Build your marketing rhythm to become well known, with less stress and zero ‘start stop’ chaos
We all run into a bit of luck. Sometimes you do marketing that goes really well. Or someone shares your content, and you get a bunch of traction and maybe some enquiries. Right time, right place. Or sometimes the latest algorithm version gets a hold of it. We had one guy put up a video recently that ran up to 33 million views. It was great, his audience doubled.
But when this happens, it’s an event. It’s not something that we can rely on.
Because it’s not a system.
Even if I were to say to the guy who got 33 million views ‘can you do that again?’ all he can say is that he’s continuing with what he was doing before… But he can’t make something go viral again.
Every once in a while I like to nerd out on physiology or physics papers. There was a Russian scientist back in the day, his name was A.A. Ukhtomsky. Anyway he was talking about rhythm in nature. And that rhythm is really the thing that’s needed for any separate parts to become a system. That all systems in nature have a rhythm to them of some kind.
It’s the same with marketing. Once you have a rhythm, you’re like a lighthouse that’s blasting light out with a frequency. People see you - they know where you are, and what you’re doing.
A lot of new service business owners lack ‘rhythm’ in their work. So what happens is they get really excited, and put out some content, or plan a podcast, or emails for marketing. And then they don’t get the response that they were looking for, so they stop. Then they start up again later once the energy comes back. That’s called ‘start-stop’ marketing. I went through this right at the start as well. But not only is this kind of marketing not effective, but you never build a body of work, and you get steered by your emotions all over the place.
But with bigger businesses, there is always some kind of marketing rhythm (sometimes this is offline focused).
In fact, there are exceptions (usually where the marketing isn’t improving over time, or the service needs work), but it almost gets to a point where the more consistent the marketing rhythm, the better the service business does. This is painfully clear with online businesses.
But what about if your business is full?
We still recommend marketing consistently, or in line with whatever rhythm you set up.
One way to think about this is your marketing is basically like a pulse. Blood pumping through the system of your business. So, marketing is a sign of health for the biz. When we see the rhythm start-stop, we would call that ‘arrhythmia’ in the body, and it ain’t good! Similarly, arrhythmia in marketing isn’t good either.
Consistent marketing can help you build your brand, connect with future clients, open up collaboration opportunities, and more.
What kind of rhythm is best for your biz?
What kind of volume / frequency should you do?
I don’t know sonny.
It’ll depend on your biz-ness, your time and ability, and where you’re at. But let’s start with two assumptions:
1 - Some rhythm and consistency (say, over a 12 month timeframe) is a good thing
2 - We have to walk before we can run. So if you’re new to the game, then your ‘rhythm’ is gonna look pretty johnny basic, as you build the muscle to keep up the work.
That second point is kind of important. There are a lot of podcasts and newsletters out there that are one season in, then stop. Probably about the same as the number of books that are half written. A lot of this is because the project sounded good on paper, but it’s just too far outside what the person was ready for.
A better option is to layer it up.
Layering means you’re starting with the most basic step - establishing a core piece of content for a rhythm. This gets you going, helps people find you and then you can add to it once you have strung together a few reps.
Typically, I like to see up to three months worth of the first layer, before the second layer is added.
OK, let’s break them down with some examples:
Layer one - Weekly (or monthly) content rhythm on one platform
In the world of short form videos and tik tok, many-a-newbie business owners start off with shotgunning onto social media.
I think part of this is the gurus telling us to do it.
And a big part of it is that’s where most people are paying attention on the consumption side.
And if this is what you want to do, then all the power to you. However, the downside is - you don’t build a body of work. You don’t have a way for people to go deeper. And you’re trying to flesh out ideas for your marketing (helping your clients) with 40 second videos that are right alongside videos of cats and dogs and people doing double back flips. So basically that’s to say it’s easy to lose your track, and not really have much in the way of actual marketing.
The alternative, is to start to build a rhythm with one core piece of pillar content each week. Or month. And I have to say that, because I know a few business owners who do full-blown magazines (awesome), but these are more like a quarterly cycle, or monthly at a minimum. So even a weekly cycle is too short for these guys. And that’s OK.
But for most people, a weekly cycle is great, and what it can look like is this:
** A weekly article that takes people deeper into a topic, or tells some stories. You can publish this on your site, on medium.com, or now all the rage seems to be sub-stack. Which, I don’t really understand why you would do that versus email, but whatever.
** A weekly podcast. This could be a solo episode, or interview with someone in your industry (‘how to’). Basically an audio version of the above. Personally I am better at pounding on the keyboard, but some people thrive on doing audio. You could publish this to the normal platforms, or keep it on a private app, or host it on the website.
** A short video that brings some value to your people. You could talk about something in your industry, or tell some personal stories or BTS on what’s going on with the business. This could be as short as three or five minutes. And definitely doesn’t need to look professional or anything. In fact, sometimes the more ‘raw’ the better.
And more.
Basically, it’s just a chance to create something that’s helpful for your people, on a time cycle that you can commit to for three months.
(The way I do it is this - the article is on the weekly cycle. I’m ‘thinking’ about the article and outlining it in the front end of the week, and then writing it in the back end. This means that by the time I sit down to write it, I’m pretty clear. Editing is very minimal - I might show it to Ruby quickly, but that’s pretty much it. I’m ready to publish as soon as it’s written. Then it goes out on the email…)
Layer two - Multiple pieces of content, or split content into short-form
In the second step, we’re presented with a choice.
Do we do a second article, or podcast this week?
That can be a great idea.
