Time saving marketing tactics.

In the 2020 Kaffeen agency survey, the most common response to ‘how long do you spend on marketing per month’ was 1/2 a day. 

And that time that seemed to be disproportionately spent in January, when projects were quiet, and the business bank balance looked grim. Cue quick fix marketing activities. Sound familiar?

Unsurprisingly, in answer to another of the survey questions, the same people said they want more new business. They also revealed that lack of time was one of the most significant barriers to ‘doing’ marketing.

But does it have to be this way?

A mentor of mine used to say 

“You’re either learning, or you’re earning. Never both.” 

And I feel that’s very true of marketing a design agency. All too often when we do dedicate time to marketing, it’s an uphill battle because we do it so infrequently. 

If only someone would tell us what to do, make it easy, give us a to-do list. I know I wish that’s what I’d had when I was in-house.

Here are my top tips for creating a marketing plan that is easy to repeat, delegate, and help grow your business.

#1 Decide who is your audience

Think: location, job title, seniority, years in the role, gender, industry, vertical press they read, events they attend/ speak at. Limit yourself to 3 ideal client targets at a time. Don’t be tempted to be everything to everyone. There is real value in focusing on a niche.

#2 Choose your activities based on who you’re targeting

Limit yourself to 3 activities. For example, you want to work with a pet food clients: set a goal of getting thought pieces published in their vertical press, speak at events they attend, if you know commercial effectiveness is key to their team, win a Design Effectiveness Award.

#3 Be direct

Don’t tiptoe around; get in contact with your prospect. Share something relevant (born of the marketing activities you have handpicked in stage 2). You need to introduce yourself because even if they are not ready to buy right now, they are aware of you and know how to get in contact.

#4 Who else?

Once you’ve followed these steps for your dream client, then make a list of other targets in their sector. People in a similar role, sector, company and place (if relevant) and repeat stage 3.

#5 Delegate to scale

Record yourself doing repeatable, time-consuming marketing activities, delegate the task to a lower-ranking member of staff, or virtual assistant. With the video as a training resource, they can rewatch time again. I love Zoom for this.

In summary, marketing feels ineffective and time-consuming when it’s scattergun.

Use this 5 step routine to guide how you operate, and even if you can only spare 1 hour per week on marketing, you’ll feel like you’re aiming towards a goal, you’ll be building content and thinking that is suited to your clients, and you’ll start to see results.

Good luck!