The Mcconaughey marketing trick
We’ve tackled the first quarter of 2023. Now, are you moving forward with momentum or are you stalling out? Is business full speed ahead or are you grinding your gears?
This morning, I started the day as I typically do. But, a little voice told me to take it down a notch. Instead of rushing around before the school bus arrived, I sipped my coffee a little slower and walked, unshowered, to the bus stop with my preschooler. I felt the sun on my face and thought what a great day it would be to go for a run. I watched my son toss those delicate helicopter, whirligig leaves in the air. From there, I had exactly 20 minutes to finish getting myself ready for the day and my older son to his school before the first bell.
Today, I didn’t try to make up for lost time. I didn’t rush to make a healthy, balanced lunch or a post-workout protein shake or pack a change of clothes for the office. I listened to that voice and took it down a notch.
On the 8 minute drive to my older son’s school, we chatted about soccer and timezones and the day ahead. I approached the same traffic light I drive through every day, often two or three or four times a day on weekdays. I noticed the light, which was always red, was green today. I didn’t hope I’d catch it. I didn’t press harder on the gas. I just stared at it, inching closer, ready for it to turn yellow, then red. It didn’t. I looked right at the green glow and said aloud, “You’re just gonna stay green, aren’t you?” It did.
Just for today, I stopped trying so hard and let it flow. I allowed some good and ease to come my way. I stuck with the non-negotiable items on the list and was rewarded with one green light after another. A quick pause here to note, in 2020, Matthew McConaughey wrote a delightful book on this very topic, if you’re interested. He calls it "a guide to catching more greenlights - and to realizing that the yellows and reds eventually turn green, too."
So often, I see business owners hurriedly approaching their marketing efforts. But, without a strategy, there’s no consistency, and the momentum quickly fades. In an attempt to reach more eyeballs and get more sales, it is so tempting to try all the things, all the time; social media trends, videos, Google ads, Facebook ads, SEO, presentations, LinkedIn articles, and sales funnels. But at what cost?
I encourage you to reflect here between Q1 and Q2 to take a look at what’s working and what isn’t. Allow yourself to scale up or down and make adjustments. If you see great engagement in one area of your marketing, keep it up. Find a way to elevate that channel for your business and lean all the way in. If there’s a new avenue you haven’t explored but are curious about, go for it. And if keeping up with trends feels like a total time suck with zero return, well...you know what to do. Take it down a notch. Get those hours back. Go for that run.
I'm not suggesting that you pump the brakes on your marketing efforts. But, I would encourage you to consider which are the non-negotiables and which are pulling your attention off course. Don’t make the mistake of spreading yourself and your marketing so thin that you can’t keep up.
Here’s a few practical tips to help grease the wheels:
Stick to your brand guidelines for a cohesive look across all your print and digital materials
Create branded templates or hire a designer to create editable templates for you and your team
Review how many hours you are spending in each area of your marketing and determine if outsourcing may be more cost effective
Batch content. Write or create one long form piece of writing or video and chop it into smaller nuggets for use across multiple platforms. One concept, multiple uses.