Seasoned marketing people know that long term results come from persistence, patience and creativity. Sometimes, though, I think the media’s celebration of “overnight” sensations has created unrealistic expectations. For example, businesspeople may think that the Internet and technology in general have made it possible to achieve results in half the time. They think videos go viral overnight all the time. They might think if something doesn’t work right away it’s a bad idea.
Now add those notions to the typical entrepreneur’s over-developed sense of urgency and you might have a real expectation problem. I’ve written about patience and ADHD marketing before but it bears another look. Here are a few ways to figure out if you’re falling prey to marketing impatience:
- You’re constantly checking your web statistics. Google Analytics is the bane of my existence as a marketing consultant. It’s so bad, I’ll even change the password sometimes and NOT give it to the client. Web traffic is easy to understand and measure but it’s just like that watched pot that never boils. Unless you’re selling $1 widgets online, you’ve got to wait for the trends to emerge and analyze traffic on a much longer basis.
- You run Google alerts about all your competitors and get angry when they get press. I have so many clients who don’t understand it can take months or even years to land good stories. Set the expectation that a public relations campaign may not create strong results until after about six months. If things come in earlier than that, then celebrate. But don’t compare your results to the guy who has had a large agency on retainer for the past two years. It will be your turn but you have to be patient.
- You think 10,000 views is a small number for YouTube. We only really hear about the videos that get viewed “millions” of times but really, there are very few of those. And you don’t really WANT to have your video viewed that much. (Your site would crash first of all) Again look for solid trends upward in your video views. And this is where it’s good to compare yourself to your competitors. If they’ve had a good video up for six months and it has 5000 views (and you respect their marketing efforts of course) make it a goal to beat them.
- You expect to get tons of sales off one print ad. Print ads are expensive, it’s true. They do work but unfortunately it usually takes a fair amount of time for new advertisers to gain traction. Just like with web traffic, the momentum should build. Remember people are seeing thousands of impressions and it takes several times for a message to “stick”.
Are there areas as a new entrepreneur that you found you needed more patience? Let us know!
