The ice cream truck’s days are numbered.
Labor Day is behind us, and we have just a few more weeks of hearing the approaching strains of “La Cucaracha” and “Jingle Bells.”
(I don’t know about your local ice cream truck, but mine exclusively plays “La Cucaracha,” a Spanish song about a little cockroach, and royalty-free Christmas music.
I sometimes like to imagine the little cockroach wearing a Santa hat and enjoying a Rocket Pop.)
My kids are teens now, but their heads still snap to attention when those chimes waft down the street.
They respond because they know, without fail, if they follow that chime, they can hand over a $5 bill and get a SpongeBob popsicle or an Oreo ice cream sandwich on a stick.
When content folks talk about consistency, for some reason the conversation always centers on scheduling. The best days to send email, the best times to post to LinkedIn, how many days you can skip between posts without “destroying your consistency.”
The ice cream truck doesn’t come every day. It doesn’t come on the same days, or at the same time. And it literally goes months without making an appearance at all.
Doesn’t matter. As soon as it shows up again, its devoted fans will chase it down the street and stand in line to spend their money there.
Because the ice cream truck is consistent.
It may not stick to a predictable schedule, but its audience recognizes it anyway. It delivers a consistent product, of a consistent quality, for a consistent value.
They know what they’re going to get and it satisfies their expectations.
What would happen if the ice cream truck only sometimes sold ice cream?
What if you never knew whether the strains of “La Cucaracha” heralded a popsicle, a screwdriver set, or a water bottle?
Would people still chase it down the street? Would they still stand in line? If so, would they still be consistently satisfied when they walked away?
I’m not going to say consistent scheduling is unimportant in thought leadership. Yes, you need to show up on some kind of predictable cadence for people to get to know who you are.
But they won’t recognize and trust you because you’re in their inbox every Tuesday.
They will recognize and trust you if you’re in their inbox with a consistently valuable message that delivers what they expect – even if it’s weekly-or-sometimes-twice-a-month.
So yes, pay attention to your cadence. But if publishing day comes and you have nothing to say, or a time crunch keeps you from delivering at the level of quality your audience is used to — it’s OK to skip a post.
Better to not drive down the street at all than to hand a keychain to someone expecting a Fudgsicle.
Tip: Here’s a happy medium. If you routinely distribute thought leadership through email or social posts, keep an archive of your greatest hits. When the well runs dry, or a project eats up your creation time, share a popular post from the past.