Have you ever felt as if creating your marketing takes forever? You try to create a batch of social media posts and suddenly an entire morning has whooshed by with very little to show for it. You’ve got loads of ideas, and the notes app on your phone is full of half-formed ideas, but actually turning them into something you’d be willing to let people see is exhausting. Either that, or you can’t decide which idea to focus on next. Here’s how a bit of focus and clarity speeds up your marketing.
Do you have too many ideas?
You know what you offer, how you work and who you want to work with. In fact, there’s so much knowledge that it feels like a massive word cloud floating around your head. Everything in the cloud feels important, and you don’t want to ignore anything, which can end up with you jumping from one idea to another. The problem with this is that it confuses your audience and exhausts you. You’ve tried to cover so many ideas in a short space of time that there’s no consistency, and you’ve run out of steam within a few days.
Creating more content often isn’t the solution. Taking a step back to pause and consider what you want to say and how means you can do more with less.
What does focused marketing look like?
Focusing on one thing at a time can feel daunting, as if you’re limiting yourself or excluding people who need something else. My services have several components, so I understand how that can feel. Remember that, even when you’re talking about one service, you’re still positioning yourself as someone who operates in a particular sector. My friends who sell skincare might only talk about one new product at a time, but it still sends the message that they specialise in that field.
Choosing a clear central theme for your marketing helps you focus on the thing you want to be known for. You can then break that down into monthly or weekly themes that support your overall message. It lets you plan knowing every email, blog or social media post is coming from the same central point, like branches and leaves extending from a tree trunk.
How clarity makes your marketing better
When you have clarity in your marketing, everything you create flows more easily and happens faster. You don’t have to think of multiple new and original ideas every week because you can build a rhythm and create content to fit. I use a framework to create the same type of post at the same time each month, while the content itself changes, which makes planning faster. Having a theme helps you filter ideas more quickly. If it doesn’t fit, you can park it for another time or get rid of it altogether. New customers will understand what you stand for and what you offer more quickly than they would if they feel confused by content that jumps from topic to topic.
The other big bonus is that you’ll build a content library that becomes a long-term asset because it reflects your business and continues to attract people over time. Everything feels connected, so new visitors will understand what you do wherever they find you.
Finding the right approach
If you like the sound of getting some clarity and focus on your marketing, you’re probably wondering where to start. This blog post explains my process for getting a jumble of ideas and unrelated thoughts out of my head and into my marketing (or to one side if I’ve been thinking about shopping lists).
You might read that post and realise you’re not going to go through that process on your own. If you need a sounding board, I can help. With my content clarity sessions, you do the brain dump before you arrive. Then, we work together in person to pull out the ideas and themes that will explain what you do and give you a plan to keep everything consistent. I provide the framework and ask questions as we go, but you find the answers that feel right to you.
You’re in control
Choosing a theme doesn’t mean your marketing is set in stone for eternity. If you choose something and find it doesn’t work when you put it into practice, you can change it. You might decide to change your services or how you work because your circumstances or your customers’ needs have changed, or just because you got bored.
If your plan starts to feel like a straitjacket, you can take it off. The aim is for your marketing to feel simpler, easier to create, and to lead with the right things.
Ready for a chat?
If you’d like me to be your marketing sounding board and help you get some focus and clarity into your marketing, let’s have a chat to see if my content clarity sessions will work for you.
Or, if you’d rather hand the whole thing over, I can write for you. When you work with me, I’ll get to know you and your business and write content that showcases your best self to help you connect with your ideal customers.
You can email me to arrange a chat or book a Zoom call to find out more.
Alternatively, sign up for my mailing list, and I’ll send you a free copy of my eBook with fifty (yes, 50) topic ideas for your marketing as a thank you. It also includes hints and tips to help you structure your posts if you’re currently writing your content yourself.
