When it comes to owning and operating a small business, you have to wear a lot of hats. This is especially true in the case of marketing, which more often than not, falls under the Sales hat or happens only when the owner finds the time.

This scenario is something that I hear quite often from our CharTec Members and it’s such an unfortunate situation. Marketing is essential for all businesses and can’t afford to be forgotten but I know that it can be a bit of challenge to begin incorporating into everyday operations. That’s why I’m here! As the Corporate Marketing Manager of CharTec and ARRC, one of my essential duties is to provide our Members and clients with the resources and tools necessary to help them grow their business. That being the case, here are some tips to help you make the marketing process easier: through the power of automation!

  1. Utilize marketing tracks: ConnectWise marketing tracks allow you to create a fully integrated marketing campaign with activities (phone and direct mail) as well as emails. You can create the campaign one time (or use one of the campaigns provided to you as a CharTec Member), put it into ConnectWise, attach the track and it will immediately begin outreach on a regular interval. Utilizing ConnectWise to drive activity will solve the problem of marketing in spurts only when you find time.
  2. Measure with Nex.to: Tracks and campaigns are only effective if you have an accurate way to measure them. From email open rates and click-throughs, Next.To offers a valuable way for you to measure your true marketing ROI. If someone interacts with your marketing, ie: opens an email or clicks on a link, they can be automatically added to a group within ConnectWise for further outreach.
  3. Plan Content Pushes with Hootsuite: In the age of content marketing, having relevant and timely content is essential to keeping your prospects engaged. HootSuite, a software that allows you to plan, schedule, and measure your social media activity is a good tool. From tracking likes and shares, to comments and industry conversations, HootSuite allows for you to build more authentic conversations with your audience in an automated system.
  4. Feedly: Just like you, I know how hectic things can get around the office. But even with the chaos, I like to stay informed about the latest news. In the interest of time and how valuable it is, I have all of my news sources aggregated and pushed to me using Feedly. With this app, I can keep up with what’s going on from multiple sources and use that information to develop timely marketing campaigns and better manage my team.
  5. Buffer: What good is a wonderful article if I can’t share it? The great thing about Buffer is that it integrates directly with Feedly, so I am able to take the articles I find and push them directly to my social media channels. The best part? Buffer allows for me to schedule my posts, so I am presenting content on social media at any time regardless of the other projects I have going in my day.

Pick one or two of these to get started on right away, and you can stop lying awake at night thinking about the marketing that you know you should be doing, but just can’t find time to actually do.