“If Only I Had More Time…” – How to Marketing More Efficiently
When I wrote the 7 Deadly Sins of Online Marketing, one of the biggest questions I received was “How do I find the time to do all this?” And while the amount of work required to be effective online can appear daunting, it’s actually far easier than it seems. This article explores 5 tips that can help you consolidate your marketing efforts, become more effective and ultimately spend more time with away from the internet and with your clients.
Tip #1: Pick Your Battles
The most obvious tip is that you cannot be everywhere at once. Not only would this scatter your effectiveness, it would take far too much time. In my last post I mentioned how important it is to be everywhere you can, you shouldn’t leave out any networks or platforms. However, that doesn’t mean you need to spend hours every day on all of these sites. The best strategy is to choose 2-3 places that you feel would be most effective and focus your resources there. For the other 10+ accounts you have, spend a minimal amount of time on them just to stay active.
Tip #2: Keep Things Simple
It’s easy to get bogged down in the detailed features of Facebook or the advanced settings of MyBlogLog but at the end of the day, who cares! Spending countless hours reading help files and learning features that will never be used is often a waste of time. A basic knowledge of each platform is all that’s required to be successful with it. Your presence is important on these sites, not how well versed you are in it’s details. When you’re using a platform, try to condense it down to one core concept of why it is useful to you and use it for that reason only. This will save time that would have otherwise been wasted on things that offer little value.
Tip #3: Cross Promote
In tip #1 I mentioned that it would be smart to focus on 2-3 networks and have just some activity on the rest. The main reason for this is because you can leverage those dominate networks to grow the others. For example, if you have 2,000 Myspace friends, send a bulletin on Myspace about your Facebook profile and you’ve just made hundreds of instant Facebook friends. This is where the value is created. When you have credibility on one platform it can help grow the others, try not to make the mistake of thinking that each site is out there on it’s own, they all work together; they all work for you.
Tip #4: Create Weekly Marketing Goals
We all know that it’s easy to get lost if we don’t have goals. The best way to ensure we’re not wasting time with marketing is to set clear goals on a weekly basis. I would recommend this: Open a blank text editor and write out all of the websites, platforms and locations where you would like to be noticed. Then determine what you should accomplish on each of these every week. It may be 20 posts on a local message board, 2,500 points on Activerain, 20 new friends on Facebook – whatever you feel is important for your business and your brand. Then, split the list throughout the week and start crossing things off. This 30 minute exercise will ensure that the time you do have available to spend on marketing is as efficient as possible.
Tip #5: Set Boundaries and Stick to Them
The best way to get things done effectively is to not do things that are ineffective! If you have a clear plan with goals (see tip #4) make sure you follow it. If you’ve reached your goal in one area or spend too much time on one site, move on. Start another task that needs more attention. With clear cut boundaries you won’t go overboard in one area: set your goals, reach your goals, move on. And even more importantly, don’t let your marketing overrun the things that really matter, like spending time with your family, that should be #1.
These are 5 areas that can have an instant impact on your effectiveness. I would encourage you to save this post, pick just one thing to work on right now. And once you’ve mastered that, start implementing the others into your daily strategy as well.
Lastly, I want to point out that it does take time, it does take energy. There’s no easy path to a successful marketing campaign (if there was, everyone would do it and then it wouldn’t work anymore, right?). This post can give ideas to make your marketing more effective, but ultimately your success will depend on your work ethic and the effort you put into marketing your own brand.
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