A lot of high level podcasters in particular do multiple episodes (there have been times where I’ve recorded as many as four or five episodes per week)… And once you have done ‘one’, it’s a lot easier to do a second or third.
Or, you can start to split that core piece of content up a little more and share it to short form.
This is what we do.
So what happens is the weekly article is written, and over that week, I know what the short form content is for the Creator Club instagram page. So the posts we do over there are typically photo, with what most people call ‘long form’ captions. But really the captions are super short in the scheme of things (say, compared to this article). So each caption might take me ten or fifteen minutes to write. And it’s talking about something loosely related to that week’s article.
This sounds a little boring - like it’s not doing lots of cool videos and that kind of thing on instagram.
But firstly, I couldn’t care less (and i suck at flashy videos).
And secondly, it allows the rhythm to continue in the easiest way possible.
Anyway, all of this is to say that in your second layer, either do more of what you were already doing, or, look at splitting it up onto another platform.
Layer three - Daily content on short form platforms
We typically will do four or five pieces of content on short-form platforms each week.
This is on top of the weekly long form content (article and podcast).
This is about 15 minutes per piece of content, which is 1.25 hours per week.
And for us, we use email and instagram.
As I mentioned before, this is basically topics that are ‘derived’ from our main article topic, or, they are posts about what we have coming up on the timeline. Or both. But the point is that in this layer, you are starting to ‘flesh out’ one platform on a daily cycle (at least - you can do more here).
(Remember, the core weekly piece is still going.)
OK, let’s pause and talk about this. This can sound like a lot here. You’re doing some kind of weekly article. Or a podcast. Then you’re blasting things out into a shorter form platform like Twitter or Instagram. That’s a fully fledged marketing rhythm my friend! The thing to remember though if this feels overwhelming to you, is that if you followed the above progression, you wouldn’t be here for at least six months anyway (three months per layer), to adjust. Sure there’s the odd person that can jump here faster. But for anyone new to marketing, you want to build to this point. And basically what that means is, when you’re here, it’s not more or less stressful than at the beginning, because you’ve adapted along the way.
Now - a final caveat. This ain’t going to work if you get lost into the instagram doom scrolling every time you go online. This is a post and move on kind of thing. We’re talking about marketing, not consuming, and you want to watch out for sucking loads of time with this stuff.
Layer four - Bring in a second core platform
OK, so you’re sitting at a core long form each week (article, or podcast), and some short form content, if you want.
This means you’re taking your audience deeper on something, and you’re showing up frequently as well. From here, you can add more core platforms or different types of media.
Example:
Say you’re writing a weekly or monthly article.
Well, now you could add a podcast.
Or, say you have a weekly podcast… Plus some instagram.
Well, now you could add a weekly email to your strategy.
Basically what Layer 4 does, is it allows you to start to ‘surround’ your audience, providing content from various angles, and on various mediums.
Again, this ain’t going to work out if you try to jump straight here. Go slowly, and adapt over time.
Layer five - And on we go…
From here, you can add more depth to your content, or, you can show up more frequently in any of your content streams. Or, you can add more streams, like speaking, or a book.
Ultimately what you’re creating here is omnipresence with your marketing. But it’s really going to start to be up to the individual at this point, and remember there will be a time and energy cost associated with this (i.e. you may need VA support, or outsourcing of some media).
Five ‘caveats’ to help bullet-proof your marketing rhythm
** We only covered one possible progression of a ‘rhythm.’ Other variations include simply emailing once per week, then increasing that to 3-5 times per week. Or, you could write a book once per year and do speaking around it. There are a number of ways. The point is that you can see how we can build a rhythm for marketing with our business, and go slow enough to adapt so that it isn’t stressful (bite off a little less than you think you can chew…)
** Build your unique version. Your articles might be short. Or your podcast could be a Q&A panel with multiple guests. Or you could write poems each week on your Instagram stories. I don’t know. But you can build a version that’s unique to you. And it’ll look different to yours truly.
** Use reminders. Personally, I don’t automate much of this whole process. Because it’s so simple. I just put it out there when it’s done. But I do use reminders. Because sometimes I get busy, and forget to start outlining that weekly article. Which can turn into a bird's nest if I let it go.
** You don’t have to show up where everyone else is showing up. This is the concept of ‘show up alone’ by the great Dan Kennedy. Basically, we don’t need to follow the latest trend to succeed or stay relevant. For example, I write, and I don’t do flashy videos. Even though everyone says they are the way to go. I’m happy to show up in my own way. And you can do your way too.
** When you get derailed, just jump back on the plan. Look - you’re going to falter if this is new for you. When that happens, and maybe you miss a day, or a week. Then that’s fine, just get back on the horse, and write an email, or outline an article. Or regress a layer to get your mojo back. But either way there’s no benefit in sulking or looking backwards - just start fresh and forge ahead.
Conclusion
If I could choose between a consistent marketing rhythm, or a few viral posts over a few months, I would take the rhythm any day of the week. Even if there was less output, and even if it seemed kinda boring. Why? Because you can add impact. You can ‘juice’ it up on some steroids and improve the work. This is something you can’t do if there’s no rhythm.
As you build your marketing rhythm, it might feel like you’re going slow. Like you’re stuck in second gear. And you want to go faster.
But stay the course. Soon people will start to see your work. And then they can pass it along to a friend. When the new person has a look around, they’ll see a bunch of stuff there, because you’ve built a backbone, or a ‘body of work’ over time.
They can see you as a professional, and you can build the trust and reputation you are looking for with your business.
All while keeping your energy up and having fun creating along the way.
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