Skip links

The Cobbler’s Children with No Shoes

It is remarkably easy to tell small businesses that they have to take their marketing seriously.  The mark of a successful business is that the owner is constantly working ON the business rather than just IN the business.  However, it is surprising how many marketing companies fail to promote themselves as they promote others, leading a very “do as I say, not as I do” existence.

Unfortunately, we’ve been guilty of this at Smarter Searches as well.  In light of the holidays and the business pick up at the beginning of the year, blogging, tweeting, and networking fell by the wayside in deference to normal “taking care of business” matters.  This is always an unsuccessful tactic as it not only stifles growth, but leads to a backslide in momentum, making it take even more effort to get that forward motion moving again.  When you have demonstrated capabilities in a particular arena (in our case, marketing) and they fail to be realized within the context of the company, it reflects an inability to anticipate or react to one’s own needs at the micro level because of the wider market demands being made upon him.  And so, we have redoubled our efforts to no longer be shoeless.  We are not unable to anticipate at Smarter Searches.  We are currently working on a number of very exciting projects that include a series of white papers, a new email newsletter, and a more active and consistent blog and content calendar.

So with this in mind, keep these tips handy for the next time you need to work ON your business:

  • Set up a content calendar for things like blog posts, tweets, Facebook posts and more.  Not only does it force you to actually do what you plan to, but it keeps you from redundancy and duplicate content.
  • Schedule your content.  If you find downtime or slowdown at particular times of the day, week, month, or year, use that time to work on your business, work on your content, and schedule posts in advance.  There are myriad tools available (some free, some for a fee) that allow you to schedule your content marketing posts in advance.
  • Set goals for yourself.  Don’t limit your advancement, but set measurable, realistic goals for your marketing.  If daily blogging is too lofty, start at weekly or biweekly.  Divide up labor and have co-workers write blogs or posts or share content within their networks.  The key is to be realistic and measurable.
  • If and when you fail or find yourself unable to keep up with your exacting schedule, don’t panic and don’t get down on yourself.  Life gets in the way.  Shoes need to be taken back to the cobbler sometimes, so reevaluate your goals and pick up from where you left off.