Why Your Marketing Strategy Must Be Ongoing and Consistent

When it comes to business, there are no overnight success stories. It takes time to build an audience, a brand, and a reputation. Even when a company has reached a certain level of success, they have to continue to market their products and services. Imagine if great brands like Apple, Nike, and Starbucks stopped all marketing efforts, such as posting on social media or sending emails to the users who have opted in. Not only would it baffle their fans, but their customers would eventually migrate to competitors who were more interactive.

As we cover in our article, “The Value of Content Marketing for Asset Managers,” marketing has changed. It’s no longer about talking “at” people but “with” them—like a conversation. This sentiment is confirmed in the Inc article “Why Marketing Today Must Be a Conversation, Not a Monologue.” It states, “…customers today are looking for relationships, meaning two-way conversations with your business. They ignore all else as just plain noise.”

This type of marketing today is known as engagement marketing. It’s become an effective marketing strategy that top brands use to preserve their strong customer base. The Motley Fool explains this type of marketing in the article “Your 6-Step Engagement Marketing Guide.” They define engagement marketing this way: “Customer engagement employs high-quality, targeted content in a two-way conversation between your business and your audience to create and maintain meaningful interactions.”

Notice how the definition includes the word maintain. You can’t expect to keep the attention of prospects with a “one and done” strategy. To implement engagement marketing, your efforts must be ongoing.

The Benefits of Continuous Marketing

Great brands have worked out that if they’re consistent in their marketing, they can continue to reign supreme. They understand that to continue the support of their fans, they must keep the conversation going.

Here are the ways an ongoing marketing strategy helps build your business:

Defines your brand: People want to know who you are and what you offer. Content helps you define your brand. But if it’s not ongoing, your message gets lost and even forgotten. Think of marketing as an ongoing announcement that you’re open for business and ready to help solve their problems.

‍Increases visibility: The more ways and often you market yourself, the more likely it is for someone to find you. Fresh content ranks higher in search results, and being active on social media has been proven to have an indirect positive effect on SEO. Also, a prospect is much more likely to come across your business in their social media feed if you’re posting consistently.

Author Amy Wallin confirms this in her LinkedIn article “The Benefits of Posting Regularly on Social Media for Your Business.” She wrote, “Social media is the most effective marketing solution to increase brand awareness and visibility. When you post regularly on social media, your customers ‘’see’’ more of your brand.”‍

Creates trust: Being consistent helps create trust. Just like in all areas of life, reliability is a key component of demonstrating your dependability. A “one and done” approach lacks consistency. As with all business transactions, trust must be present before a purchase is made. This is especially true in the financial world. Potential clients won’t feel comfortable handing over their financial futures to someone they don’t believe in. Through long-term marketing, however, you can gradually gain their trust, which increases the likelihood of turning them into a customer. ‍

Maintains attention: In this digital age, attention is the hottest commodity. To keep the conversation going, you have to keep “talking” through marketing campaigns. The moment you stop the conversation, your “audience” (those who opt into your social media, email, and other marketing campaigns) will gradually disappear. If you keep marketing, however, you can keep your current customers engaged, as well as increase the chances of other people finding you.‍

Spurs growth: Building a strong customer base takes time. The more consistent you are, the easier it will be for people to find you online and get to know you, which will expand your customer base more quickly. The moment you stop marketing, it’s likely to have the reverse effect.

‍Shortens the sales cycle: As we explained in our article “Why Financial Advisors Need to Demonstrate Their Firm’s Expertise in Digital Marketing,” there usually must be 7-13 touch points before a sale can be made. The more often you engage with your customers, the faster you can reach these touchpoints and close a sale. A touchpoint occurs when a current or potential customer interacts with your business. Digitally speaking, this happens when a user likes or comments on a social media post, opens an email, reads a blog post, and so on.‍

Keeps you current: No one wants to work with a business that’s outdated. Ongoing content can demonstrate that you’re in tune with the latest financial news, as well as any new pain points your prospects might be experiencing. With the fluidity of the finance world, an ongoing marketing campaign allows your business presence to adapt as the markets and consumer needs change.

Long Term Marketing in the Digital Age

With the endless supply of online content, consumers hold the power over which pieces they read, and whom they follow. Thanks to the internet, they are also able to discover businesses in other regions or even different countries. This makes ongoing marketing even more crucial since you’re competing on a global level for your target audience’s attention. This is confirmed in the Forbes article “Remember: Digital Marketing Is a Long Game,” “You want your digital marketing program to be around for the long haul — not just a flash in the pan.”

Remember, you want to keep the conversation going. In order to do that, you have to keep engaging. Businesses that don’t continually produce content to meet the needs of consumer searches and desire for content will be overshadowed by those that do. Since the internet is always “on,” a relentless marketing plan is essential.

Outsourcing Your Marketing

Consistent marketing means having the money and time to execute it. Large corporations have enormous budgets to dedicate to all forms of marketing. But for smaller businesses, a lack of resources makes ongoing marketing a challenge.

If your business falls into this category, outsourcing may be your best option. Partnering up with a marketing platform or agency allows you to implement an ongoing and consistent marketing strategy on a limited budget. It can make your business more competitive with big players, and grow your business exponentially.

You can use a digital marketing agency or outsource through a platform like TIFIN Clout. TIFIN Clout was designed for advisors and asset managers to generate more leads and referrals, and create deeper relationships with clients. Our marketing specialists use AI and big data to create custom marketing campaigns designed to help firms reach new prospects while creating loyalty with current clients.

‍Need help to increase the consistency of your digital marketing? Schedule a time to see how TIFIN Clout can help.

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