How To Automate And Balance Your Online Marketing

A Principled Approach To Marketing

I have six principles I use to be more mindful in my marketing. I see successful marketing as an outgrowth of my intention to live as a successful human.

That’s what led me to develop these principles that I’ve returned to over the years throughout the various ups and downs of both business and life.

My principles have helped me become more balanced which has been a huge advantage in the online marketing space where it’s easy to become overwhelmed. I want to share some of them with you here.

 

My Principles: 1. People Over Process

I used to follow this principle in reverse. I thought it would be possible to run my business with as many aspects of it on autopilot as possible. It’s not!  
The more I pulled myself out of the business the more problems I bumped into. Any process you do automate should be done to supplement the relationships you’ve built.  
You still need to be in your business and interacting with other people on a personal level if you want to grow. At one point I had put my Twitter on autopilot. As soon as I did this I not only started losing followers but I also started losing connection as well.
 

2. The Three Bucket Rule

Use the three bucket rule to triage tasks into: Tasks you need to act on directly, tasks you can automate, and tasks you can assign to others.  
When I think about what I want to be personally engaged with, I think about my core service. I like to be involved in my sales process and talk to prospective clients.

Anything you are repetitively doing, it’s not a bad idea to find a tool to automate that process. Good examples here are things like scheduling, that actually enable you to have more time to connect with others.

For tasks that aren’t critical to your business but still need to get done by another person, only assign tasks when your reputation or relationships aren’t in peril.

People are looking to deal with you as the face of the business, as a coach, I definitely wouldn’t outsource my coaching. That would go against the whole ethos of my business no matter how much easier it makes my life.
 

3. Plan To Be Productive

Having a plan ahead of time always leads to getting more done than if you walk into situations blindly.  
Typically on Sunday, I’ll have an hour that’s dedicated on my calendar to plan out my posts for the week. If I don’t take this time to get everything set then my content won’t be as aligned.

I plan out my theme for the week and then build my posts around it which keeps everything cohesive.

These are just some of the principles I’ve discovered that help keep me more balanced, consistent, and mentally on top of my business and life.

 

Action Steps

1. Don’t over-automate. Be active in your business and only use technology to supplement your relationships.
2. Take care of tasks personally that only you can accomplish, the ones critical to your mission.
3. Automate repetitive functions like scheduling.
4. Assign tasks to others that won’t impact your reputation or relationships.
5. Create daily, weekly, and monthly plans to stay connected with your larger goals.

 

Result You Will Achieve

A more balanced and mindful approach to your business, marketing, and life through applied principles.
 

 
This article is based on an EHQ interview with the mentor.