What’s Your Personal Best Marketing Output?

Yesterday, I rode my GUTS out on the Peloton, and FINALLY beat my Personal Best Output (thanks Sam Yo!) And it made me think about the effort that goes into most marketing outputs, and whether people would consider them a "personal best"...or if people are even working towards that.

So, I thought I would explore what goes INTO a Personal Best, so if there ARE people out there who want that out of their marketing, they know what to look for ;)

Let's get right to it!

Output = Energy x Time

When we look at the Peloton definition of output, it's a combination of energy and time. I think that makes sense from a marketing POV as well, although I think more commonly people are looking at the VOLUME of output instead of the QUALITY of output.

We measure the number of social media posts, emails in our automation chains, blog posts or podcast appearances...AND we look for paths for this to take as LITTLE time and energy as possible.

But if meaningful output is a function of time and energy, wouldn't it make more sense to look at the time and energy going into things and figure out how to optimize it?

Now, I think I've done ONE Peloton ride ever that was longer than 30 minutes (my feet tend to get numb), so let's assume we're optimizing for 30 minutes of time. That means, for more output, I need to exert MORE energy.

Not less.

And for 30 minutes, I can actually get behind exerting a SUPREME amount of energy...WHEN my output matters to me. And I can do it without anyone rewarding me for it but myself.

So, when it comes to marketing, if we DO want to spend as little time as possible doing it, that means we need to exert MORE energy in that time. And in order for you—or your people— to do that, they need to be PERSONALLY incentivised; from an internal WHY that makes them WANT to put in that effort.

And I'll tell you what...YOUR efforts to replace THAT with AI / automation? Not moving the needle in the UP direction.

Consistency of Motion

Now, I didn't just jump on my Peloton out of the blue and beat my personal best. I was able to accomlish that by putting in the work. And fun fact, I TIED my personal best 3 times before I actually broke it; which is probably the MOST annoying result.

But the point I'm making is that there is consistency behind beating a personal best.

Which means, you need enough consistency in the SAME TASK to make a dent.

In marketing, too often we get the "whirling dervish" happening; spinning on multiple fronts.

There's no movement in a specific direction.

Just the same things, over and over.

Which I guess you can call consistency.

But if the consistency isn't getting you where you want to go, what's the point.

So, yes, you need consistency. But you also need a GOAL.

And your consistent action should move you towards that goal EVERY TIME.

Sure, you might hit a plateau (most people in development do).

But if you keep going, the direction should be apparent.

If it's not...maybe you're practicing consistency in the wrong things 💡

Practicing Strategic Constraint

Again, in Marketing it's easy to get overwhelmed doing ALL the things. Being on all the platforms, posting all the time, taking any bit of revenue you can.

But strength wasn't built by lifting all the weights without the proper training.

Strength is built through RESISTANCE.

Resistance on the Peloton is the weight of your pedals. Too little, and you spin without any effort. Too much, and you exhaust yourself too soon. I KNOW I've seen marketing programs that fall into both of those camps.

But the RIGHT amoung of resistance turns chaos into focus. It's also where your creative power lives. Embracing the right constraints—for YOU—is what builds your market endurance; and that's what we're all looking for at the end of the day, right?

Authentic Capacity

You didn't think I could make it through an article without talking about #authenticity, did you? 🤣

In your Marketing, do you know your "sweet spot" for output?

Peloton looks at this as Functional Threshold Power (FTP), the maximum power you can sustain for the given time commitment IN ORDER TO create growth.

And whether it's on the bike or in your marketing, YOUR sweet spot is different than anyone elses.

On the bike, mine is around 50 resistance, at 70-80 cadence. It's different for everyone.

In marketing, knowing your Authentic Threshold—how much YOU can post, engage or lead without losing YOUR voice—is essential. That's where sustainable growth happens. And that's the zone for your personal best output.

To quote the gaming commission, "Know your limit. Play within it."

Guided Performance

When I do a Just Ride on the Peloton, I never come anywhere CLOSE to my personal best. And why is that, you may ask?

Because I don't push myself the way the trainers do.

Good cues allow you to focus and push yourself to where you know you can go; with the freedom to pull back if you're pushing beyond your means.

We go farther together than we would alone.

Who's guiding the performance of your Marketing?

Guiding performance is MORE than reporting on so-called KPI's.

After all, if the trainer does talk at all during a session, but they tell me my output at the end, that can't help me in real time.

How are YOU supporting your (or your team's) efforts IN game time?

If you're not, we might want to chat 😉

Bonus: The Leaderboard

The Peloton Leaderboard shows you where you are ranking against the other live participants in a ride AS WELL AS how you rank against yourself historically. It not only allows you to battle with others for the top spot (should you so choose), but more importantly (IMHO), it shows me how to beat MYSELF. How to get better time over time (against, should I choose).

If you look at what you're tracking from a Marketing perspective today, how much of it would you put on a Leaderboard?

And also, how much does it tell you about YOUR performance?

While growing your followers, or posting more might show a VOLUME increase in number, they are NOT measures of performance. Again, they're called Vanity Metrics for a reason.

If you were going to put yourself on a Leaderboard with all your competitors and all their marketing efforts, how would yours measure up? What race are you even in?

If you're not sure, your measurement probably isn't helping enable anything today.

But tomorrow is a new day.

And we can always start training for a new race.

Upward and Onward

Here's the amazing thing about reaching a personal best. It reminds you that you can achieve more than you ever have before.

Sure, it's not the DAILY experience we have.

But the investment in that belief is critical.

That every day we come and put in the effort, we are building towards something.

Something that many people AREN'T putting in the effort to build.

THAT is what creates a competitive advantage.

And THAT's something I would bet on.

So, let me leave you with this...

How would you define YOUR Personal Marketing Best today?

And better yet...how could you CREATE your Personal Marketing Best for tomorrow?