Are you struggling to keep up with your marketing efforts? Do you find yourself putting off important marketing tasks? Procrastination can be a real killer when it comes to marketing your business, and it’s time to put a stop to it.
Why Procrastination is Detrimental to Your Marketing Efforts
If you continuously postpone tasks until the next day, time flies by quickly, and before you know it, months and even years have passed. This results in a pileup of unfinished tasks and a lack of progress towards achieving your goals. Ultimately, delaying important marketing tasks can lead to missed opportunities, lost revenue, and a weakened brand reputation.
Competition is Forging Ahead
While you’re putting tasks on the backburner or struggling to find time, your competitors are forging ahead and accomplishing those same tasks. Don’t let procrastination keep you from staying competitive in your industry. You’re letting your competitors stay one step ahead of you, and you may be losing out on valuable leads and revenue.
Procrastinating on critical marketing tasks can result in missed opportunities to reach out to potential customers and build your brand. When you delay creating marketing content, optimizing your website, or implementing a new campaign, you’re giving your competitors the chance to connect with the audience that you’re trying to target. By the time you finally get around to doing it, your competitors may have already built a relationship with those customers, making it more challenging for you to gain their attention.
Reputation & Trust with Search Engines
In addition to losing out on potential customers, procrastination can also harm your brand’s reputation.
Being inconsistent with blog posts and Google profile posts can hurt your reputation and trust with search engines. Consistency is a crucial factor in building a strong online presence and improving your search engine rankings. Search engines prioritize websites and profiles that regularly publish fresh, high-quality content that is relevant to their audience.
If you are inconsistent with your blog posts and Google profile posts, search engines may view your website or profile as less authoritative and less relevant, which can result in lower search engine rankings. Additionally, inconsistency can make it difficult for your audience to engage with your content and stay up-to-date with your brand, which can damage your reputation and credibility.
Reputation & Trust with Potential Customers
Consistency is key when it comes to marketing, and when you fail to regularly produce high-quality content, potential customers may perceive your brand as unreliable or untrustworthy. This can erode the hard-earned trust you’ve built with your current customers and discourage potential customers from doing business with you.
Note – Take time to audit your posting history: Are your posts current? Or are your posts from several years ago or non-existent?
- Google Business Profile Posts
- Blog posts
- Linkedin Personal Page Posts
- Linkedin Business Page Posts
- Facebook Posts
- YouTube Videos
- Twitter tweets
- Industry Directory Posts
It’s important to develop a consistent content publishing schedule and stick to it. This can help you establish a strong online presence, improve your search engine rankings, and build trust and credibility with your audience.
How to Start Taking Action
So, how do you stop procrastinating and start taking action on your marketing goals? Here are a few tips:
Set Clear Goals and Deadlines
Without clear goals and deadlines, it’s easy to put off marketing tasks indefinitely. Define what you want to achieve and when you want to achieve it, and then create a plan to make it happen.
For example: There are 365 days in a year. How many blog posts can you reasonably publish in a year? 12, 24, 36, … 365 blog posts a year? Since blog posts are important for your marketing strategy, break down how often you need to publish a post to accomplish that goal. Now, set time on the calendar to write and publish blog posts. At the end of the year you’ll have that many blog posts that help drive traffic to your website and help make your marketing efforts easier. Or save time and effort by repurposing a few older blog posts.
Break Tasks into Manageable Pieces
Sometimes the thought of tackling a big marketing project can be overwhelming, leading to procrastination. Instead, break the project down into smaller, more manageable tasks. This can help you feel more in control and motivated to take action.
Identify your business goals. Pull out a piece of paper and write your goals big and proud. Post them somewhere you will see them daily.
Now, what are the steps you need to take to achieve those goals? Take time to lay out a breakdown of what it will take to achieve those goals.
Use a Calendar or Task List
Writing down your marketing tasks and deadlines can help you stay organized and accountable. Use a calendar or task list to keep track of what needs to be done and when.
If you struggle with coming up with marketing ideas, set time aside to audit you competitor’s blog and social media to see what content they are creating. This will help spark ideas of your own.
Note: When you find yourself putting something off, or saying you don’t have the time, ask yourself, “If not now, then when?!” Pull out your calendar right then and there and schedule the task. This will move you closer to achieving your goals.
Hold Yourself Accountable
Don’t let yourself off the hook when it comes to marketing tasks. Hold yourself accountable for completing tasks on time and meeting your goals. Your future self (and business) will thank you for completing tasks and meeting your goals.
Accountability Buddy
It may be helpful to have a friend, family member, or a member of your networking community be your accountability buddy.
Having an accountability buddy can be incredibly helpful when it comes to achieving your goals and getting things done, especially for local service companies. Here are a few reasons why:
- Increased Motivation: When you know someone else is counting on you to complete a task, it can provide an extra level of motivation to get it done. Accountability partners can encourage you when you’re feeling unmotivated and help you push through procrastination.
- Clear Goals and Deadlines: When you’re working with an accountability buddy, you’ll typically set clear goals and deadlines for yourself. This can help you stay focused and on track, and ensure that you’re making progress towards your larger objectives.
- Feedback and Support: An accountability buddy can provide valuable feedback on your work, offer support when you’re struggling, and help you brainstorm new ideas or solutions to problems.
Overall, having an accountability buddy can help you stay accountable, focused, and motivated as you work towards your marketing goals.
Outsourcing
Outsourcing can help with procrastination in some cases. When you outsource tasks to a professional, you can free up your time and mental space to focus on other important tasks. This can help you overcome procrastination by reducing the feeling of overwhelm and allowing you to prioritize your tasks more effectively.
Additionally, outsourcing can bring in fresh perspectives and ideas, which can help you approach tasks in new ways and break through any mental blocks or procrastination habits you may have developed.
However, outsourcing is not a complete solution for procrastination and it’s important to develop effective time management and productivity habits to ensure long-term success.
Start Seeing Results
By implementing these tips, you can stop procrastination from killing your marketing efforts and start seeing real results for your local service company. Remember, consistent and intentional marketing efforts are key to achieving business goals and staying ahead of the competition.