Half Full or Half Empty

According to Drew, you shouldn't wait until it get's half gone:

Keep topping it off

Posted: 24 Jun 2009 03:23 AM PDT

I drink a lot of water. This can be directly linked to 30+ kidney stones. The more water, the fewer stones.

I like water cold. Really cold. I'm talking seriously ice cold water, please. When I am at home, I almost always have a huge insulated glass nearby, filled to the brim with ice water. Because I prefer the water to be frigid cold, I don't let the level in the glass get too low before I re-fill it.

(I can hear you...what in the heck does this have to do with marketing?? Stay with me....)

I've discovered if I keep topping off the glass, the water I am adding gets colder faster (or the flip side, does not warm up the water already in the glass.) I am sure this ties to some scientific theorem that I should know...but I am just telling you from experience that this is true.

If I get really engrossed in something and absently drink the water until there's almost nothing but ice left in the glass....it takes a long time for the newly added water to reach the optimum temperature.

To recap....topping off means the water is always very cold (consistent temperature) as opposed to if I have to re-fill almost the whole glass, it takes a long time to get the water cold (inconsistent temperature).

And the marketing point is.....(shame on you if you jumped right down here!)

The same is true of our marketing efforts. Some organizations go hot and cold on their marketing. They're aggressive or at least active one month or one quarter and then are dormant. Or other companies market like crazy when sales are down and when they get busy, marketing falls off the radar.

Or maybe you're particular version is that you only deliver the first half of the one/two punch. You drop the direct mail piece but you never follow up with the phone call.

Regardless of how or why -- the inconsistency of your marketing hurts you. It turns a warm prospect into a cold one, by the time you get back around to marketing again.

You would be far better off to sustain a defined level of marketing (remember the drip method, as opposed to the downpour technique) and then just "top off" your efforts with some add-ons, be it seasonal or situational.

When you are consistently present and either creating or participating in dialogue -- the "water level" of your prospect's awareness and interest in you stays consistent, so you can build on it over time.

How are you keeping your marketing consistent and then just topping it off? Or if you're not...why not?

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