Being a generation that appreciates instant gratitude, sometimes we tend to stop whatever we are doing when we see things not just going to our expectations. Today, I’m gonna tell you why showing up continues to matter and how it’s still going to continue to build momentum for you, even though you are not seeing the results. 

What you will hear in this episode:

• Having consistent and regular communication and content for your audience
• Recommendation for beginners
• Why do people stop showing up
• Why continuing to show up is important
• What do people think if you stop showing up
• My challenge to you
• My message to you

Want to skip ahead? Here are some key takeaways

[02:52] Recommendation for beginners. Ensure you’re putting out new content every month. I would love to see you active on at least one social media platform. And I would love to see you emailing your list, at least twice a month.
[03:45] Why do people stop showing up? Not getting a lot of responses and engagements when starting out. We are very much a society of immediate gratification.
[04:59] Why continuing to show up is important. People are listening. People are paying attention, even with no engagements. We just don’t know what their current situation is, or when they will be ready. There's a lot of lurkers that are out there.
[09:13] My challenge to you. Do whatever it is that you have decided you can do consistently for the next three months. I want you to share this in the Facebook group.
[10:38] My message to you. Just stay consistent and show up even when you think nobody is listening. They are paying attention. Continue talking about your mission.

Resources

NonProfit Online Fundraising Growth Network | Facebook

Full Transcript

[Sami Bedell-Mulhern] Hey everybody, Sami here with another episode of the Digital Marketing Therapy Podcast. Today, we're talking about how it feels. I mean, you're probably showing up and doing a bunch of things, maybe things aren't happening. And so that's what I want to talk about today. Like, why showing up continues to matter and how it's still going to continue to build momentum for you, for your organization, and for you to reach your goals. 

And I am really passionate about this because I have experienced this in my own business. As time has gone on as things have been continuing, as I've been showing up. Different things have happened to me in my organization and in my business. And, and I've seen it happening with my clients as well. So that's why I want to talk to you about today, kind of a mindset thing, but why showing up matters, even when you feel like nobody is listening. 

So I hope that this is something that resonates with you. I'm excited to have this conversation with you. And here we go. But before we hop into the episode, I want to invite you to join me in our private Facebook community which is facebook.com/groups/thefirstclick. And this is going to be a great place for us to continue this conversation moving forward. And kind of help each other work through the mindset and the funk of people not caring or feeling like people don't give two craps about what it is that we're doing. Because I promise you that's not the case. So join me in that group with other like-minded and nonprofit fundraising and nonprofit marketing professionals. I am so excited to see you in there to learn more about who you are, what you do. So the facebook.com/groups/thefirstclick do it now before you forget. Okay, let's get into the episode.

[INTRO] You're listening to the digital marketing therapy podcast. I'm your host, Sami Bedell-Mulhern. And each week, I bring you tips from myself and other experts, as well as hot seats with small business owners and entrepreneurs to demystify digital marketing and get you on your way to generating more leads and growing your business. 

So I do believe that it is critical and super important for you to have consistent and regular communication and content for your audience. Now, this can look like a bunch of different things. And this is other episodes, and I'll try to link up some of those resources for you in the show notes. But here's the deal. It sometimes can feel like we're talking to nobody and like it's crickets. So whether that's social media, whether that's the blog posts, or podcasts, or whatever that you're doing, I'm always going to challenge you to keep doing it. 

So when you're just starting out, my recommendation is always you know, make sure you're putting out new content every month, whether that be a blog post, podcast, Episode, YouTube videos, whatever, I would love to see you active on at least one social media platform. And I would love to see you emailing your list, at least twice a month. And so that is, you know, note that one of those is your piece of content that you've created and letting them know about it. And another one is just maybe an update on what's going on with your organization. 

Well, I would love to see you all get to his being on you know, as many social media platforms as makes sense for your business. So where your audience lives, as well as you know, putting out new content every week, and I'm emailing your list on a weekly basis. So that's where I love to see people get to. 

So here's what happens, people get started. And then they're not getting responses from the emails they send out. And they're not getting a lot of engagement on social media and they're not getting, you know, donations flooding through the door. Right? We are very much a society of immediate gratification. And that's great, I get it, we all have different business goals. And the plus the the the biggest also hurdle that you guys are dealing with is you have you know, it could potentially be other people above you, executive directors, board members, whatever that are saying,

“Hey, I'm this isn't yielding immediate results. So let's stop”.

 Okay. So I'm going to share a couple of stories with you. That, you know, might help you with that conversation because it's all about consistency. And it's about continuing to show up. And it's also about understanding that people are listening even if you don't know it, and they're just waiting for the right moment. It could be the right moment. You know, maybe they're waiting for a new job promotion. Maybe they're waiting for their tax refund. Maybe they're waiting, I don't know, whatever it is. But let's really think about um, about that and why Continuing to show up, even if you don't necessarily see a ton of engagement is important. 

