Marketing is like exercising. The difference between doing nothing and just a little every day is cumulatively enormous.
Over just the last month I’ve connected with three entrepreneurs who told me they rarely did any marketing for themselves or their small business.
I was really surprised. One is a freelance writer, another owns a PR agency and the third runs a software firm. Each is successful but all of them cited a lack of time as the main reason why they weren’t doing any marketing. They aren’t alone.
According to Infusionsoft, nearly one in five owners of small businesses has no plan to use any digital marketing in 2017. Of those who do, 49 percent handle marketing on their own along with their other duties.
I argued to each of my three new contacts that ignoring marketing in the long-term is a bad idea, potentially slowing the growth of their company. Here are four tips I shared with my colleagues to help them better market themselves for just a few minutes every day.
1. Start by brainstorming.
Before you can effectively market with just a few minutes a day you have to spend a few hours brainstorming what you are looking to achieve. You need a plan to guide how you’ll do marketing every day. Identify what your goals are and potential tactics for executing them.
You might be trying to get more leads, establish authority in your niche or attract more customers, which requires learning where they hang out online. Let’s say there are certain blogs your target audience reads. It would only require a little time each day to comment on the articles, share some on social media and network with the writers and editors.
That’s what I did by regularly writing for publications read by marketers and business owners, taking my time to become active with these communities while networking. But before I dived into writing for marketing-focused blogs, I had a plan of action. I took a purpose-driven approach to marketing. You need one too, otherwise your approach risks being aimless.
By Brian Honigman
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