I went freelance after more than ten years of being employed. The thing I missed first was other departments.
In a job, somebody else does the accounts, somebody else fixes the printer and somebody else writes the newsletter. On your own you are all of them, and marketing is the one that slides, because no client is chasing you for it.
So it gets the gaps. Ten minutes in the car before pick-up. Half an hour on a Sunday night with one eye on the telly.
Give it one block
Two hours, same slot each week, in the diary like a client. Mine is [your day and time].
Two hours in one sitting gets more done than four hours in scraps, because you spend the scraps remembering where you got to.
This is how I’d split it.
First 20 minutes: reply and follow up
Money first. Go through each inbox, answer the open enquiries, and chase the quotes you sent last week. One booking from a follow-up pays for the whole two hours.
Next 60 minutes: make one thing well
One useful thing a week, drawn from what your customers ask you. A question you answered three times this month is a post, an email and a page on your website.
Write it once, at length, then cut it up:
- The full version goes on your blog or in your newsletter
- The main point becomes a post with your face in it
- One line becomes a second post later in the week
That is your week’s content from one hour’s thinking.
Next 20 minutes: keep the lights on
Small jobs that stop you looking closed:
- Add a photo to your Google Business Profile
- Reply to reviews and comments
- Check your opening hours and prices are right on your website
- Ask one happy customer for a review
Last 20 minutes: look, then plan
Check two numbers and no more: how many enquiries came in this week, and where they came from. Ask new customers how they found you and write the answers down. In three months that list will tell you where your two hours should go.
Then write next week’s one thing on a sticky note, so you start next Tuesday knowing what you are making.
What you can drop
- Posting daily
- A platform your customers don’t use
- Trending audio
- Redesigning your logo
- Reading another article about the algorithm
This one excepted, of course.
When two hours isn’t there
Some weeks it won’t be. Do the first twenty minutes and call it done.
If it is never there, that tells you something too. The follow-ups and reminders can run on a system, which is what I set Tilbe up to do for clients. The making can go to someone who enjoys it, and I do. [Link: Tilbe CRM] [Link: Services]
Which day could you give your marketing two hours next week?
