Gardening all at once

Have you ever tried growing a garden?

My wife and I have tried many times. Last spring, we thought "This year will be the year."

But what happened? We forgot to tend it.

Sure enough, we walked outside one morning and realize "Oh... we haven't checked on the garden in 3 weeks."

We tried to save it by dousing everything with the garden hose, hoping something would survive and "catch up" on its water needs.

Even if you don't have gardening experience, you can probably guess that we didn't see a crop last year. You can't water once a month with gallons at a time!

Just like cultivating a garden, building a healthy brand takes small investments of purposeful attention on a regular basis.

Your brand requires tending.

With patience and intentionality, eventually you will see progress. People will start to identify with your brand because it signfies their shared history, values, and purpose.

When people see your logo and colors used consistently on their church bulletin, you're watering. When you review the tone of voice in your website copy, you're adding fertilizer to the soil.

I don't want to push the analogy too far, so I'll stop there :) But that kind of patient consistency goes a long way toward building up familiarity, then trust, then action.

Just for fun, here's a relevant quote from Michael Scott and Dwight Schrute.

Michael: What is that thing that Dwight always says? Paper is the soil in which the seeds of business grow?

Dwight: It’s not the soil! It’s the manure! Paper is the manure! On-time delivery is the soil! Aah! [runs into office]