25 March 2025 |

Repetition is great leadership

By Tracey Wallace

The basics matter. 

I took a leadership course years ago as part of leadership training at a company I worked for. One thing I think about a lot from that course is this: “It takes repeating yourself roughly 7 times for your team to really internalize what you are saying. If you aren’t repeating yourself in a way that feels like it’s too much for your own ears, you probably aren’t repeating yourself enough.”

Leaders educate. And whether or not you have a team, as a content marketer, you are a leader. If you don’t have a team, you likely work with an agency or freelancers. They are your team. And every one needs regular reinforcement of what who your company is and what you are doing.

  • What problem are you solving?
  • Who are your target audiences?
  • What are your products?
  • What is differentiated about them?

Ideally your presentation of all of that information is exciting, and beautiful, and truly innovative and thought provoking. This is what gets people excited. The bigger picture. And so often, myself included, it’s so easy to get caught up in the weeds. 

If you are struggling with your agency, your team, your partners, whatever. Take a step back. Start at the beginning. Are you all aligned on the bigger picture? Not just goals or projects. But who you are and what you are trying to say to the market –– does everyone know what that is? 

Start there. 

The best leaders I’ve worked for do this regularly. They ask for honest feedback on who knows what we are trying to do in layman’s terms. And when folks don’t know, they back all the way up and start from the beginning. 

They repeat themselves. Over and over and over again. To get people bought in. To get people up to speed. To help people produce their best work that is most likely to get approved, to be celebrated, to be rewarded. 

It’s the end of Q1. You are the rest of the year to hit your goals. Are you on track? And if not, are you too focused on the weeds that people have lost the bigger picture? That’s a problem you can address quickly. The sooner, the better.