Published:

02/07/2014 04:53am

How To Market Consistently When You Have NO Time

• Companies with active blogs receive 97% more leads (Content+ 2013)

• 74% of consumers prefer to receive commercial communications via email (Merkle) and email marketing has an ROI of 4,300% (Direct Marketing Association).

• Social media sites and blogs reach 8 out of 10 of all U.S. Internet users. (Content Marketing Institute)

You know you need to market consistently. You have the best intentions of doing so, But you find yourself constantly distracted by the phone ringing, email piling up, invoices to send, clients to help, voicemails to return and the paper that is growing out of your desk.

What's a busy guy or gal to do?

Here are 5 ways you can market your business consistently when you have NO time:

1. Start your day with a marketing activity before anything else. Most folks I know start their day checking their email, which is a guaranteed productivity killer. Making the simple shift of giving attention to business development BEFORE you get sucked into meeting other people's demands, allows you to start your day focused on growth. Whether it's 15 minutes, 30 minutes or an hour, dedicate the first part of EVERY workday to a specific, goal-focused marketing activity and watch how new opportunities begin to unfold.

2. Use automated email messages - It's been said that 9 out of 10 people who visit your website will never return. Unless that is, you give them a reason to! Providing a free Problem Solving Gift available on your website (in exchange for a visitor's name and email address) allows you to build a interest list. Stay in touch with each subscriber, learn about their needs, build a trusted relationship, gather data, pre-qualify leads, sell products & services. You can write a series of 3-5 email messages and set them up to deliver over a specified period of time to EVERY person that opts-in for your free gift. Aweber, iContact and InfusionSoft are great tools for this.

3. Schedule one day each month to create your content & pre-schedule it to deliver to your audience. Plan your content in advance by choosing a theme for the month and then create ALL of your content around that theme. You can start with a few key ideas and then turn them into various formats (such as email newsletters, blog posts, social media posts, podcasts, etc.). If you don't feel up to doing all of the writing yourself, hire a writer (we've worked with writers on Elance for as little as $25 per article) or purchase a body of content and customize it to make it your own.

4. Attend large industry events 2-3x per year. Each year since 2006 I have attended 2-3 large events, both to learn and prospect for clients and referrals partners. These events give me an opportunity to learn and network strategically with pre-qualified leads. (An individual who spends the time and money to attend these events demonstrates they are willing to invest in themselves and their business). The key to monetizing these interactions is to be friendly, generous, engaging and to FOLLOW-UP. This formula works EVERY time! In fact, one event I attended last year landed us a new client that generated over $40,000 in new revenue!

5. Outsource your marketing and have it done for you. Delegating your marketing to a professional that is seasoned and well qualified frees you up to focus on the work you love. Whether it's email marketing, blog content development, blog promotion or social media marketing, when done strategically and consistently, these engagement tactics are guaranteed to generate results. Schedule a no-obligation chat with us to learn about our "Done For You" services and let us take your marketing off your to-do list!

Without a doubt, you are terribly busy. But, remember the astounding statistics at the beginning of this article. The results you want in your business (more visibility, more clients and more revenue) are directly connected to how consistently you market your solutions.

If you find it a challenge to stay engaged with the people (or businesses) who need the products and services you offer, focus on wa