Photo courtesy of Kristin Smith
A friend recently shared this awesome Og Mandino quote on Facebook:
“Remember the most difficult tasks are consummated, not by a single explosive burst of energy or effort, but by consistent daily application of the best you have within you.”
We live in society where instant gratification has evolved from being just a catch phrase to almost being a way of life, and an expectation. While this may work just fine for some things, the more important and more difficult tasks in life don’t respond to quick fixes. They require more (and better) planning coupled with patient, thorough, and consistent execution of that plan. In other words, commitment is not only the mother of consistency, but it is foundational to finding success in whatever we do.
Although sometimes difficult, commitment makes life work and can make dreams a reality. Commitment is what keeps us on a diet until we reach our goal. Commitment is what pulls us out of bed and pushes us to the gym on even those mornings following a bad night’s sleep. Commitment is what gets us in, and keeps us in, a relationship. Commitment is frequently found behind the things in which we excel.
Sometimes commitment to a goal can be a little scary. And there’s always some risk involved, if only the risk of failure. But one thing is true about commitment: without it, nothing of much worth ever happens.
While this obviously applies to everything we do, it has particularly struck me of late how much it applies to business marketing.
Committing to PR for Real Results
Too often new or small businesses approach online public relations and social media marketing with the idea that a really small commitment of time, funds or effort will magically produce big results. Not so. The reality is that your results will be commensurate to your commitment or investment. In fact, increasing the amount of work that is done will typically multiply the results rather than just increase them.
For example, you can spend enough money to write an absolutely amazing press release, but if your outreach efforts are minimal, your results will be as well. No matter how amazing your product or service, as far as marketing goes, it’s just the opposite of “if you build it, they will come.” We recommend that 60 to 70 percent of your budget should be spent on outreach efforts and establishing relationships with the media because consistent, committed efforts make your brand more recognizable. Then, once you have a relationship with the media, they will be more inclined to publish your press releases, articles, and blogs. Additionally, the longer a committed PR effort continues, the greater the impact will be over time.
What are you Really Committed to?
Because commitment can create such big payoffs wherever it’s applied, where we choose to apply it is well worth some serious thought. What are you really committed to? It may not be what you think! As stated by business psychologist Miriam Buhr in her blog post, How do you know what you’re committed to doing?, sometimes “there’s a juicy payoff for focusing on non-essential or irrelevant things.” Unfortunately, those are not the things that get us where we want to go.
For a real surprise, map out how your use your time during a day, or even better, a typical week. Be specific; the more detailed you are, the more you will learn. Then, categorize and add up (at a minimum) those activities where you spent the largest chunks of time. Voilà! There are your real priorities. If you find they are in alignment with the priorities you know to be the most important, congratulations! If not, you just discovered a chunk of lost time that’s now available to put to better use, and results, in your life.
What do you think? Do your activities accurately reflect your priorities?
About the author
I’d like to think my activities reflect my priorities, but whether that’s reality–I’ll never tell.
And as far as commitment is concerned, I think you make an excellent point highlighting it as a major characteristic for success. Without commitment, can anything really be accomplished?
Marilyn,
That is a great post and so true. We often do the things that we think are easy because they take less commitment. It is hard to commit to something long term anymore because we’re so used to instant gratification. If what we’re trying doesn’t work then we try something else. Most often we think that we should be able to get what we want for what we want to put into it, but that is not always the case. Things are what they are. For example. When the Red Sox played the Rockies in the World Series I really wanted to go, but I only had about $200. That would get me in at the Rockies stadium but not at Fenway. I only wanted to see it at Fenway, so it was a no go. No matter how much I wanted to see them, if I wasn’t willing to pay $1,500 there was no chance I was getting into Fenway.
With me, the problem is sometimes getting sidetracked from my priorities by other things I’m interested in. While they are frequently also worthwhile activities, they can really sabotage higher priorities, which often take much more time and effort (another way of saying “work”).
As depicted in the pictures, balance is really important, too. I can sometimes get so focused on priorities that I neglect scheduling a little down time. Even then, however, I’m more drawn to doing the things I can knock out the fastest, sometimes again, to the expense of higher priorities.
I would have to agree that our society is engulfed in instant gratification. Our thought process and habits have followed this pattern as well. Diligence and consistency are the key to having success. This involves success in our life and success with our business. Whether it’s consistently updating social media, consistently having contact with the community and media or consistency with a diet or exercise, in the end that is where the reward lies.
Right on, Allison!
Nice post, Marilyn. I come into contact weekly with companies that submit a press release, or article and wait… and wait… and wait… for a response. Nothing happens. However a well written press release combined with consistent media outreach efforts will pay off. The key? Persistence, time, and repetition.
Exactly! It takes experience and real public relations outreach savvy to maximize the results of any business press release – no matter how well written.