It is summer! Kids are home, summer activities are in full swing, and backyard barbeques are planned. Raise your hand if you want to work MORE this summer.
Hmm, I didn’t see any hands. I am guessing you want to work LESS! As a savvy small business owner, though, you know that you cannot take a break when it comes to marketing your business.
To stay ahead of the pack, it is crucial to keep a fresh internet presence on multiple platforms like your blog or website, Twitter, and article directories. I have three young kids and cannot spend all day in front of the computer! I have fine-tuned my marketing system, so let me share my secret with you on how I “work once; market my business all week long!”
Make time just once a week to go through the following steps. It should take about 2 hours. Grab my “Work Once” Weekly Planner to jot notes and make your plan.
1. Gather the latest news and trends in your industry. (30 minutes)
Get up-to-the-minute news and opinions on your industry by subscribing to blogs and forums. Two easy ways to keep tabs on the “blogosphere” is to subscribe to your favorite blogs in a reader like Google Reader, and to use sites like Technorati or Digg to tell you what bloggers are buzzing about. Become an active member in a forum with other like-minded mom business owners like Mom Masterminds. As you are scanning what is happening, keep Task #2 in mind and take notes.
2. Plan and write your marketing content for the week. (45 minutes)
Plan what you would like to write and update this week. Perhaps it is something like three blog posts, five Twitter tips, and one article. You can write it all right now and be done with it! Check out these tools to help you:
TweetLater – Schedule your tweets ahead of time
WordPress – Schedule your blog posts to publish any time
TwitterFeed – Feed your blog posts right into Twitter
3. Use a tickler system to prompt personal communication with clients and prospects. (15 minutes)
There is nothing more effective than one-on-one communication with clients and prospects. Do you have thank-you notes to send? A follow-up to someone who requested information about your business? A check-in with a past customer you have not heard from in awhile? Take the time just once a week to do this. If you don’t already have a reminder system in place, I highly suggest the online task management system Remember the Milk. (Read my previous post about the ins and outs of of it.)
4. Submit article(s) to directories. (30 minutes)
I wondered aloud in a few forums a few weeks ago if article marketing is going by the wayside in lieu of Twitter and blogging, or if it is still an important way of marketing your business. The overwhelming consensus was that yes, it is still an important aspect to marketing. It is inexpensive, if done correctly brings qualified and interested buyers to your website, and is a quick way to establish your credibility. Another benefit is that you can repurpose content that you write: turn an article into a blog post series, transform an article into a freebie for your website or blog, or combine several articles into a special report that you sell. You can read my previous post about the basics of article marketing.
Once you have written your article, submit it to multiple directories, including:
What efficient marketing tips do you have?
photo credit: popofatticus
June 13th, 2009 at 5:11 pm
Awesome tips! I’ve been meaning to sign up for Remember the Milk since you wrote the first post. It really does sound like a great tool. And I always forget about article marketing. I need to read your post on that.
June 14th, 2009 at 5:18 am
I’m not too sure about 45 minutes to write three blog posts and an article. I usually take 15-20 minutes to write one blog post – however I need a break after that. Three in a row, even if I could do them in 15 minutes each, still doesn’t leave any time for an article.
Three blog posts – good quality information and well written – and one article are more likely to take the whole two hours. I’m pretty sure I couldn’t do that much writing in one sitting though.
I know quite a few professional writers and very few of them could do this much in that time frame.
I like the idea, however I doubt the time frame is realistic for most people. I’ll be interested in hearing other’s comments on this too. :-)
June 15th, 2009 at 8:42 am
Melinda, Thanks for your feedback! I have posed your question/reaction out to the tweeps to gather more opinions! You make a good point – it’s a lot to pack in. My approach to blog posts is short, easily digestible bits of info like “link love”, cross blog conversations, current news/events, and interviews with a guest. I also repurpose blog posts or other bits of my writing to create short articles. I agree with you, though, in that from-scratch longer articles and blog posts take more time than I have alloted.
June 20th, 2009 at 9:10 am
Great tips! I always look forward to new ideas and suggestions and of course I may need to tweek them a little to fit “my” day but you helped me alot. I’m looking forward to revampimg my daily schedule and creating a weekly schedule in it’s place for our summer.