Start Slow or Fail Fast

We all know the sayings:

A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.

Rome wasn’t built in a day.

Yet a big hurdle man attorneys face when starting a marketing plan is simply getting started.

Trust me, I understand. In the beginning, the process appears daunting. Combine that with the memory of other marketing campaigns that you may have started and then stopped and it’s no wonder that even the mention of the word marketing makes people want to run for the hills.

It doesn’t have to be that way.

One of the things I encourage my clients to do is to start slow, or fail fast.

What do I mean by that? Exactly what it says! One of the keys to a successful marketing plan is longevity. Our efforts have a cumulative effect. We want to be like the Colorado River, slowly creating the Grand Canyon, not a really quick downpour that floods the basement and then goes away.

Often times when we start something new we want to do everything at once. We get excited about the prospect of new clients and more money, so we create unrealistic expectations and get frustrated when we naturally can’t achieve them.

So my advice… start slow!

Instead of overhauling your website, email a former client you have not spoken to in a while.

Instead of shooting a television commercial call a current client and set up a time to visit them at their place of business.

Instead of buying a billboard update and maximize your LinkedIn account.

These are things you can do in the time it takes you to order your latte, and they can make a huge impact on your practice.

Think about one thing you can do right now, sitting at your desk, to develop a new connection. It can be emailing that person who gave you the business card that’s been sitting on your desk for two weeks. It can be congratulating someone on their new promotion. It doesn’t have to be a lot; it just has to be something.

Once you’ve done that, pat yourself on the back. You’ve just started slow. Congratulations!