So the first example that I can give you is, um, I had, I send an email out to my list every week. Now, there have been some times where I have lapsed in that for sure, but I've been pretty consistent. And I had somebody reach out to me a couple of months ago, that was like, Hey, I know, we haven't talked in like two years. Okay, two years, guys. I know, we haven't talked to like two years, but I just wanted to let you know, I've been reading everything you've been pushing out. It's so impactful and amazing. And I really want to know, what can I do to support you? How can I help get the word out about you. So two years, he's been reading my content, he's been reading my stuff, he's been finding value in it. And now was the right time for him to reach out to partner with me to share some of the information with his own network. Okay. So people are listening, people are paying attention, we don't know what their situation is. So that's why it's important for us to stay top of mind. 

The second example that I can share with you is, I have a Facebook group, as you know, facebook.com/groups/thefirstclick Join us there, shameless plug, but I have a group. And, um, I have people that have, you know, never really engaged, they don't comment on anything. They don't say anything. And, you know, I had a random person, write me and send me a private message. And they were like, you know, what, I just wanted to let you know, I love all the stuff that you're doing, can we partner and collaborate on some things. And they are a client of mine now. So you never know who's listening. You never know when they're ready. There's a lot of lurkers that are out there. But if you're not producing content, if you're not producing information for them, if you're not keeping people updated consistently, then they might think you shut down, they might think that you're no longer providing those services, or they might just forget, right? 

It used to be, we need to see a brand seven times before we're ready to make a purchase. It's somewhere like I've heard numbers up to like 2025, right. So the more that you're putting things out there, the more likely it is that people are going to engage with you. And we are playing a long-term game, okay? If you're trying to get a bunch of donations, complete a project, and move on, I am not the podcast for you, nor am I, the marketer for you. I'm here to support those of you that are playing a long-term game, we are here to support our communities for a long time, okay. And that means us putting in the effort to earn your trust to earn your time to earn your money. 

And so we're going to have people in various stages of our process this whole time. And that's why showing up consistently proves to the new people that I've just been become aware of us that we are somebody that is here for the long term, if they give us their dollars, we're not going to just go away in two months, we're going to stick with it, and we're going to complete the project, we're going to continue to serve the animals, we're going to conserve, continue to serve the kids, we're going to continue to serve the homeless population. We're going whatever it is, that's what showing up consistently does.

And so I want you to just change your mindset, and have it not be linked to when I post something, nothing happens. Therefore, it's a failure. Because we've all had those posts where a lot of people then start to engage with us and it feels good, right? You get kind of like that boost of or I don't know, is it dopamine, endorphins? I don't know. Anyway, you get that boost of good positive energy. And you want more of it until when the next one flops and I'm using air quotes here when the next one quote unquote, flops. It doesn't feel as good and you want to just quit. 

So my challenge to you is this, do whatever it is that you've decided you can do consistently for the next three months. And I want you to share this in the group. And I will you'll be seeing mine because I'll be posting it all the time. We podcast every week, we have show notes that come out every week, we have content that we're pushing out to our Patreons, Patreon Patrons every month. Bonus goodies for them, you can learn all about those at thefirstclick.net/Patreon. We send emails out to our list every week. We are active in our Facebook group. We have we are active on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn for our business page. 

Those are all things that we do. And so I'm going to commit to you to doing those same things for three months and I hope that you will commit to what it is that you do. You do not need to commit to the things that I do, I want you to commit to the things that you do that are great, but share them in that Facebook group so that we can cheer you on, we can celebrate with you, we can support you, we can come check out all of the amazing things that you're doing, and hold you accountable to showing up consistently, okay? 

Even when you feel like nobody's listening because I promise you, people are listening, and they're paying attention. It's just not the right time. And we'll do a whole another episode at another date about growing your audience and getting more people involved. And, and that's, you know, we can absolutely do that. But for now, the message I really want you to pay attention to is just staying consistent, and showing up even when you think nobody's listening because I promise you, we got you. 

And this is so critical as we start to go into the holiday season and we start to go into q4 and you're in giving and all of that. Now is the time to continue to be talking about your mission and continue to talk about the things that you're doing. It's continuing to engage and show up so that people are having that easy, easy, yes when it comes to getting those urine gifts. Okay. 

That is my challenge for you. That is what I want you to think about. Please, please, please feel free to DM me on Facebook or Instagram. If you have questions about this particular topic, if you want me to review your website or your social media accounts or your emails or whatnot, I'm here to help you and support you. I appreciate you guys for taking time out of your days to listen to these episodes. Share this with somebody that you think might need to hear this message today. Because we are not alone. burnout is real and I'm especially when it comes to feeling like we're shouting things out to the universe. That's going just out of blackness, okay. Please make sure you subscribe wherever you listen so you don't miss out on a single episode and I look forward to seeing you in the next one.