When you start building out the marketing for your business, there's a lot that you can consider including. From supporting the customer journey to creating social media, utilizing email marketing to paid ads, and even creating meaningful content to grow your presence online - it all has a place in your marketing, but when and how can you implement all these things for your business?
As you find what works for your marketing, keep an open mind and try to avoid over-committing to a plan or strategy before you first identify what's important for you and your business growth at this point in time.
Remember your business and journey are different than anyone else's, meaning your plan should be different.
Getting inspired by others and growing through guidance and education in whatever ways work best for you (coaching, reading great books, listening to podcasts, going to events, etc.) is incredibly valuable. But ultimately, you are the one who knows your business best, you are the captain of your ship, and you must take hold of the power that you have as the heart of your company.
As you work to align with your ultimate vision, remember that growth takes time. Like going to the gym, you're creating a new healthy body of marketing for your business. That means your entire business, from head to toe, inside and out, becomes stronger, more agile, and more connective with your audience than before.
As you put time and effort into building these healthy business and marketing habits, you'll find your time and effort come back to you tenfold. With every action you take. you are creating your ultimate support system that connects your business to the world.
Healthy Marketing Habits look like this:
Actively engaging in social media.
This is MORE than just posting content on your page, it's about listening to your audience, observing the world you're marketing to, and valuably commenting and engaging with the community you hope to grow. Make a habit of engaging on the social media platforms that fit your audience daily, even if for just 5 minutes.
Listening to your data.
What you do takes energy, be sure you're spending that energy wisely by paying attention to what your data says.
Pro tip: Your website, social media, and email marketing are three solid data points that you can look at as a roadmap to creating effective and valuable content. Make a habit of checking on your data at least once a month so you have an idea of what has been working or not.
As you create, when you release it's a test to see what happens - to be successful in marketing you then must be willing to review and tweak your strategy as needed. When you find what works, it becomes a backbone component of your business.
For example, a really great client onboarding email sequence: once you create it, test it, and optimize it, you have a 24/7 machine that is designed to introduce you to your new clients, sets expectations, and allows them the chance to receive any necessary information from you in a tangible way. This then works for you and takes the burden off your plate! But if you want what you do in marketing to work, you have to start by listening to your data.
Building your content library.
Create meaningful content that will help your business grow online. Consider first what will build knowledge and understanding about your business. Then ask yourself how can this piece of content be used so it makes the most of your time and effort.
Here's an example of how I practice this healthy habit with clients:
First, we start by creating a beautiful, strong piece of content for their website that supports the company's SEO needs.
Once we have a valuable content piece, we then actively share a teaser (and offer!) through email to engage your direct audience that points them back to the website to read the full blog.
The last step is to utilize the content we made for social media; by sharing pieces of this with their audience online, they become interested, learn about your business through your post and blog, and ultimately get to know you.
Depending on your growth goals and ability, you can decide how much content you're comfortable creating on a weekly or monthly basis. Once you know what you can handle, block out an hour or so at a time to execute your content; copywriting your blog, designing social media imagery, or drafting the email, whatever you decide to do give yourself the time to do the job efficiently. Avoid rushing or creating content just to create content.
With our healthy habits, we're creating the foundation for our business growth. We're crafting a beautiful network of information for our audience and making it easy for them to get to know, like, and trust us. Ultimately, with our Healthy Marketing Habits, we're working to show up in our best light.
When we show up in the right space, we expose the right people to what we have to say, and when we can reach those people, we can impact them.
Bonus habit: Take care of yourself.
As you work to take care of your business, pause and be sure to also take care of yourself.
These habits can be simple things, like drinking plenty of water, reading new books, going for a walk on your lunch hour, or taking a rest. Make a habit of taking 15 minutes each morning to check in with yourself; pause and ask, what do I need today to take care of my body and mind?
The more you practice these types of habits, the easier they will become, and the idea of marketing your business will not feel so overwhelming and stressful, making it easier for you to take action and focus on what's most important to you.
If you're looking for more support in your strategy, planning, and execution, please contact me. You don't need to do it alone.