Run Your Marketing Past the Finish Line
Finish Your Marketing Campaign at Top Speed Even When Things Don't Go as Expected
One time about four or five years ago, Eckhart Tolle’s organization offered a course on conscious manifestation. I was interested in the topic. It was a robust offering – eight weeks of lessons, global community, live calls with Eckhart, bonus materials. The cost was $300, plus they offered payment plans.
I’d been reading Eckhart’s work for years, deepening my understanding every time I engaged with it. He was well known to me. I trusted the content, and him.
They started promoting his course eight weeks ahead of the sign-up deadline. Steady, slowly, I received emails, sharing information about the course, people’s experiences, the benefits, reminding me of what’s included.
And so on.
I knew I wanted to take the course. And yet, It took a long time for me to sign up. I’d receive an email, perhaps, or see something about it on Facebook, and I’d feel a tug, and begin to question. Would I really have time? Should I take this one? Do I need to spend $300 on something I probably just could get in re-reading one of his books? Back and forth.
Finally, I decided to say yes.
At the Deadline
Do you know when I signed up?
On the last day of the offering (and loved the course, by the way!)
I’m less of a Last-Minute Lucy these days, and yet I know deciding things at or just before the deadline is very common. According to several of my teachers and trusted authentic marketers I’ve learned from, often 40-50% of people signing up for an offer come in on the last few days. (I’ve even had clients tell me they had people sign up after the deadline because they forgot to close the sales page.)
There are many reasons why someone might wait to sign up for your offer until the last minute.
It could be because they:
Aren’t sure it’s something they can fully commit to, emotionally, financially, or timewise
Need time to coordinate with and/or are waiting on another person, such as a spouse, friend, day-care provider to be able to say yes
Want more information before deciding because they aren’t sure this is really what they need
Have a lot going on and may have other priorities or this keeps slipping their mind
Are still unfamiliar with your work, your style and/or otherwise feel uncertain
There are other reasons as well, but I what want to talk about today is how all this really informs what you should do toward the end of your marketing campaign to be effective.
Keep Going
When planning your marketing campaign, it’s important to first establish your marketing foundation. Then, as you’re putting your timeline in place, deciding your dates and planning for the campaign launch, you need to give people enough time to decide.
And, once you’ve started marketing, you need to keep going.
That’s right. Even if the numbers aren’t coming in as you expected, or as you hoped. And even if they are coming in, keep implementing the plan (If you’re running a group or event, and the slots have filled, of course, this wouldn’t apply, unless you’re collecting names for a waitlist.)
Why is this so important?
Helping People Decide
First was what I referenced above – that up to half your signups could come in at the last minute. But if you disappear halfway through, you take away the extra information or reminders some of your potential clients might need to say yes. You take away the time they need to sit with their decision.
Honestly, if I’d stopped receiving emails about the Eckhart Tolle course a few weeks before the deadline, I doubt I would have gone on to sign up for it.
Cultivating Trust
Every communication you have with your audience either builds or hinders trust.
When you put an offer out to your audience, and you continue to show up with love and kindness offering this thing for their consideration; when you give them the information they need, the reminders, the time to make a decision, all of that shows your audience that you believe in your work - that you believe your work is worth showing up for. It also shows you respect them, their time, and their needs.
It helps them trust you.
On the other hand, when you put out an offer to your audience and only send one note about it or start out with a strong steady promotion and then disappear, you’re sending a message. A subtle one, but a message, nonetheless.
(Of course, life sometimes happens along the way. Unexpected challenges arise or priorities need to shift. This is normal, and different than what I’m talking about here.)
Your Energy and Attracting Potential Clients
Sometimes you start out full of excitement and anticipation for an offer, but then, a day or two goes by and you don’t hear anything. No one asks questions. No one comments. No one engages or signs up. It’s easy to get discouraged, and to start telling yourself stories – it’s the wrong time; it’ll never work; it wasn’t meant to be.
Those stories then impact your energy and can, if left unquestioned, impact your desire to keep showing up. And that’s the energy you’re putting out there – to your audience and the Universe. When you stay strong, committed to the offer you created and the plan you put in place to send it out to the world, no matter what it might look like two weeks in, you transmit your belief in the possible.
Deciding if You Need to Adjust Course
Finally, when you decide to keep running past the finish line, you can also look at your plan, what you’ve done so far, and determine what if anything you might need to do to shift. You can look at your plan and see if there aren’t more things you could do or more people you could talk to about your offer. If you haven’t already, you might send personal emails, ask colleagues to share your offer, or tell more family and friends about it, for example.
Having a commitment to finishing strong lets you evaluate where you’re at and see what you could do to add to your effort.
When you’re implementing your marketing campaign, run past the finish line. Even if, and especially if, the numbers aren't coming in as expected. Keep sending out communications to help people decide.
Remember that a surprisingly large percentage of your sign-ups could come in at the last minute, so it is crucial to keep going and provide extra information or reminders your potential clients might need to say yes. You can also more clearly see when and where you might need to adjust.
And, when you continue to show up with love and kindness and offer what you believe in, it helps your audience trust you and impacts the energy you send out into the world.
That’s something worth running toward.