You have the concepts and ideas to help build your author brand and leverage marketing for success. But no matter what you do, you can’t seem to get going. You’re frustrated because you want to be successful but you really just want to focus on writing and nothing else.
Here’s what to do so you can enjoy the best of both worlds — writing and marketing.
Block time on your calendar – just like an appointment – to spend at least an hour a week on marketing. I recommend you spend time on marketing every day but a good place to start is one hour a week.
Break each hour you dedicate into three parts.
- Spend 20 minutes researching and creating content. Research readers, reader demographics, influencers, new promotional tools and outlets, etc. Research the topics you’ll write about in blog posts and share socially.
- Spend 20 minutes scheduling and posting. Create a content calendar. Map out what you’re going to write about and/or socially share and when. Plan months in advance so you can relax and not find yourself constantly scrambling for the next item on your to do list. Use Hootsuite to help you schedule social posts in advance. Try to plug into a new promotional outlet you may have discovered.
- Spend 20 minutes engaging with your followers. Use this time to actively engage with your followers by responding to their tweets, posts and comments.
By putting it on your calendar, marketing becomes a regular appointment.
Just like any habit you make, it takes time to build that marketing muscle. In my case, I wanted to actually create muscles and lose weight. So, I made a choice to join a gym and change my way of eating. I made exercise a regular appointment on my calendar that cannot be interrupted or changed. I actually plan other meetings around it so I don’t miss out on the benefits of going. I’ve seen great physical success with this approach and I know you’ll see your marketing muscle grow by doing the same.
Earlier I mentioned using Hootsuite as a way to schedule your posts. It is a free tool so you have everything to gain and nothing to lose by using it. Let’s quickly wall through how you’d use this with Bublish:
- Right now you can create several book bubbles in Bublish and email the links to yourself after you publish them.
- You then can use that link to schedule a time for the book bubble to be posted socially go via Hootsuite.
- You can schedule in months in advance if you want to really build some marketing muscle. (Remember, consistency is key to building your brand awareness.)
Hootsuite is a great tool that allows you to “set it and forget it” as Ron Popeal from Ronco likes to say.
Setting up scheduled posts via Hootsuite can also be a great way to ensure your social outreach occurs – even when you’re busy writing, attending conferences or on vacation.
So what are you waiting for? Get your calendar our and begin blocking out your marketing time now. You’ll be bulging with marketing muscle before you know it.
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