“I should be doing my work. I don’t want my marketing to be a second job.”

A client told me this, recently, and I know he’s not the only one who feels that way.

I agree – marketing shouldn’t be your 2nd job. Here’s what I told him:

“Marketing is your FIRST job. Because your prospects are your future.”

But let's back up and address the feeling that “doing your marketing” is like a “second job.”

Instead of treating your marketing and your work as two separate things…

I want you to integrate your marketing into your work and your life, so it’s not a separate “job” you have to do.

Watch me explain in the "Best Bits" from our August Office Hours:



When you start to look at marketing as a part of your daily life, it becomes easier.

For example…

• A project you’re working on can spark an idea for a LinkedIn post...
  
  
• While you’re posting it the next morning, you can take a few minutes to comment on other LinkedIn posts and invite someone to connect...
  
  
• The next day, when someone comments on your post, send them a direct message and offer your services.

That’s all three of the tools in the Simplest Marketing Plan (Content Marketing, Networking, and Targeted Outreach), mixed into your week in small, easy tasks.

Another client said, “When I get busy with client work, I tend to drop my marketing.” 

That’s why I say “spend 30 minutes a day on your marketing.” I recommend you block off 30 minutes daily-ish. And do it first thing.

Or, if it’s more organic for you to do it in 10 minutes here and there, that’s ok, too.

But think about it this way…

Your current clients are your present, and it’s easy to get swept up in everything you need to do for them right now.

But neglecting your marketing means that you aren’t setting yourself up for the future.

The whole thing about marketing is that you’re preparing the ground so that you can harvest it next year - not tomorrow.

So rather than thinking about it as an entirely separate job you have to find time for, use your work to feed your marketing. When you do that, your marketing will feed your work - and you - for years to come.