Make Time for Marketing

Most of the time we " find time” to do the things we know must be done. There's only 24 hours in a day, so the time you'll find will be taken away from sleep, family, or me time.
I don't know about you, but my list of things to do grows bigger everyday. But, what I've learned is to prioritize and make time for those things that are necessary to business growth.

Let’s first talk about managing your time. You can spend most of your day dealing with customer or employee issues and when you take a breath; the whole day has slipped by. Multi-tasking is an important skill to learn when you are a business owner. Having the ability to juggle a variety of things at one time will help you accomplish tasks quickly while allowing time for other things.

To manage your time more effectively, review the “to do” list and pick out the items that are urgent, necessary, and will generate revenue. Once you have done that, it will be clear how to prioritize your list. Marketing should be included in the category of generate revenue and you would want to generate revenue everyday if possible.

So, now that you have your priorities straight, here’s how you can make time for marketing. Hire interns from your local college to come in and help you with a specific marketing project. Students are eager to get experience in the field they are studying and sometimes it is for college credit. Think outside the box. You don’t have to dedicate an entire day to marketing. You can conduct marketing activities throughout the day.

When you go to the dry cleaners to drop off your clothes, ask the manager if you can leave business cards or flyers on the counter. Before or after a PTA meeting, inform attendees when your store is having a big sale. While on the phone with a customer, ask him or her if they know of someone else who may need your services. And of course, you can hire a marketing expert to implement marketing activities for you.

These are just a few ways you can make time for marketing while you are doing other things. I’d like to hear from you some ways you have made time for marketing. Post your comments here.