How Long It Takes for Marketing to Produce Real Results
Flywheels are hard to get started but once they get going, momentum builds and that initial level of effort reduces significantly.
You know prayer wheels? You can keep a 3 ft tall prayer wheel spinning with just a finger once it’s already in motion.
Once it’s already in motion…
Marketing is a flywheel.
Marketing is hardest to do in the beginning, to get that flywheel going, but then it gets much easier.
How long does it take to get the marketing flywheel spun up and producing?
About 6 months.
That’s when you’re starting from zero marketing effort or doing it randomly and half-heartedly for a couple of days every now and then.
If you’ve done marketing before—you’ve got the assets, you know the drill—then you can expect substantive results around the 3-4 month mark.
Of course there are specific factors impacting these timelines and there are always outliers.
But after 20+ years working with many dozens of clients, conversations with hundreds of small business owners and solopreneurs, and my personal experience marketing my own businesses, these timelines have proven true many times over.
What does this mean for you?
If you can know as a rule of thumb that it takes about 6 months from zero to a consistently producing marketing effort, it means you can plan better.
It means if you’re 3 months into marketing consistently (i.e. doing weekly outreach, running a recurring event, or sending a regular newsletter) and haven’t gotten real traction yet, you’re about midway through the timeline so keep going!
It means you’ll be less inclined to quit your marketing to attend to new clients and projects—because you know, the marketing you did WORKED—when you know it’s going to take months to get that flywheel spun up again.
You’ll be motivated to find sustainable ways to keep marketing going, especially when you’re at your busiest.
What if you’re thinking, Six months! I haven’t got 6 months to get things really shaking in my business.
Can you speed up the timeline?
Yes.
Here are the 5 factors that can have significant impact on your marketing ROI (aka timeline to results):
✅ the frequency of offers
✅ temperature of your audience
✅ how regularly that you’re writing and publishing
✅ the inherent familiarity of your service
✅ the alignment and resonance of your messaging
I explain these factors further including what to consider when it comes to your specific situation in the video below:
Here's how we help coaches, consultants and creative pros leading for-profit and nonprofit businesses increase their visibility, income, and impact—in case YOU or someone you know needs:
STRATEGIC BRAND COACHING
Get clear on your positioning, ideal client, and customer journey. Understand how to package, price, and present your offers.
MESSAGING + COPYWRITING
Develop or evolve your brand messaging—and get the literal words you'll need—for heart-centered, high-converting online and in-person communications.
MARKETING STRATEGY
Move your client-attracting words to your website and everywhere else. Take marketing actions aligned with your biz model, resources, and style for your version of success.
MARKETING FUNNEL BUILDS
Get done-for-you website design, email marketing campaigns, and client attracting resources to build your lead generation and conversion engine.
We have lots of free and low cost resources to get you started. Explore what's available here.
And when you're ready, schedule a no-cost, no-obligation chat with Lisa.