Overcome Marketing Overwhelm In Just 5 Easy Steps

Two of the most common questions I’m always asked about marketing are, “Where do I begin? There’s just too much to do!” and “How do I keep from getting overwhelmed by all of the different marketing messages and resources out there?”

In today’s world of information overload and too many choices, I’m always inclined to have people go back to basics. As Julie Andrews once sang in The Sound of Music, “Let’s start at the very beginning, a very good place to start…”

I find that most people tend to take on way too much at once. We have so many options thrown at us and see everyone else moving full steam ahead, it’s hard not to feel like we just can’t keep up. No one wants to feel like they are missing out on opportunities. Putting one foot in front of the other, coupled with a little bit of strategy and focus, will get you moving right along before you know it.

Here are five steps that you can take to get out of overwhelm and into focused productivity:

Revisit Your Message: Go back to basics and spend some time refining your authentic message. If you aren’t attracting all the clients you want, chances are your message isn’t as authentic or clear as it could be. Who are you and what do you stand for? What is the benefit that people get from working with you? Take some time to write out 30 benefits/results that people achieve by hiring you. You might be surprised at what you discover.

Step Away From The Keyboard: You will never function at optimum potential if your gears are always in full steam ahead mode. If you are working in your business 24/7, you never give your engine a chance to reboot. It is imperative that you create the time and space away from your business to allow your creativity and brilliance to flow. You may find that you get some of your juiciest ideas and intuitive hits when you aren’t pushing to “make things happen.”

Get Some Help: Make a list of all the things you are currently doing in your business and then go through and put a check next to the ones that aren’t making you any money (like checking emails constantly, filing papers or picking up the mail). Delegate these first. You can’t afford NOT to outsource and delegate. Even if you hire a college student or find an intern to spend six hours a week working with you, you’ll free up those six hours to work on the high payoff items that will actually make you more money – the things that leverage your core gifts, like working with clients, creating a new product or writing articles.

Develop A Marketing Action Plan: Once you have freed up those extra six hours in your schedule by getting some help, use at least three of them to brainstorm and develop your marketing action plan. You know the saying, “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there.” Spend some time plotting out exactly where it is you want to go and then map out the tasks you need to take to get you there. Dedicate this time each week to tackling a handful of tasks that are on your list.

Develop Laser Focus: In other words, focus on one thing at a time. When you find yourself scattered all over the place, bring your attention back to the present and focus on one task at a time. I find that creating a list of the five most important priorities (high payoff, of course) and focusing on those first and foremost before anything else is most effective. Set a timer and start with number one. Don’t move on to the second task until have you have completed the first, and so on.

Keep in mind that you are exactly where you are supposed to be at any given time. My Dad always used to ask me, “How do you eat an elephant?” The answer: one bite at a time.

© Liz Dennery Sanders 2009