One of the most difficult things for any startup or small business owner to figure out is how to market their business.
This is especially true as a business begins to grow, but still isn’t large enough to bring in the extra marketing help necessary to take that off the owner’s plate.
When this happens, it is important to find ways to regain the time you need to focus on marketing your small business.
What’s the best way to achieve this?
You need to learn how to more effectively delegate within your company, and determine when it is best to find some outside help.
Delegate Internally
One of the biggest and most common risks small business owners face is getting overwhelmed by feeling like they have to handle everything themselves.
It is definitely important to have an understanding of what is going on with your business from top to bottom.
However, there is a point where you need to delegate.
Only by doing this can you focus on the tasks that truly require your time and attention.
As stated (wonderfully, might I add) by Laura Petrolino, it can be incredibly difficult to let go of responsibilities.
After all, this control and attention to detail is frequently what brought early success in the first place.
These traits are part of what make us successful in the first place and maybe even helped us get to our current position. While sometimes frustrated other people don’t carry an equal load, for most of our careers we just assume it’s just our role to take care of everything—and prefer to—because we know we can trust ourselves vs. take the chance on something not being done well.
Determine Your Ideal Role
When it comes to marketing your small business, it is vital to decide which role you are most effective at doing.
Some leaders are gifted brand visionaries, and know exactly what their brand’s identity should look like.
Others are better at the practical application side of things.
Are you more focused on who your brand is, or what it does?
By answering this question, you will be more able to decide what marketing tasks you should hold onto, and which you should delegate.
If you think about your company, products, and services from more of a practical application standpoint than a marketing and identity one, you should find people you trust to translate your thinking into a marketable identity.
Hire to Fit Your Brand Vision
As your business grows, you wind up with more tasks and responsibilities.
You start having to worry about things such as HR and compliance.
These responsibilities can start taking valuable time away from marketing your small business.
Fortunately, you have options.
One way to minimize the various responsibilities you have on your plate is to remember the various aspects of your marketing and PR should not exist in isolation of each other.
The ways in which you run your business should all align with your brand identity.
This is true even in areas that seem disconnected from your marketing efforts.
From hiring, product development, internal leadership, and even administrative tasks, everything should be on the same page.
The way you conduct business and the people you hire need to line up with the vision for your company’s brand identity.
Otherwise, you will only create extra work down the line to make up for the disparity between marketing and reality.
Outsource Marketing Your Small Business When Needed
Another option you have is to get outside help.
You need to honestly assess your internal team’s strengths and weaknesses to get the right external help.
Many people assume the best route to take is to outsource your marketing efforts.
There are definitely times when this is the best answer.
Other times, though, this may not be your best answer.
You may have the right team and a clear vision for marketing your small business better than outsourcing would.
If this is the case, you will need to find other ways to regain the time needed to focus on marketing.
What responsibilities are the ones taking your time away from establishing and executing your marketing strategies?
If they are administrative, then outsourcing those tasks instead is a great way to fix this.
One way of doing this is hiring people to handle these tasks internally.
You can also do this through an organization such as a PEO.
These organizations take care of the administrative details that get in the way of you focusing on the direction of your brand.
First, accept that there are things you need help with in your company.
Then delegate these tasks, whether within your company or through outsourcing.
This will allow you to bring your focus back to your company and spend more time developing strong marketing strategies.
