When business owners — no matter what size their business is — discover how much time is involved in doing their own marketing, they say, “I don’t have that kind of time!”
I feel your pain. Not only do I have to run my business and do stuff for clients, but I’ve got to record classes, brand them, upload them, write blog articles, update old ones, keep up with the latest social media news, attend webinars, AND market my business on top of it all! I wasn’t born knowing all this stuff. I had to learn it. I’m quick at doing things because I use the tools all the time.
However, If you don’t market your business EFFECTIVELY, how are you going to…
- …increase traffic to your website?
- …grow your email list?
- …become trusted and credible?
- …get on the 1st page of Google?
- …gain exposure?
- …build valuable relationships with your potential customers or referral sources?
You only have so much time in the day and 7 days in the week. Use your time wisely!
You MUST FIND THE TIME to do Marketing!
How much time you spend on social media is highly dependent on how tough your competition is.
Here are some time-saving tips to help you with your marketing…
- Use your to-do or reminder app on your smartphone or tablet when you get an idea. I was relaxing, and watching TV and a great idea for a blog post popped into my head. I picked up my iPad and added it to my “Blog Post Ideas” list. The next time I’m wondering what to write about, I look at the list and check off a topic. I also have a secret board on Pinterest where I save videos and infographics I want to use in the future.
- Plan to spend some time learning. If you’re new to digital marketing, it’s going to take some time UPFRONT to get used to all these software programs. Remember when you learned Microsoft Office? There was Outlook, Excel, Word, and PowerPoint. You had a learning curve. But, after a while, you got used to them! Furthermore, by using them every day, it takes LESS TIME for you to do what you need to do.
- Plan to spend extra time upfront building your following. Especially if you’re starting from scratch, you’ll need to spend at least 90 minutes a day for the first 30 days building your following. That is, searching for, following, greeting, posting, connecting, etc. with your potential target market, influencers, and referral sources. If you don’t, it will take you longer to start seeing results. Plus, you’ll get faster at it as you do it more often.
- Once your following is built, and by this time you’re used to the programs, you should be able to manage your social media in less than 30 minutes a day, and it should take you no more than an hour to write a blog post, less if you embed videos or infographics. (I can show you how to do this with my 1:1 Training.)
- If you’re going to an appointment and you know that you’ll be waiting for a while, check social media and the news on mobile apps. When I was doing allergy shots, the doctor wanted me to wait 30 minutes to make sure I didn’t have a bad reaction. Well, I used to take my laptop and in 30 minutes, whip out a blog post. When I got back to the office, I published it. (They didn’t have wifi.)
- Plan and blog ahead. If you know that you’ll be busy for a few days in a week, write 2 blog posts and scheduled them to publish in the future.
- Schedule social media posts to go into the future. Use tools like Sendibile (ad link).
- Monitor your social media accounts and respond in a timely manner. Contrary to common myths, you DON’T need to be on social media 24/7! However, it should be working for you 24/7, while you’re running your business (or sleeping! Yes, you still need sleep!) Unless you’re a big brand with lots of staff to do this, you need to see who might have a question, or most importantly a customer service issue. Nonetheless, determine what is important for you to know and set alerts for that – turn off all the other notifications!
- Automate content from trusted sources. Using Dlvr.it (free to a point) you can automate articles and blog posts from influencers and industry sources. Use Feedly to find content that’s relevant or related to your industry.
- Prioritize. Obviously, your clients and customers come first as do your family and health. But, marketing your business needs to be a priority, too. Otherwise, your competition is going to leave you behind in the dust.
- Delegate or outsource. Even solopreneurs can’t do everything themselves. Oh, sure, you try. I know, I’ve been trying to do it all since 2011. But, I realized that, especially when it comes to accounting, I’d better hire an expert. If you have a staff, delegate marketing to your most creative person or people.
You can automate a lot of the content, but you still have to be social!
It’s like joining an association or a chamber of commerce – you get out of it what you put into it. You have to be active.
If you want to be successful in today’s social world, you’ve got to become “Social Savvy”!
Your customers are social savvy, isn’t it about time you became social savvy yourself?
Where can you go to learn how to use the tools? Right here! Learn via 1:1 customized tutoring and coaching — at your own speed, in a logical progression. Furthermore, I take you step-by-step, through planning, research, blogging, and the social media tools that you need to take your business to the next level.
In the end, it’s whatever works for you! Just do it!
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