You buy a beautiful cabernet sauvignon, with the instructions that the wine will improve over time. You know you should put it in your cellar, but you uncork it instead. You are too excited to wait, and surely, it will be good enough, right? You take a sip and spit it out. It tastes like a cheap wine since it hasn’t been properly aged. You wanted immediate results and were left with something substandard.
The same is true for marketing. While some companies promise instant results, marketing takes time. The only way to make a lasting impact and build your business is to have patience with your marketing campaign. Find out why this is so important.
You Have to Get to Know Your Customer
You wake up one day and decide you’re going to market your business. You create a campaign and sit back, waiting for the results to roll in. The problem is nothing happens. No one notices or acts on your ads. This is for a simple reason: You didn’t take the time to get to know your customer. Successful marketers create and utilize buyer personas. It takes time to identify the target customer and build the personas. Fortunately, once this work is done, the personas rarely have to be adjusted.
Consistency Is Needed to Create Awareness
Some people think they just need to run an ad and that will get results. A single ad campaign will bring them all the customers they need. A single ad might bring you a customer or two, but it won’t achieve long-term results. You need a consistent online presence to build awareness. Only then will your brand register with your target market.
This is called the “Rule of 7.” Researchers believe that people need to see an offer a minimum of seven times before they truly pay attention to it. They won’t act until they see it at least seven times. That takes time, which is one reason why marketing doesn’t provide instant results.
Lead Nurturing Is a Process
Marketers create campaigns based on the buying cycle. If you have never run a successful marketing campaign, your marketing team will have to create marketing materials for each cycle. That means the team will need to market for awareness, consideration, purchase, and retention. Moving people through the cycle takes some time. They must become educated on your products, services, and company and find out what makes your company special. People do not move through the cycle in a single day or week. It can take months of nurturing leads to get results. Fortunately once customers are in the buying cycle, the marketing team can keep them there.
Testing and Changes Are Needed
Marketing isn’t an exact science. Even the best marketers cannot create a campaign out of thin air and feel certain it will work perfectly without any changes. Instead, marketers must run A/B tests for various aspects of the campaign. Then changes are made based on the results, which allows marketers to fine-tune the campaign. Marketing campaigns take a bit longer to take off, but when they do, they are optimized to get results.
It Takes Time to Build Trust
Trust and sales go hand in hand. When people trust your brand, they are more likely to buy your products. You can’t just hit the scene today and expect everyone to trust you. You need months of quality content and engagement to build that trust. Once you lay the groundwork, you can enjoy the benefits.
Don’t Rush Your Marketing Campaign
Waiting for results might seem unbearable, but you’ll be happy you did once your campaign is firing on all cylinders. Marketing does take time, but just like a fine wine, patience has its benefits.