26 October 2022
You started your business to spend your days doing the one thing that you really enjoy doing. Then you realised that you also had to do the marketing, the social media posting, the blog writing, the email list building…
You’re doing all those things yourself and you know they need doing, but they take up so much time and you don’t really know why you’re doing them all. You don’t have a plan and your enthusiasm for it all left about 6 months ago.
All you wanted to do was spend your days doing the one thing you really enjoy, but now you’re spending more time on Canva than anything else. All for a couple of ‘ok’ looking Insta graphics.
All your competitors are breezing through work AND this marketing stuff and you’re just not feeling it.
You’re assuming that all those other businesses are doing it all themselves. They’re probably not. Small businesses outsource all sorts of tasks. Branding may not be the first task you think of to outsource, but it could be the most time effective one to take off your hands.
It’s easy to miss how much time you spend on creating marketing materials for your business. Canva is a black hole of templates, fonts, and photos; I’ve gotten myself lost in there a few times! I mean, you’re just looking for a picture to go with your words, how hard can it be? The answer is very hard.
How long did it take you to learn your own skills? Why are you expecting that you can learn the skills needed to market your business in 10 minutes, and still have them turn out looking fabulous? It’s unrealistic. A better plan is to use an expert to help shape your branding, making their expertise work for you. Using their external branding skills to guide you through what is needed and what will achieve your goals.
The Big businesses spend thousands on their branding, making sure the marketing is always on point. There’s no reason why you can’t have that attention to detail, albeit on a smaller scale. The big guys have whole departments dedicated to this stuff. I’m not suggesting you go out and employ every designer you can find. Trusting one person to keep your branding on track is a great start. If you are looking for 1-2 days support for your branding then I offer a consultancy service where you can have me working alongside you, offering my advice and support on your brand. To find out more about it book a call with me.
When I started my business, I also thought that everyone did it all themselves. Over time I’ve come to realise that’s not true. Businesses outsource their social media quite often, but that doesn’t really help with your overall marketing plan. Having a couple of nice graphics created for you once a month, isn’t much of a strategy. A much better plan is to make sure that you’re overall marketing plan is solid and that what you are promoting yourself with, is both on brand and has purpose. Without purpose, a social media post doesn’t mean much.
It’s sensible to ask for advice when you’re in an unknown situation. Advice and support are two things that I give as a branding designer. I get that your business is a personal part of you and that it can be hard to trust someone with, what is essentially your reputation. That’s why I’m offering ongoing support as an external brand manager to small businesses like yours.
Having someone to take the initiative with planning your marketing leads to your business goals being obtained quicker and with better results than struggling through on your own. Forbes have got some similar opinions over on their blog.
It’s a jump to get back to doing the thing you love doing in your business. It might feel like a leap of faith at the beginning, but didn’t starting your business in the first place feel like that?
Just getting a small amount of help can feel freeing. Working with me is as easy as turning up for a
oom call every month. Every month we’ll discuss your goals and how your branding can help you to achieve them. I create the graphics needed and you get to carry on with your favourite tasks. If this sounds like just the thing you’ve been looking for, book in a call with me to find out all the details.