For any business, consistency in consumer visibility is key. In the world of social media, regularly showing that you are present and active will keep you fresh in the minds of consumers or potential consumers.

How many times do you purchase from a company you have never heard of before? Or does your trust in a company grow the more you know about them, the more you hear friends talking about them or the more they appear in your social media feeds?

One of the key traits of a successful business is that they keep going, keep showing up and keep producing quality work. You have got to be consistent through thick and thin, through the hard times and the good times, regardless of whether you don’t feel up to it or you feel like you can do anything.

So how can you achieve consistency in your millinery business?

Consistency in Design

Do you have a style? Do your clients know what sort of work to expect from you? You don’t have to appeal to everyone, but make sure that you are always appealing to your core clientele. This doesn’t mean that you can’t push design boundaries but always remember who you are serving and who your clients are. Design for them and they will buy. If they can understand your style and what you are about, there is no reason for them to go elsewhere.

Consistency in Quality

When I say ‘quality,’ I’m not just talking about the quality of the millinery that you produce but also the quality of the whole consumer experience. That includes the quality of the time you spend with clients and the quality of your communication with them. Always make sure that no matter the client, the time of year, your stress levels or the amount of money being spent, you always provide the same consistent service. Of course, the quality of your millinery matters, too. Does every piece that goes out of the door reflect you as a brand and what you want to create from your brand? It’s not about perfection but it is about consistency. Will clients get the same quality from you again and again and again?

Consistency in Marketing

They used to say that a brand needed 6 touch points with a client before that client would buy. With the growth of the internet and the overwhelming availability of information, this number has risen hugely to 27 touch points. That means that a client needs to see you at events, see your social media posts, get recommendations from friends, etc. a total combination of 27 times before they will buy. Some will need less and some will need much more, of course, but what you need to think is, “Am I out there enough for people to have that many touch points with me or even to remember me when they are looking for a hat, let alone buy from me?”

Hats aren’t something that are needed every day. You have to make sure that people know you exist so that when the time comes that they do need a hat, they remember you! Just because you put a post on social media about something you are doing does not mean that your following has seen it or registered what you have said. Find ways of saying the same things in different ways and, no matter how repetitive you feel you are being, keep repeating!

Consistency in PR

One piece of good PR is very unlikely to make or break your business. A celebrity in one of your hats may be big news today news but, by tomorrow, it will be old news and millions of other social media posts will have buried it into oblivion. Like marketing, PR is all about the long game. Consistency is key. Get your name out there in as many ways as possible until it becomes recognised. Don’t stop because you gained one piece of press. To be remembered, you need to keep going. Ultimately, no one knows you exist unless you tell them about yourself again and again and again.

Consistency in Showing Up

Show up to your clients but also show up to yourself. Work consistently. Don’t let a bad day or bad experience keep you down, brush it off and move onwards and upwards. Go out to events and tell people about yourself. Shout it from the rooftops. After all, if you don’t, no one else will. Self-preservation instincts can make this hard. Nobody wants to put themselves out there and then fail, but the worst thing you can do is not to learn from your failures. If you don’t learn, you’ll just make the same mistakes again.

Show up to your brand and work on it every day. It is the lots of little tasks being done consistently over time that builds your brand, not a mountain to get to the top of. It’s a constantly changing and evolving journey for you to embrace. It’s not about working hard now so you can sit back on your laurels in the future. There will always be times when you need to work harder than others and situations where you may need to take time out. It’s the everyday showing up and working towards your journey that moves you forward in ways that you can’t always see until you look back and realise how far you have come.

Consistency is something that is never ending in business, it’s what clients get to know, like and trust about you. It’s the reason they come to you in the first place and the reason they return.

Consistency that Works for You

Personally, I am not a very consistent person. However, in my business, I have put in structures, processes and a team around me which allow me to stay more consistent, especially in terms with how we deal with our clients every day. I’m also not hard on myself when I’m not consistent in other areas. Usually, my inconsistencies can be seen on social media, when I don’t post for a few days. To be consistent online, I’ve decided that posting at least once a week is enough for me. Usually, I post more but I know that sometimes I need to step away from the online world to protect my own wellbeing. I’m still present online but it is in a way that I am in control of so that I don’t become a slave to the online world. And I know that, in some way or another, I always show up for my business every day. (As an aside, I don’t care how many Instagram followers I have because, in my experience, Instagram followers and revenue are two very different things. The visibility of Instagram is very important but do not confuse numbers of followers with the number of people engaged with your brand or the number of potential clients that Instagram alone will produce).

Choose what consistency means to you. What areas you can be more consistent in and what areas can you give yourself some slack on. Everything we do creates a snowball effect over time. You don’t have to do it all at once but you do have to do something, or many things in tandem, consistently. Just find the balance that works for you and focus on where your talents lie.

About the Author

Beverley Edmondson is a British milliner and business mentor. She works directly with milliners and creatives mentoring them to help them reach their business dreams.

See Beverley’s full bio HERE.