Does productivity affect your marketing? Does an inability to plan and systemize keep you from transforming your actions into results?
How you’ve been looking at marketing and where it fits into your existing structure may need a fresh perspective. Today we’re discussing the marriage of marketing and productivity and how that helps to build a sustainable and successful business.
TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES:
[01:04] What is Marketing Productivity?
[03:23] Is Your Marketing Productive?
[05:00] What Does Marketing Productivity Mean to Your Business and Daily Life?
[07:05] Marketing Productivity is the New Theme/Direction of the Messy Desk Podcast
[10:47] Bloopers
What is Marketing Productivity?
[Theresa] As I mentioned in the intro, today we’re talking about how to build a sustainable and successful business through marketing productivity.
So, the question we’re answering is “what is marketing productivity?” And, we’ll talk about how marketing productivity fits into your business and how it helps you as a solo entrepreneur.
And stay tuned until the end because we have an announcement to share!
[Meghan] Very exciting! Big things going on here that we definitely need to share.
Okay, so back to marketing productivity…what is it?
The concept means different things in different businesses. Some people talk about marketing productivity as it relates to the concept of marketing automation and tracking performance—like measuring your spend with your revenue.
But we’re focused on the definition that marries the more traditional concepts of productivity and marketing.
[Theresa] That’s right. Here’s the definition that we’re going with:
Marketing productivity is the optimization of your time and resources in regard to your marketing.
It’s about knowing and doing the marketing tactics and tasks that are manageable AND profitable. And, it’s about implementing your marketing in an efficient, productive manner.
[Meghan] Think about it in a couple of steps.
First, there’s determining which marketing tactics to use. What makes sense for you, your target market, and your business goals. (Which – side note – is why goal setting is so important. )
Then, you’ve got to determine how to effectively implement these tactics within your time, budget, and knowledge limitations.
Next, you’ve got to manage it all so that it’s sustainable. That means creating, streamlining and optimizing processes and systems around the tactics.
Marketing productivity is about knowing and doing the marketing tactics and tasks that are manageable AND profitable. And, it’s about implementing your marketing in an efficient, productive manner.
[Theresa] When it comes to marketing productivity, you may hear the phrase “getting more done in less time.”
But we’re revising that to “getting more of what matters done in the time you have allotted for it.” Because let’s face it, you have many tasks in your business. So, when you’re focusing on marketing, make sure you’re working on the right things during that block of time.
Is Your Marketing Productive?
[Meghan] And that brings us to the dilemma that so many of us face. Are you spending your time doing the marketing that makes the most profound difference in your business? In other words, is your marketing productive?
Productive marketing facilitates reaching your business goals. In other words, it’s the marketing that makes you more money than you spend! And that’s marketing that is worth your time, effort, and resources.
But even productive marketing can have negatives about it—if it’s something you can’t maintain or sustain. So, it’s about doing what works to generate revenue AND doing what works for YOU.
Productive marketing facilitates reaching your business goals. In other words, it’s the marketing that makes you more money than you spend!
[Theresa] Many solo entrepreneurs devote too much effort to vanity marketing, which is the opposite of productive marketing. It’s Shiny Object Syndrome on overload. They spend time they don’t have on marketing tactics that don’t achieve measurable business goals.
Vanity marketing feels like you’re getting work done because you’re checking off the to-do list. Like posting on social media just to have something there.
Unfortunately, this type of marketing is not work that translates to profitability and sustainability. It’s likely a waste of time. Sound familiar?
[Meghan] Yep! That’s been both of us many times. We’re not ashamed to admit it. A lot of marketing is trial and error and learning as you go. That’s the messy nature of running your own business and doing your own thing.
What Does Marketing Productivity Mean to Your Business and Daily Life?
[Theresa] Running a business IS messy! But, those messy moments are inevitable and part of the growth process. We’ve both gone through it…and we still go through it! It’s an ongoing part of business—and life really.
So, like Meghan just said, the result of productive marketing is revenue. And revenue is a necessary part of a successful business.
But how do you achieve productive marketing? Everyone wants to know that, right?!
[Meghan] Right! It’s not always an easy thing to figure out, and it’s unique to each business.
But it really does come down to something somewhat basic and straightforward: figuring out what works and then implementing it with a manageable, repeatable plan that turns your actions into sustainable, predictable business results.
It doesn’t mean doing everything. It’s more intentional and purposeful than that. And in my mind, productive marketing is very minimal too since solopreneurs don’t have the bandwidth for doing everything. They need to focus on WHAT moves the needle and HOW to maximize or systemize that.
[Theresa] And that’s where marketing productivity comes in. It removes the dead weight from your marketing and from your workload. It guides you to those things that matter and away from those things that don’t.
The end result? You can better manage your time, your business, and your life. And that can mean less frequent chaos, overwhelm, and burnout. It can also mean more time to do what you want and do what matters—both in business and life.
And, hello! This leads to more happiness and fulfillment, which is why you chose the path you’re on in the first place! No one started a business to experience a headache every day and to be miserable.
Improving your productivity when it comes to your marketing is a game-changer!
Announcement: Marketing Productivity is the New Theme/Direction of the Messy Desk Podcast
[Meghan] Amen to that!
What we’ve discovered through our own journeys is that many solo entrepreneurs struggle to achieve productive marketing and marketing productivity.
As we just said, the two go hand in hand. When neither are achieved, the end result is a lot of wasted time, eventual burnout, and reduced success or even the dreaded F word: failure (which makes us think of other F words lol)
[Theresa] In our experience, many people who are in business on their own need help in this area and don’t get the support they need. As a team of one, it’s challenging!
It’s messy, imperfect, and overwhelming—which is why our original intent of the podcast was to help solo entrepreneurs escape some of the messiness through improved productivity (which is my wheelhouse) and through marketing (which is Meghan’s wheelhouse).
So, our big announcement is that we’re getting back to that original mission! Moving forward, the Messy Desk Podcast’s theme will be marketing productivity for solo entrepreneurs and teams of one.
Is your marketing productive? Discover what marketing productivity is and how it can help you create a more sustainable and successful business.Click To Tweet[Meghan] And just to clarify, the focus will be on content marketing specifically.
Although content marketing is a subset of digital marketing, it’s a really major part of how you market online.
We know that productive marketing doesn’t happen on its own. And, we know that productivity and effective time management don’t happen on their own. These are givens, and they are big struggles for solopreneurs, including us.
But you can achieve your goals with small steps and commitment. And those steps include:
- Strategy and planning
- Tactic and task awareness and implementation
- Time management
- Processes and systems
- Mindset
These are some of the marketing productivity elements that lead to more productive marketing results, and that’s why these are the topics we’ll be talking about more in this podcast.
[Theresa] We’ve touched on these topics in many of our previous episodes, especially the more recent ones. In the past though, we’ve been more disjointed where one week I focused on productivity and the next week Meghan focused on marketing.
Moving forward, you’ll notice a more cohesive theme as our topics change a little. We’ll focus more on productivity as it relates to content marketing versus more general productivity.
And, again, we’ll concentrate on helping you achieve more productive content marketing through improved productivity.
Just remember, like you, we’re a work in progress. We’re still working out the kinks a bit. But you’ve probably already noticed a shift in our content, and we think it’s a good thing!
[Meghan] We do feel really positive about this shift, and we hope you stick with us! However, we understand that this focus may not be of interest to everyone.
So, either way, thank you for your support, and we hope you continue to spend your time with us each week!
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