Last Updated on 16 July 2012

Yesterday Some time ago, Seth Godin posted a great article on his blog declaring patience as the secret to success on the internet. Basically stating that success equals the ability to stick it out longer than those looking for instant success.

I agree, and add that this concept extends to the topic of general marketing strategy.

In my career, I have seen many examples of marketing attention deficit disorder. Times when the marketing and leadership teams became bored with a program and stopped supporting it. Or, were too impatient to see results didn’t let a program run through a second cycle and to success. (Often we spent longer planning and building a program than we did letting it play itself out).

We’d chastise the farmer who, after investing the month of April tilling soil, planting seeds, fertilizing and watering – and not seeing full-grown corn stalks by the beginning of May – bulldoze, pave paradise and put up a parking lot.

Seth states…

The irony of the web is that the tactics work really quickly. You friend someone on Facebook and two minutes later, they friend you back. Bang. But the strategy still takes forever. The strategy is the hard part, not the tactics.

Seth also added…

I discovered a lucky secret the hard way about thirty years ago: you can outlast the other guys if you try. If you stick at stuff that bores them, it accrues. Drip, drip, drip you win.

And his final piece of advice…

The media wants overnight successes (so they have someone to tear down). Ignore them. Ignore the early adopter critics that never have enough to play with. Ignore your investors that want proven tactics and predictable instant results. Listen instead to your real customers, to your vision and make something for the long haul. Because that’s how long it’s going to take, guys.

Do you have the patience – and attention – to stick out your strategy?