If you are attempting to build an audience, Being consistent is no longer important. It is required! In today’s market, a prospect / audience member interaction missed is like not showing up for a date.
Examples include:
- Expected post or article not made
- Scheduled webinar not held
- Anticipated podcast not published
- Awaited customer response to received
Why is Being Consistent so necessary?
To understand the significance of Consistency is in our audience-building efforts, you have to recognize what role is serves in the relationship between you and your prospect. In our digital / social environment, few of our connections are deep enough to develop Trust.
According to Dictionary.com, we have to recognize the connected, but subtle difference between Trust & Consistency.
- Trust – Reliance on Integrity, Strength, Ability, Surety, etc., of a Person or Thing; Confidence
- Consistency – Steadfast adherence to the same principles, course, form, etc.
As it suggests, Trust relates to confidence in another person or thing. Being consistent suggests repeated patterns that are observable and develops an expectation for a predictable outcome. Consistency, over time, builds Trust; Inconsistency destroys it. If a prospect experiences inconsistency, the opportunity to engage them is already missed! Unlike the woman above, there is a whole host of other suitors targeting and spending their hard-dollars to catch her interest.
In our attention-based market, Being Consistent is paramount because Trust is an invaluable resource.
Time is our most precious resource. Once lost, it cannot be recovered. More and more every day, our opportunities to connect with prospects are becoming that valuable. You can get (and spend ) more money to attract prospects, but you do not get a second chance to ace their first experience or cultivate your relationship with them!
Actions:
- Identify your chief connection channels with your audience.
- It cannot be more than you can commit to consistently interact!
- If that is one, choose one!
- Set a consistent schedule on which you will commit to engage them.
- You can do more, but this is your bare minimum!
- Empower one or two of your peers who will hold you to account for that schedule.
- This can be a mentor, accountability partner, mastermind group, etc.
- The key is someone or some group who will hold you to your commitment when you least want to do it.
- Define a period or time during which you cannot add more channels to ensure that you stay focused on the selected.
- Once you can be consistent for that defined time period in the selected, you can expand.
- Remember Stephen Covey’s Circles of Concerns and Influence!)
Editor’s Note: This article is targeted as much for me as it is for you! It represents a #OneSmallChange that I am introducing for myself. If you can be an accountability partner or you need one, then shoot me an email (david*at*sirusdigital.com).
