Hello Reader,

I hate doing things the hard way.

When I was early in my career, I worked for organizations that had a culture of doing things the most difficult, tedious way possible (seriously, I had bad mojo or something in this regard in my twenties). This is probably because my strategic brain wants to find the more frictionless path to a solution possible, so twisty-bendy solutions don't make a lot of sense to me. (You may be different, and that's cool!)

Through that experience, I became more and more convinced that creating systems and repeatable processes were absolutely essential no matter what type of business or organization you are. That was the biggest hurdle I saw whether it was as Public Information Officer at a large school district or as Communications Director at a nonprofit. Marketing in particular was continuously reactive. We'd need to promote something ("get butts in seats" was what we would say) and it would be all hands on deck to fill seats. Then we'd pause, execute work like mad, shampoo, rinse and repeat.

You know, doing it the hard way.

When I got immersed into the wild world of online business, I was surprised to see that newer, often boundary-pushing businesses often had a similar culture. Intense reaction, hurry up and fill seats, businesses living and dying by the success or failure of their launch.

Now, let me be extremely clear, I do believe there are very valid reasons for utilizing launch-style marketing.

When I taught classes at a local college, their marketing was somewhat driven by the semester schedule, when I organized an annual big public event back in the day, obviously we ramped up promo the closer we got to the event date. A time sensitive group program? Sure, those launch-style tactics make sense.

What never made sense both in my day jobs or in the current business world I inhabit is the marketing cycle that feels like this:

(Raise your hand if you're the girl on the left. 🙋🏻‍♀️)

To me, this just seems overwhelmingly stressful and inefficient as your primary marketing strategy.

Evergreen marketing includes small, regular activities built around consistent themes that support your core business. It should benefit from longevity. (Think this newsletter, which we repurpose in loads of ways.) It should be repeatable and focused. And, extremely importantly, it should provide a steady stream of leads (whether those are clients, customers or supporters).

This is actually why I first became so interested in search engine optimization and later, email marketing. I was burned out on trying so many different tactics and saw that I just was always busy with plenty of very ready buyers when I did a certain number of evergreen marketing activities each week (initially my sweet spot was two, but now it's a bit more as we have so much we can repurpose). When I dove deeper into these approaches, I saw how much power the methods I was using (SEO/email) had in creating sustainable, long-term marketing processes and momentum. I attribute all of my business growth in recent years to this.

I was reminded of all the complications and unpredictability that comes with the rollercoaster style marketing when we offered a one-time solution with a hard deadline to close out our former productized service this past winter. The inbox was wildly full, there was so many questions to answer, I totally missed the mark in terms of predicting interest and kind of messed up our Q1 schedule because the interest to bookings ratio was far higher than I'd expected (it's fine, we're a very adaptable team).

That experience reminded me that I'd had this sketch of an email sitting in my drafts for ages and ages. For the style of business I run, and the type of clients we work with, evergreen marketing just fits. Building authority, growing steadily, finding more and more of "my people" consistently, that all feels really good and aligned with our values and our mission.

It also feels easy. Easy isn't bad—it's actually pretty fantastic.

What style feels good to you? I'd love to know. (Just hit reply.)

Warmly,

Sarah
​CEO, SM&Co​

P.S. 2022 is the year we're launching the service I've always dreamed of, but been too scared to offer: A 360º marketing strategy intensive that'll knock your socks off. If you want to hear about it first when we launch it (very soon), sign up here. ⭐️

P.P.S. If you feel tempted to reply with line edits of this free newsletter, please don't. I know you may think it's helpful, but it's not. These newsletters are truly written by me, Sarah, and don't go through an editorial process. This is extremely intentional, and as a result, they—like me—are imperfect. I used to have a perpetual P.S. about this—don't make me start doing it again, folks. 😉