: There is nothing wrong with being focused.
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: And then I want you to define frequency.
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: Don't start off at two podcasts a week.
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: Don't start posting one time a day on your social media channels.
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: What do you think is sustainable in the long run?
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: Then I would recommend that you cut that in half, because we always overestimate our time, and then scale up after that.
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: I have a friend with an awesome podcast, the Art of Volunteering.
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: She releases an episode every other week.
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: Could she do more?
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: Maybe, maybe not.
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: This is her passion and she is dedicated and purposeful in it.
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: She spends a ton of time finding the right guests, prepping her conversations with them.
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: She puts out a quality podcast on a consistent schedule.
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: It's not two times a week, it's not four times a week, it's not even once a week, it doesn't have to be and she has been consistently growing.
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: As a reward for her consistency, you can find her podcast link in the show notes because I think it's a great episode and I'll be sure to link to the one where she interviewed me.
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: But I love how she can take that time and dedicate herself to each episode so thoughtfully.
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: Me I had so much to share at the beginning and I wanted to go and add my own thoughts, so I kept increasing my frequency.
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: Then I got in trouble and I almost threw in the towel.
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: I powered through, came up with a better plan and now you benefit from my thoughts every Tuesday and, I guessed, interview with their perspective every Thursday.
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: So how do you go about creating and building your consistency?
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: Well, I would start by reviewing the core pillars of your business model what elements resonate most with your audience.
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: Pair down efforts to double down on what works.
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: Say no to non-essential new initiatives and peripheral offerings that are going to diffuse where you're spending your time.
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: That's right, I said.
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: Say no and then systematize as many customer touch points as possible through templates, automations, so follow up happens on autopilot or outsource it.
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: Schedule your social media and email campaigns weeks in advance so that you've got a consistent connection.
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: Convertkit and constant contact are great tools for this.
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: Constant contact even has social media scheduling built in.
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: Now I personally use Metricool and we'll have links to all of these in the show notes, but part of that's because it's my job.
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: The other part is that I really do like the system and it's core to my business.
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: And then I want you to go ahead and document your proprietary processes so you can train a VA or a contractor to handle some of the admin tasks, freeing you up for high level work only you can do.
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: You're not adding value at certain places in the process, right?
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: I have standard operating procedures or SOPs on a lot of these things.
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: I also have AI prompts inside my asana, which is my task management system, that can help me or my VA or a contractor create some drafts.
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: The idea of this podcast in this episode on consistency yes, I love talking about consistency, but Claudeai came up with it.
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: As you can tell from what I'm sharing, claude did not write it, I edited it and made it mine.
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: Now I want you to remember you need to take care of yourself.
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: You need to manage energy, creativity and focus.
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: Building your business is a marathon, not a sprint, and I think some of us tend to forget that.
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: Consistency is the only sustainable thing, and it's only sustainable long term if you have ample personal bandwidth.
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: That's where I was with the podcast.
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: I was tired and frustrated of guests standing me up and throwing in last minute solo shows.
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: I was ready to walk away.
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: Now I'm headed into the home stretch, reaching your three and only three months away from our 200th episode.
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: Look crazy, right.
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: So don't let work expand to the time you're allowing it by creating goals and consistency targets that are just too hard and that you're never going to meet.
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: I want you to define what is consistent for yourself and then stick to.
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: That Doesn't mean you can't grow over time.
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: So what is integral to you driving consistent results in your ventures?
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: So, again, do less and define consistency.
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: Those are going to be two of your key mantras for 2024.
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: All right, everyone.
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: That wraps up today's episode on elevating consistency in your business.
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: To dig deeper into reliability, focus planning, take a look at my consistency roadmap over at kendercormancom forward slash consistency.
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: Thanks again for tuning in and have a great rest of your day.