“There is not enough time in the day.” How often have you said that to yourself? If you are anything like me, it’s pretty often. Between work commitments, time for family and friends, and all those other necessary things, we are usually in a time crunch. Your marketing efforts should not be one of the things putting a dent in your free time. That’s why we have created this list of five easy ways to reduce or eliminate the time suck that marketing can be.
Schedule, Schedule, Schedule—Having a calendar of content creation is probably the most important thing that you can do as a marketer. Set aside a specific time each week to brainstorm, write, create, and edit your marketing material. This way you get it done early and can schedule it on your website and on social media. This also prevents you from using it as way to put off other less fun tasks, like bills.- Survey Your People—Find out what content they like to see from your business, then focus on creating similar posts. You won’t waste time on posts that no one reads AND you get better insight on how to grow your marketing in the future.
- Templates—Instead of recreating a post, an email, or an infographic every time that you need one, create a template. By utilizing a template, you will save time and energy for nearly all of your content. Let’s say for example that you do a “Getting to Know You” post for each new staff member, create an easy Q&A quiz for them to fill out and reuse it again and again. You can add a brief introduction at the beginning, but the hard work is already done.
- Your Best Time—Going along with #1, if you are the one doing the majority of content creation, consider what time of day you are most productive? Are you an early riser or do you write better in the late afternoon? Choose the time frame that works for you and set it aside to get your work done.
- Don’t Multitask—This may seem counterproductive, but you actually waste time switching back and forth between jobs. If you are writing, focus on your writing. Don’t let a notification from Twitter make you immediately login to respond. In fact, put your phone on Do Not Disturb for the time that you are writing. Same with social media, go ahead and close those pages for your writing period.
Remember to take a break for your health and mental clarity. Research has proven again and again that people who incorporate breaks into their work day actually were more productive than those that tried to slog it out at a desk the whole time. So get up and get moving, have a snack, call your friend, then come back to work.
Tell us a way you save time with your marketing in the comments!
This article is written by Mickie Kennedy, founder of eReleases (https://www.ereleases.com), the online leader in affordable press release distribution. Grab your free 160-page copy of the Big Press Release Book – Press Releases for Every Occasion and Industry here: https://www.ereleases.com/free-offer/big-press-release-samples-book/