Consistency in marketing is impossible if you’re a human—and you don’t need to strive for it. Here’s why, and what to do instead.
A lot of the questions clients ask me are about consistency. About how to stay consistent in their business by taking time for it, coming back to it. And especially, with being consistent with their marketing. With showing up regularly, frequently, all the time.
Most often they ask these questions because they’re overwhelmed. Because they feel immense pressure. Because they can’t keep up. Because, somehow, they need to give themselves permission to do things differently.
If you feel the same, you’re not alone.
My attempts at being consistent
I’ve shared before how when I started my business I tried very hard to be consistent about marketing. Carving out the time for it has never really been a problem—I had one day a week and one day only when I started—but being consistent in marketing soon became a problem.
Because I couldn’t. As diligent as I am, I was never able to keep up with my own marketing schedule for more than three weeks.
And I resented it.
I resented not being able to keep up. I beat myself up over it. And I resented that this was apparently the way you run a business.
Fast forward five years since that spreadsheet above, and I’ve learned that consistency is a myth.
It’s impossible to achieve consistency if you’re a human. Especially a human running their business alone, rather than with a (marketing) team.
–> Some more of this here: A permission slip to market your own way
Redefining consistency
Because I’m a word-nerd, I looked up the definition of consistency as I was writing this post. And it surprised me.
Consistency is “the quality of achieving a level of performance which does not vary greatly in quality over time.”
When it comes to business, and especially marketing, however, consistency has come to mean “doing something at a fixed frequency (and preferably as often as possible)”.
The marketing gurus and business bros have taught us that consistency is golden in business and the only way to achieve any kind of success. And that this consistency means being everywhere all the time. The kind of thing I tried to do 5+ years ago.
I usually don’t talk about “consistency” with my clients. I talk about doing things in a rhythm that suits them. In a way that is do-able. A way that is not pressuring them.
But if we want to use the term “consistency” nonetheless, I love how the definition focuses on quality. On “achieving a level of performance”. This, to me, means that we show up—in your business, in our marketing—in a way is doable to us.
Because if it’s not doable, we’re not able to achieve that quality. We’re not able to connect with our (potential) customers and clients in the way we want to. We’re not able to run our business in accordance with our values. We’re not able to live the life we want and need.
Your business needs to move with your life. This means that it needs to be flexible, so you can respond to whatever is going on.
I know very well the frustration of illness, of not being able to do what I set out to do. Of having to scale down my ambitions and plans. But I’ve built my business, and especially my marketing, to be able to do just that.
You might be in a similar spot.
Or you might be putting pressure on yourself creating content for the six weeks you’ll be away—as a participant in Grow recently shared. The thing is, you cantake a break. You can scale down. You can do less. You don’t need to pretend to be a robot that keeps churning out posts, newsletters, podcasts no matter what.
You’re human. That is why our readers, listeners, clients and customers relate to us. That is why they want to buy from us.
By being human, we allow them to be human too.
–> More like this here: Restart your small business: gentle strategies for getting back on track
An experiment
Take a moment to think or journal about these questions:
- Where are you putting pressure on yourself to be consistent?
- How can you redefine consistency in your business, or even let it go altogether?
- What do you need in order to show up in your business, in your marketing, in a way that moves with your business?
If this post got you thinking about your own marketing, my marketing quiz is a good place to start—you’ll get a free e-book with strategies tailored to your business.
And if you’re ready to build a marketing approach that’s truly yours—one that includes a plan you can actually keep up with, without burning out—I’d love for you to join me in Grow, my gentle marketing programme for small business owners, freelancers and creatives. Join the waitlist to be the first to hear when doors open.
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