Persistence is the Best Marketing Strategy of 2015

A few years ago, I decided to switch my New Year’s celebration. Rather than stay up late seeing out the old year, I decided to start getting up early and greet the new year by watching the sunrise.

I live in Maine, so sunrises are special, as we are one of the first places in the US to see the sun rise every morning. Early on January 1, I headed over to the Eastern Prom section of Portland Maine with my family.

To make sure I get there at the right time, yet not too early, I’ve learned more about how people calculate when the sun will rise. There are times to mark the starts of astronomical, nautical and civil twilight as well as daylight. For me, I think of sunrise as when I first see the top of the sun pop over the horizon.

If you’re unfamiliar with the geography around Portland Maine, let me explain what you see when you look Easterly from the city. You don’t see the open ocean, you see the islands of Casco Bay. So the sunrise is not over the water, but over this land.

This year, there was a wide band of low lying clouds hanging just above that land mass. So we had to wait longer than usual to see that bright pop of the sun. As we waited, huddled in the car because we had gotten cold waiting outside, my young kids became bored and restless. But I kept reminding them that they could see signs that the sun was rising. We could see the sky brightening, we could see the glow around the edges of the low clouds. But we had to wait a long time to actually see the sun.

Stay on plan and persevere

As I watched and waited, I was thinking about how so many plans we put in place (especially at New Years) never seem come to light because we get bored too quickly. Whether it’s exercising more, losing weight, or building your business, you need to stick it out.

If you’ve made it your New Year’s resolution to blog regularly, send out your e-newsletter more frequently, or post and connect using social media, you cannot give up too soon. You have to believe that your continual work and persistence will have an impact eventually.

It’s the steady creation of great content; the strategic use of social media; the repeated sending of your emails that will build relationships slowly but surely. Don’t get bored and bail out too soon. Don’t jump from one marketing tactic to another.

Blogging, email marketing and social media are marketing tools that have proven effective and they will work if you keep devoting your attention to them.

Metrics can’t predict everything

Too many business owners will start with gusto on a marketing plan and then give up when the metrics don’t give them the results in the time they predicted. Just like we had to sit and wait a little longer this year to see the blaze of the sun on new year’s morning, the process was still working. Our sunrise was delayed by cloud cover this year. Your results may not be visible as quickly as you’d like, but be persistent.