When you hear the word “habit” most people think of all those bad habits …. The ones we are constantly trying to break. But, today, I want to discuss good habits and the importance of developing good marketing habits to build and grow your business. I believe developing good habits is probably the key to success not only in business but in life as well.
What exactly is a habit anyway?
According to Wikipedia, habits are automatic routines of behavior that are repeated regularly, without thinking. They are learned, not instinctive, human behaviors that occur automatically, without the explicit contemporaneous intention of the person.
Here’s the key for business owners when it comes to learning and implementing good marketing habits; they are learned and they occur automatically.
So, today, I will teach you how a systematic way to develop good marketing habits and then show you how to put these tasks on auto pilot so eventually they will become part of your everyday routine and you will do them automatically.
The key to developing effective marketing habits is to develop a consistent, simple, systematic approach.
Your marketing habit system should include daily, weekly monthly, quarterly and yearly habits.
Here’s an example of how I set this up in my practice:
Daily
- Facebook and Twitter daily update first thing in the morning, and maybe a posting later in the day
- Return phone calls
Weekly
- LinkedIn update at least once a week.
- Hand-written Notes – every Friday. Send at least 2 handwritten notes to colleagues, past clients, strategic partners etc.
- Develop a new piece of content
- Update content on your website
- Attend a networking event
- Blog 1 time per week – anything that’s related to your industry. Blogging might be written, video or audio
Monthly
- Newsletter – email corporate newsletter at least once per month. Pick a target date like the 15th
- Run a monthly promotional campaign
Quarterly
- Speaking Event – set a goal to do a speaking event once per quarter
- Run a quarterly direct response advertising campaign
Yearly
- Client Appreciation Event – pick a month that works within your calendar and work with a few strategic partners to host a client appreciation event.
- Send out New Year’s Cards
- Survey my clients and get feedback
Once you develop your own system, you want to make sure that you commit to doing the habits you outlined. The best way to do this is by placing them on a calendar and then scheduling specific times to get the work done necessary to achieve what is on your list.
One the most valuable parts for me in developing this habit routine was the actual scheduling of the times to carry out the work. This process forced me to make an appointment with myself to ensure I was stay committed to what needed to get done, especially with those items that I didn’t always want to do.
Make a commitment today to start your own business development habits and watch the difference it will make to your productivity and success.
Think differently to achieve amazing results,
Joe
