Episode Transcript
[00:00:06] Hi there. Welcome back to the Confessions in the Home Office podcast. I'm Wendy Hill.
[00:00:11] Today I want to talk about something that every business owner faces. Whether you're brand new to business or you're many years in, how in the world you're supposed to market your business when you're already swamped. I'm not talking about the weeks when you feel like you've had enough, sleep, your head on projects and your coffee tastes great.
[00:00:28] I'm talking about the weeks when you're juggling five client deadlines, a surprise meeting comes up you really don't have time for, there's two family emergencies, and the universe decided to spin the wheel, and it's your turn to live in total chaos.
[00:00:42] If you've ever said, I'll go back to marketing when things slow down, this episode is for you. Because here's the truth I tell every client. If you only market when you're not busy, you're going to stay on that roller coaster of feast and famine forever.
[00:00:57] The businesses that grow steadily are the ones that keep showing up even when they're booked.
[00:01:03] When we get busy, our brains try to convince us that we don't need to market right now. We're fine. We have clients, there's money in the checking account.
[00:01:10] We'll do this later. And of course, later never shows up because we get busy with other things or worse. Everything slows down at the exact moment you don't want it to, and suddenly you're scrambling to be visible again.
[00:01:24] Marketing works the same way that fitness does. You don't feel the pain of skipping it until you've skipped it long enough that it catches up with you. And it's hard to get everything back.
[00:01:35] So I've spent years teaching clients a really simple system that keeps them visible without requiring endless hours or elaborate planning.
[00:01:44] It works in the busiest seasons of business. And honestly, it works in my own business, too, especially when I'm juggling more than I ever planned to. And this entire year has been that way. So I've had to work really hard to keep going with marketing and to stay visible.
[00:01:59] There's three place, there's three pieces to the system, and they work together with really little effort.
[00:02:05] So when you strip marketing down to what actually matters, you realize you don't have to be everywhere. You just need to stay present, connected, and visible.
[00:02:16] So the first part is what I call your anchor piece of content. For me, it's this podcast, so it could be the one thing that you create each week, no matter how busy you are. It could be a podcast episode like this one. It could be a short email blast.
[00:02:31] It could be a simple social post you put up each week, or even just a quick video, several minutes long, filmed while you're walking your dog.
[00:02:40] The goal really isn't to create this super professional masterpiece. The goal is to maintain your presence and your voice in front of the people who follow you.
[00:02:49] The second part is nurturing the people who already pay attention to you. This is the part most businesses ignore when they get really busy.
[00:02:57] Nurturing can be as simple as replying to someone who commented, sending a quick check in message, maybe to a past client or somebody who you've talked about working with, but it just hasn't quite happened yet, or taken a few minutes to respond to people who shared your content. It doesn't really require creativity. It just really requires attention and a few genuine moments of connection.
[00:03:21] And then the final part is just doing one visibility action.
[00:03:26] Just one. This could be showing up on LinkedIn, sharing a post you're proud of, reconnecting with someone in your industry, or. Or doing anything that helps you stay in front of new eyes.
[00:03:38] On your busiest weeks, this could take you less than 5 minutes if you stay focused. But the impact adds up quickly because you're continually expanding your reach.
[00:03:49] When these three pieces work together, an anchor, a nurture touch point, and a visibility moment, you stay active without burning yourself out.
[00:03:59] So what does the system look like in a week when you're really drowning?
[00:04:05] Let's paint the picture. You start by choosing one anchor piece, maybe a short podcast episode, or even a simple email that says, here's what I learned this week. Next, you take a few minutes to reply to people who interacted with something that you posted.
[00:04:20] And then you pick just one place to show up publicly, just one, and share something useful.
[00:04:26] So nothing about that is complicated, but it's a system. It's something you have to do every week. Nothing requires a graphic designer, an editorial calendar, four hour strategy session. It's just small, it's doable. It keeps you from disappearing from everybody's radars.
[00:04:42] And that consistency compounds. It builds recognition and it builds trust. That's really important. It keeps your name circulating even when you're deep in client work.
[00:04:53] So here's what I really want you to walk away with.
[00:04:56] Marketing is not the thing you do when you suddenly need clients.
[00:05:00] Marketing is not the thing that you cut when things slow down.
[00:05:05] Marketing is the thing you make sure you don't get to the point of needing clients.
[00:05:12] If you wait for urgency, your Marketing starts carrying the weight of panic, and people can feel that panic.
[00:05:19] Your future clients should never sense desperation in your content.
[00:05:23] Your job is to always stay slightly ahead of the curve. And this simple system keeps you there even when life gets really busy, really messy, really chaotic.
[00:05:34] So here's your assignment. I want you to choose an anchor piece, choose a way to nurture, and choose one place to show up. I want you to commit to each of those just once this week. Don't overthink it. Don't sit down for two hours and think through it. Give yourself 10 minutes. You'll get it figured out.
[00:05:51] And it does not have to be perfect. Consistency beats complexity every single time. I talk about this all the time.
[00:05:58] Marketing doesn't have to be loud. It doesn't have to be time consuming.
[00:06:02] It just needs to be intentional and busy. People, people like you, people like me, people who take on too much can absolutely build momentum when they have a structure that fits into real life.
[00:06:17] So that's it for today's confession from the home office.
[00:06:21] I hope that this gave you both relief and direction, because marketing is so much easier when you just have a simple system that actually works with your life instead of against it.
[00:06:32] So if you want more of these strategies, make sure you're on my email list and you can always send me an email at Wendy W E N D I MarketMomentum Biz Biz and I'll add you to my list. I send out an email every week, so thanks for listening and I'll see you next week.
