Running an online business does not need to run your entire life. All too often, we work on our phones at dinner or open the laptop at practice to get those small things done. With pressing deadlines and communications stacking up in your inbox, needless to say life as an entrepreneur parent is a balancing act for sure.
But imagine life for a moment where the clients/ sales are cha-chinging while you’re enjoying time with your kids. There’s an ease and flow to your work day. Imagine a life where running your business accentuates your life and gives you the freedom you went into business for yourself in the first place.
By setting up a well crafted marketing workflow, semi-automated pipeline, you can save tons of time and money in your business to live life in harmony with your business. From a marketing coach and content creator, let me share my best tips with you…
Map content a month at a time
Whether you choose one, two, or to be everywhere, plan your content for the entire month. Just a birds eye view so week for week you know exactly what you’re creating. Plan your content around holidays and National awareness days and what you’re promoting.
Create a schedule that works for your life and work style
Whether you create your best content first thing in the morning or thrive in the evening hours, plan to create content and writing and graphics based on when you naturally have the most creative juice for that type of task. The reason you started this business in the first place was for the freedom it brings so create a schedule that works best for you. Not everyone thrives at 4am, so if sleeping in is how you are most productive later in the day, then do it! If walking before the sun is your jam, then go for it just think about what suites you and your family.
Bulk create content and graphics
Now that you have your marketing map for the month and your ideal work schedule, create your pieces in bulk. One day you can sit down and write out all the captions, while the next day you create all the graphics. This will certainly bring balance and ease to your work as you set yourself a weekly schedule and stick to it!
Automate responses and email sequences
Automate as much as you can in your business to free up time. There’s so many tech tools to help you run your business. Choose wisely though because you can end up spending quite a dime on the various platforms. Here’s a list of a few of my favorite things (aka my recommendations list for your tech deck).
Reduce/Reuse/Recycle (aka Repurpose content)
Leverage current content to reuse in various formats and on various platforms. For example, if you wrote a blog post six months ago and it’s performing really well, getting lots of traffic and engagement, then use this same content as Instagram reels and stories by creating videos and graphics to convert the message. If you have a YouTube channel and there’s a video performing really well, chop it up into bite-sized pieces for your social media content.
Moving forward, I want to encourage you to take whatever content you create and find a way to use it at least one more time! Make this part of your planning process. Trust me when I tell you this is a game changer for content creation. Doing this regularly will help you save time and headspace in the long run and it will connect your content and encourage people to consume the various formats. Repetition is where sales magic happens. So when people hear the message in various formats and style they will connect with you and be more likely to buy from you.
Content to Grow Reach & Impact
Always have a goal attached to every piece of content you create and share! The goal may simply be to inspire, educate, or entertain, but mix the fun content with some promotional content. You want to draw people in with your free content but guide them towards what you offer. Make it a rule of thumb for all of your content to include a call-to-action, whether to sign up for your something free (aka email capture via freebie incentive), follow or subscribe, share, comment, or a shout out about your new offer and where they can sign up.
To Conclude
Consistency is key to success! Stay consistent and you’ll see growth not only in your content reach, but also sales. Keep your chin up and have fun with your marketing. Set down those thoughts of doubt, burnout, or confusion and just know that you can do anything you set your mind to! Just keep on keeping on!
Blessed Be,
Michelle