The world of marketing is wild. Sometimes it feels like a race, and your only goal is to win attention as fast as you can, with all the content, funnels and pipelines at your disposal.

There’s nothing wrong with wanting to get attention through your marketing (that’s the point, after all), but chasing trends and staying on top of consistent content doesn’t always yield the results you’re hoping for. In fact, striving to keep afloat in our always-up culture can reek of desperation and have the opposite effect of what you’re going for. Your ever-consistent marketing could actually become a turnoff if it’s perceived as thoughtless and poorly conceived. 

So, is it possible to turn out great marketing content, while moving quickly and intentionally, without hurrying, appearing frazzled and rushing from one plan to the next with little to no course of action? 

Short answer: Yes. 

It’s called Slow Marketing.

Disclaimer:

Slowing your brand marketing down doesn’t mean sticking to your fast-paced mindset and just revealing new marketing campaigns less frequently. It means putting a helluva lot more time and effort into the approach to your marketing so that you’ve got a meticulously calculated marketing approach that gets results. Unlike the hustle and bustle of fast-paced marketing, slow marketing emphasizes a more deliberate and thoughtful approach to building lasting relationships with customers.

A slow marketing approach is long-term planning, not slowing your growth. You can still maintain steady gains through slow marketing. It also doesn’t mean losing fast marketing entirely. You already know that balance is important to your success.

So what does it take to succeed at slow marketing? Here are 5 ways you can make it work for you. 

• Being intentional 

Marketing with eyes on the future is the key. When you slow down a large portion of your marketing, you’re taking the time to plan many steps into the future, ensuring your brand is presented in the best possible light. You’re taking the time to figure out what types of marketing fit best with your business, and then creating plans to implement, encourage and then repeat them indefinitely. Research, intentionality and planning will help you find best approaches to your marketing, allowing you to tweak them slightly, and repackage with nearly endless results. 

• Quality over quantity

Believe it or not, people are more savvy than they’re usually given credit for, and they can smell bullshit from a kilometer away. Rather than firing up a mad, endless sprint from one campaign to the next, Slow marketing encourages a shift in mindset, emphasizing the importance of delivering high-quality content and products. Doing so enhances the perceived value of your brand by showcasing your plan to be there for the long haul. People see your effort, and future attention to future planning, and reward you with their loyalty.

• Contextualization

So much of marketing focuses on “how” and “what”, which is logical, but slow marketing dares you to ask “why.” When planning a campaign without background intentionality, you’re more likely to simply endeavor to figure out what you’re going to do, and how you’re going to get it done. But asking a question like “why” requires some soul searching, conversations with staff and clients, and a powerful desire to get to the heart of customer desires and consumer psychology. Once you figure out the why, the how and what become consistently clear.

• Sustainability

Incorporating slower marketing into your business encourages long-term growth, while laying out plans for the future of your business. Yeah, we all love quick wins, and the endorphin rush and minimal effort that comes with them, but focusing on a big picture approach that is intentional and deeply connected to your business is far more sustainable. Expressing your meaningful approach, rather than focusing on constant instant gratification, is absolutely essential if you want to organically grow your business. 

• Un-Marketing

Slowing down and giving your approach some serious thought, planning and execution will afford you time to create marketing that doesn’t feel like marketing. Looking for areas where you can add value to your marketing content is substantially simpler when you’re not pushing hard for the next immediate result. Slowing down and taking note of spheres where your content can improve, especially in the areas that serve a purpose, becomes your goal. 

Your content should seek to do one (or more) of the following: educate, inspire, entertain. This is most easily achieved when you’re giving yourself time to perfect your marketing practices. Once you’ve got your slow marketing content creation mastered, your business can position itself not just as a product or services but as an integral part of your customers’ lives. In the marathon of business success, slow marketing is the deliberate stride that ensures you not only reach the finish line but thrive in the journey.