In September 2023, we surveyed local business owners on their marketing and sales needs. The most problematic for 50% of respondents, the most problematic of all areas in the survey, was “Time to write and deliver content, whether it is to update your website, post to social media, or send email campaigns.” Over the years, this has consistently been an issue for my clients. So, to grow your business from surviving to thriving, you need to know how to make time for marketing.
Here are some of the things I hear from small business owners at least once at every networking event I attend:
- I meant to call you to discuss our marketing, but something keeps coming up.
- I don’t know what to do with my website (social media, email marketing, traditional PR/marketing), so I just ignore it. We are doing okay.
- My niece just got her marketing degree and is doing marketing for us. I’m unsure if we get sales from it, but she posts on Instagram daily.
- I’ll get to it after the busy season. (Three or four years in a row!)
- We’ve been doing the same thing for 20 years, and it’s working for us.
Do you see yourself in any of these examples? I’m not looking to shame anyone, but I want to show that you are not alone in letting things get in the way of working on your marketing.
When looking for systems and practices that increase productivity, you often hear that it’s not “finding time” that is the issue. We all have the same amount of time. The issues are:
- Priorities – the priorities we set that determine how we will use the time.
- Habits – the habits and practices to ensure we focus on our priorities.
You need to assess your priorities and habits to make the time for marketing. I can (and will) give you a list of tools and techniques to save time and do your marketing and sales more efficiently. Still, until you have worked on these two areas, you will have trouble “finding the time” to use the tools and techniques.
Make Marketing a Priority
Do you want to increase sales? Stupid question? Unless you prioritize marketing, your ability to increase sales is limited. For small businesses without dedicated sales and marketing personnel, the day-to-day operations are a priority. If you don’t serve your current customers, you will lose them. You must pay fines and interest if you don’t file your taxes. If you don’t do the marketing necessary to generate new leads, your business will not grow.
Make Time to Grow Your Business
Don’t look at it as “time for marketing.” Look at it as “time to grow your business.” Do you have a mental block about marketing? I see it in some people’s eyes when I introduce myself. They just want to get away as quickly as possible, so instead of introducing myself as a digital marketing consultant, I introduce myself as someone who will help you grow your business. That is the objective. Keep your eye on the objective, and don’t worry about what you call the activities to get there!
Create a New Mindset
Other aspects of mindset may impact your willingness to prioritize marketing. If you feel you don’t know enough about marketing, don’t know what to say in your content, are afraid of “putting yourself out there,” etc., it may be holding you back from doing anything. Seeing that this is an issue is the first step to breaking through and developing a more positive mindset around marketing and sales. If this is a big challenge, mindset may be an issue in other aspects of your business and life. A business or life coach may be the answer. If your issues are more technical than psychological, get training or support.
Now that you have made marketing to grow your business a priority and you are excited to get going, you need to build the habits to ensure that you work on your marketing and sales effectively and consistently.
Set Realistic Timeframes
What marketing activities do you need to do regularly to bring the leads and sales you desire, and how much time do you need to perform these effectively? You may need to start by working with a digital marketing professional to determine this, but here is an example of what I suggest:
- One blog post per week (1 hour per week)
- One email marketing campaign per week (1 hour per week)
- 2-3 social media posts and time to engage on each channel per day (5-7 hours per week, 30 mins per day creating and posting and 30 mins per day engaging with other users)
- Advertising in relevant publications each week, if desired. (1 hour per week)
- Monitor and review results and make changes to strategy. (1 hour per week)
That’s an average of nine to eleven hours per week, the majority on social media. You will need more if you wish to include videos and podcasts. Remember that the only thing you need to do in ‘real-time” is engage with other social media users. There are ways to streamline the time required for the different activities and still be even more effective.
- While one blog post and email campaign per week is best for most of my clients, monthly or bi-weekly may be effective. Less frequent content delivery may bring slower growth, but it can get you started.
- Block out a content creation day each month or quarter. Creating all of your content in a single sitting will take advantage of being in a creative mindset, opening and using the software you may not regularly use at one time, and ensuring that your content has a flow from post to post, email to email, etc. Schedule the content to publish, send, etc., at the desired times. If any news or development pops up, you can always create content in real-time, adding to the content you have scheduled in advance.
- Use templates so you don’t need to worry about the design work ahead of time and ensure consistency from post to post.
- Capture inspiring content ideas as you find them in a folder on your computer, or even a hard copy folder if that’s your thing, so you have a library to refer to on content creation day.
- Keep a well-organized media library so you don’t need to waste time searching when creating content.
- Outsource or delegate what you cannot do well or absolutely don’t have time for. Some graphic design work should be left to professional graphic designers. If you have a team member who’s great at creating videos, let them at it. Ensure that you have brand and content guidelines and ensure that these are followed at all times.
- Repurpose existing content. Do an updated take on content that is outdated yet still relevant, particularly if it was popular when it was initially published,
- Include relevant guest posts from time to time. These are good to add a new viewpoint to your content and may bring a new audience to your offerings. You may need to contribute a guest post in return, but you can repurpose some of your existing content.
Trim the Waste
Time to monitor and review results is essential to ensure that you aren’t wasting time on activities that aren’t bringing a result. It may take a few weeks to see results if you are just starting to do any of these activities. This is why I suggest weekly posts and emails so you get the feedback more quickly. Things to look at:
- What content gets reactions (likes, comments, shares, clicks)?
- Are these the desired reactions?
- What could it be that brought about the success or failure of the content?
- Are you reaching your ideal audience?
- Is the content bringing the desired results (new leads, sales, bookings, etc.)?
Schedule Specific, Non-Negotiable Time for Marketing
After determining how much time you need to allocate to create content, deliver content, engage with users, monitor results, etc., schedule this in your calendar or whatever tool you use for scheduling, with reminders or notifications as needed to keep your commitment to growing your business. When monitoring the analytics of your marketing efforts, also monitor your success in keeping to these time commitments. If you are ignoring the schedule or if it is taking more time, review the following:
- Have you scheduled content creation at the time of day/week/month that you are most creative? Don’t make things harder for yourself.
- Do you have the right tools – type of computer, software, office layout, etc.?
- Look at mindset again. Are you struggling to write about your business for any reason?
- Look at your priorities again and think about the “money you are leaving on the table,”
Help with Creating Habits and Productivity
Here are a few books, tools, practices, and systems I have used to build habits and increase my productivity:
- The One Thing by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan – a community, system, and tools built around this best-selling book. I use these practices daily and have attended three of their Goal Setting Retreats.
- Atomic Habits by James Clear
- Tiny Habits by BJ Fogg
- Anything by Tim Ferris
- Find an accountability partner or group that suits you.
I help business owners and others responsible for business growth by building clear, realistic, strategic marketing plans that determine what is needed, how much time is needed, and how you will get the work done to increase leads and sales. I also provide coaching around mindset and productivity to ensure you implement the strategy effectively.
More importantly, I will show you how to make the time for marketing to grow your business.
Click here to visit AnnDonnelly.com and book a call.
