How to make founder-led marketing more manageable while you explore solutions

I know that getting that marketing help is an all important step for SMEs and startups who are looking to scale beyond what you, as the founder, can do on a Tuesday afternoon.

However, sometimes actually getting that help in through the door requires a bit of a juggling act, with timings, budgets, and projects sometimes not lining up how you would like.

So, if you’re still the person responsible for marketing, even though you would like to hand it over to the experts, here’s how I market myself when I don’t have the time to.

Firstly, starting with what I don’t do in my founder-led marketing

1. Time block creativity

My brain actively rejects this like a toddler faced with broccoli. It’s not going to happen, so I don’t force it. I’ll end up just staring at the wall for an hour or just mindlessly scrolling LinkedIn. It’s not a productive use of time - go and do something else in the business.

2. Wait for people to come to me

There’s like a gazillion people in my space, if I just sit around and hope people accidentally come across me and sign an agreement straight away, I’d say that’s delusional. I know I have to start conversations and I know I need a system in order to start, document and continue (Hubspot’s free CRM is a decent call here).

3. Use every single channel I can think of

More channels don’t necessarily mean more reach. If anything they require more time and you don’t have that luxury. Stick to one, maximum two, channels that are delivering you conversations and leads semi-regularly. I use LinkedIn and Instagram but it could be email and YouTube, or just LinkedIn. The key is to use the most effective platform(s) in the time that you have available as a founder-led marketer.

4. Get trapped in comparison

I know we all do it, seeing the person that started after you absolutely smashing it across all of the socials, or your competitor doing some fancy stuff at an event. Maybe take some inspiration but don’t compare or copy. Your journey is going to be different from others, you might have different customers with more complex problems meaning that sales cycles are longer, which means that sure your LinkedIn post won’t get thousands of likes. But it will get seen by the right people.

What I actually do to make my marketing work in time-poor periods

1. Lean in when I feel creative

That could be when I’m out for a walk and I’ll open the notes app. That could be on a lazy Saturday when inspiration hits and I’ll open the laptop. It could be while I’m cooking and I’ll quickly write something down. All of it happens when I’m relaxed and not forcing it. But I'll always document it. This way I get to fit in all of my best ideas outside the constraints of process driven activity.

2. Reach out and chat to everyone I can

Cold outreach, networking in person and online, chatting to people at events, starting a conversation in your network. The more comfortable I get with putting myself out there, the more relevant conversations start to happen. And the beauty of this is that you can absolutely time block it to and Tuesday or Thursday afternoon and start as many conversations as you can.

3. Use the channels that will make the biggest impact

For me that’s networking and LinkedIn. That’s where I know my audience (or adjacent is) and that’s where I get leads. But that doesn’t mean that’s all I’ll use. I’ve seen some signals that my audience also hangs out on Instagram, so I’m planning what that looks like too. Assess where your audience is right now and if that’s LinkedIn and that’s all you can manage right now, that’s where you stay.

4. Repurpose content so that I'm not always creating from new

I first posted an iteration of this a few weeks ago on LinkedIn, and I know it was read by 100 people, which means that SO MANY more people didn't read it than did. When I posted it again, 300 people read it. And now I’ve added to it and made it into a blog. I'm aware I have finite time, so I'm finding more ways to repurpose existing content. See how you can turn your blog posts into LinkedIn posts and vice versa. Nothing in this day and age has to be overly polished, so try a couple of different combinations.

But also, the thing that I do that has the biggest impact?

Doing it consistently and setting up the systems to do so. Not booking in the whole of my marketing activity for a Tuesday afternoon appointment like getting a haircut. But by baking it into what I do day to day. That way you’ll get greater and better coverage and not resent it so much.

But also, if marketing is starting to become a bigger project that you can manage, surely now's the time to outsource it?

Take a look at my marketing services to see how we can work together to scale your marketing moving forward.