How many times have you heard that you have to market your business consistently to keep your client pipeline full? Probably too many times to keep track of. One of the biggest challenges solo service professionals face is scheduling time to market their business.
To overcome this common challenge, you need to take a step back and ask yourself “why” you don’t schedule time to market your business consistently. What is it that’s holding you back?
For many, marketing seems like an complicated, time-consuming task. It doesn’t matter what the task actually is, because it often seems overwhelming. The key to success here is to break your marketing projects down into simple individual tasks, that you can easily manage. Getting the work done then includes doing part of the work yourself and then delegating and automating the rest.
Understand, you don’t have to do everything yourself to market your business. Be honest, if you feel like you have to do it all on your own, then chances are it’s probably not going to get done. So your choices are to get help or not do anything at all?
For example, let’s take one basic marketing activity that I highly recommend: blogging. In a previous article, I recommended that it’s best to blog at least three times per week. You need to keep your blog content fresh to keep visitors coming back for more. You want to engage them, challenge them and spark their creativity.
Blogging essentially has 4 steps:
· Writing the blog post
· Uploading the post to your blog
· Entering all the important data within the blog post so the search engines find your content
· Marketing your blog post (updating your social networks, podcasting, vodcasting, etc. )
Take a look at this list. What is the absolute most important thing for YOU to do yourself? WRITE THE BLOG POST.
That’s it. Everything else can be done by someone else, like a seasoned Virtual Assistant. It might take a him/her one hour to do complete this simple task, whereas it could take you 3 hours (if you do it at all). A well-trained VA can often handle your marketing (and other tasks) far more efficiently and effectively than you can.
Outsourcing your marketing and administrative tasks has so many benefits. Your marketing materials will be distributed consistently in a timely manner, you will be able to spend your time on TRUE income generating activities and you’ll experience less stress in running your business. Most importantly, you’ll be sharing valuable information with your target market which will boost your expert status and attract ideal prospects to you!
The most important thing to keep in mind regarding outsourcing is to make sure you are outsourcing the right things in your business. You should be outsourcing “tasks” that do not directly generate income or serve your clients needs. Outsourcing can literally help you expand your business and create more income overnight. Not only will you have more time in your day to market your business and serve clients, you’ll also be marketing your business more consistently and providing better customer service, which leads to a better client experience, more referrals and more exposure for your offerings. It’s a win-win for everyone involved!
Which of your marketing activities can you outsource starting TODAY? Leave a comment below and let me know!
Want to use this article on your website, blog or in your own ezine? You’re welcome to do so! But here’s what you MUST include:
Sydni Craig-Hart, The Smart Simple Marketing Coach, is founder of SmartSimpleMarketing.com Known for her simple, tech-savvy, integrated approach to marketing, she also has the unique ability to find untapped profit centers in her client’s businesses so they can create money NOW. Visit www.SmartSimpleMarketing.com to listen to Sydni’s F.R.E.E. audio class, “10 Proven Steps to Powerful Marketing Results!” and to schedule your F.R.E.E. “Profit Breakthrough” session!
