Making Time for Marketing

I get it…making time for marketing your business is often hard to do.

As a small business owner, I also can struggle with making time for marketing. I can come up with a vast number of excuses. At the end of the day it’s still left on my to-do list.

But the truth really is that we DO have enough time.

We just do not prioritize marketing over other things in our lives.

I can find it challenging to make time for marketing during the day because I get busy with work. Things often will come up that my clients need me for, and I get sucked into that cycle. When it’s not normal work hours I’m spending time with my husband, two daughters, and family and friends.

I have very clear boundaries when it comes to work-life balance. My evenings and weekends are for my family. Which means that my marketing needs to happen during regular business hours…or it never will happen.

Are you struggling with making time for marketing?

Here are some tips that have helped me overcome some marketing hurdles: 

Mindset

Getting in the right mindset is the first step when it comes to making time for marketing. Your marketing IS important. Even when you are busy, you should always be making time for marketing. Marketing does not have to be some hard, unreachable thing. You CAN learn to market your business effectively. 

Creating a solid marketing plan

If you Google “creating a marketing plan” you are bound to get overwhelmed at all the results. If you have never created a marketing plan before you definitely should do that. It does not have to be complicated – you can keep it simple. Read our tips on creating your simple marketing plan here.

If you have a marketing plan, review what is working / what is not. Revise your marketing plan and set goals for the next quarter.

Create a marketing calendar

Schedule marketing time in your calendar each week as an appointment. Do not cancel this appointment. It may be easier to have this be a reoccurring event in your calendar each week, i.e. every Tuesday morning or Wednesday afternoon, etc.

I recommend that you spend at least half a day on marketing each week. If you need to split this up into two different days, you can. Find what works best for you. Make marketing a habitual activity each week.

Start with one task

Your first scheduled time of marketing might feel overwhelming to you. After you create your marketing plan you may have all these great ideas. When it comes down to actually taking action steps, you feel overwhelmed again.

Try starting with just one task.

Are you going to start blogging? Write 4 blogs (one for each week).

Are you wanting to be more active on social media? Create your monthly schedule for postings.

Take baby steps. Marketing will get easier.

Disconnect completely

I have found that this tip is the hardest for my clients. It is hard to truly disconnect in our age of constant connections.

When your “appointment” time comes up, be sure to disconnect completely from outside distractions. This means closing out your emails. Turning off/moving your phone away from you. If you have a smart watch, turn it off or take it off. Close out anything that will distract you away from this appointment time.

Imagine that you had a meeting scheduled – it would be rude to be checking your emails, texting, looking at social media etc while you were in the meeting. Treating it like a real meeting will make your time more productive.

Making time for marketing should be a priority as that is how you will grow your business, get new clients, etc.

How are you going to make marketing a priority in your business?

Rachel Muraca
Virtual Design, LLC
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