Our attention spans are so short today. The Facebook newsfeed has taught us only to skim for the good bits then move on to the next bright and glossy post.
Instead of going deep into a topic, we have been trained to desire lots of information about many different subjects all in a few minutes. Yes, it’s entertaining and yes it helps us kill a few moments of dead time here and there, but we’re losing the skill of longevity.
The ability to do something for a prolonged period to get excellent at it. Today we want to the results, but we don’t want to take the time to learn the skill.
Unfortunately, many marketers have the same short attention spans in their work.
Marketing is a long-term game. You have to learn the skills, apply the knowledge, test your assumptions, make changes and then do it all again. But today marketers wants results quick, cheap and on tap, but without the effort and discipline, the marketers of yesteryear displayed.
Marketers have been lead into a false sense of security. Yes, online marketing tactics can be more powerful and cost effective than old school methods like newspaper and TV, but to truly excel at these tactics you still need the stackability of the old days.
Just because the potential of today’s marketing tactics is enormous, doesn’t mean you will see the full ROI of these tactics.
And this is where many marketers now find themselves. Frustrated and ineffective, trying every new tactic but getting very disappointing results.
They know online marketing works, but it just doesn’t work for them the way it should.
They see disappointing results because they don’t understand the power of Longevity. The ability to do the same thing day in and day out. When you do this, you get really good at it.
If you stop too soon, then you don’t become a master. You only ever have the experience of being a beginner and beginners never get results like the masters.
Online marketing tactics are the same. To see the rewards of these strategies you need to become experienced. Learn what works and what doesn’t. Get to know them inside out and upside down.
My advice is to pick the best online marketing tactic for your business and execute it until you master it. When times get tough, and it doesn’t work, dig your heels in and figure out why. Try something new. Measure, test, optimize and iterate.
There is an excellent framework a friend of mine Taki Moore has developed. It is called The Five Ones. It works like this:
- Pick ONE Target Market
- Create ONE Offer
- Design ONE Lead Magnet
- Choose ONE Traffic Source
- Do it all for ONE Year
What would happen if you did this? Would you be better at using your one lead source to attract your one target market to buy your one offer at the end of the one year? No, you wouldn’t be better.
You would be OUTSTANDING!
You would be a master at that strategy, that target market and that offer.
This, is the power of longevity. Doing something for long enough so you can become the best at it.
Let’s not become victims of the tools we use to attract our audience. Technology is shortening our attention span. Don’t let it reduce your ability to master your craft.
Use technology to become the best marketer you can be, not a marketer looking for the next trick.