A calendar full of appointments and pushpins, concept for marketing strategy

Tips For Managing Your Marketing Strategy

With the Labor Day weekend behind us, the carefree days of summer are gone once again.

Oh. Who am I kidding? When you own a small business, there are no actual carefree days. (How is it that our kids “busy” makes us so busy? That doesn’t seem fair.)

The business world has a cycle to it, and for most of us, the pace does slow during the summer months. Then September rolls around, and it’s like everyone suddenly wakes up and remembers that they have businesses to run.

This is welcome news if you have been feeling your business slide into a bit of a summer slump. But an abrupt surge in business can be just as anxiety-inducing as an abrupt slump in sales if you don’t have a plan for handling the new workflow.

Before the panic sets in, let’s talk strategy for handling the busyness:

1. Take Time to Plan and Stick To The Plan

weekly planner for delegating marketing tasks

Photo by Jess Bailey on Unsplash

You just landed a big client. Congrats! Now what? There are no shortcuts for taking the appropriate amount of time to plan out the steps needed to finish a new project. So make sure to take as much time as required in the early stages. Talk with everyone who will have a hand in the project and get a sense of how much time it will take each person to complete their piece of the puzzle. Also, consider the order in which each part needs to happen. Then manage the whole project according to your marketing strategy will become easier.

Proper planning is especially crucial for new projects, but having the right plan in place is just as important when it comes to checking routine tasks off of your to-do list. If you don’t plan out these regular jobs, you risk losing them in the busy shuffle. The difference here, though, is that you can likely save time by planning further in advance.

For example, at Spring Insight, we have optimized our blogging and social media calendar. We roughly plot out topics for the whole month in our marketing meeting at the end of the previous month. We check-in weekly, but this monthly plan makes most of our weekly meetings reasonably short (30 minutes or so), leaving ample time during the week for productivity.

Planning: What The Experts Suggest

When it comes to planning out each workday, consider your priorities carefully. Make a list of the two or three essential tasks to complete and require the most focus. Do these first, whenever possible. Once you’ve completed these tasks, your day already feels like a success. Then you can move on to the less critical tasks, such as routine meetings, or push them to the next day.

2. Delegate and Outsource Tasks More Often

The best way to handle an uptick in demand for your business is to make sure your company operates as efficiently as possible. Ideally, this means that each person spends their time on actions that they are best suited to perform. Streamlining your business and having a solid marketing strategy is easier said than done, of course, but it is a good idea to consider where some shuffling of responsibilities could occur.

Of course, you don’t want to overwhelm your employees, but if someone on your staff has expressed interest in learning something new or taking on additional responsibilities, take them up on their offer. Don’t let the extra time for training and ironing out logistics stop you from taking advantage of what will eventually free up your time toward business development.

Don’t have anyone within your organization who can reasonably help out? From recruiting and hiring to marketing and website strategy, many tasks can be outsourced for reasonable rates. Now, if only you could find a reliable company to help you with your marketing and website strategy. (Oh wait! Spring Insight can help!)

Delegating: What The Experts Suggest

Chances are you will spend time today doing projects and tasks that someone else could take off your plate.  Try writing down two things you did that someone else could have done for you. Then, the next day, delegate those things. 

3. Don’t Confuse Busyness for Productivity

a content marketing hard at work being productive of their time and marketing strategy

Photo by Unseen Studio on Unsplash

It seems like pop-psychology—because it is—but a good part of what it means to be less busy is simply finding ways to feel less busy. For example, if you feel stressed or anxious, one quick fix is changing your work environment. Changing scenery by getting out of the office for a couple of hours and heading to your favorite coffee shop or even a public park can do wonders for your state of mind.

It’s also good to mention that we are really good at filling up our time. If you give yourself two weeks to complete a presentation, it will take you two weeks. If you give yourself two days, it will take you two days. I’m not suggesting that you should wait until the last minute to prepare for that presentation. Be realistic. But also make sure you’re not hiding from tasks you need to do by allowing yourself to be distracted by details that don’t matter. It’s all about having the proper perspective for developing and sticking to a marketing strategy.

Busyness: What The Experts Suggest

Stop talking about being busy. There’s a big difference between being busy and being productive. It’s wonderful to be proud of your accomplishments. However, filling up your waking hours is not an accomplishment. Recalibrate by talking about those things you’re proud of instead of talking about how busy you are and reinforcing that stress.

If you are strategic and follow the above tips, the busyness will pass, and you’ll be left with a solid customer base to carry you through the next few months and into the New Year. With a bit of planning, delegation, and perspective, you will be ready to ride this new wave of business. However, if you aren’t quite there yet, contact Spring Insight, and let’s talk about how our team can help you market your business, so you can concentrate on being awesome at what you do.