Running a Celebrant business can be a balancing act. There are tasks to juggle, clients to satisfy, and a never-ending to-do list. It’s no wonder that during the busiest times, marketing efforts often take a backseat. However, the truth is that the best time to ramp up your marketing is precisely when you are the busiest. For celebrants, maintaining a consistent and robust marketing strategy is crucial if you want to fill your calendar.
The Paradox of Busy-ness and Marketing
When business is booming, it’s tempting to let marketing slide. After all, you’re busy, you’re generating revenue, and it feels like everything is going well. But this is a dangerous trap. Here’s why:
Avoiding the Revenue Rollercoaster: Many businesses experience cyclical revenue patterns—periods of high sales followed by lulls. This often happens because marketing efforts wane when you’re busy, leading to fewer leads and clients down the road. Continuous marketing helps smooth out these cycles, ensuring a more stable income stream.
Building Momentum: Marketing is about building momentum. Consistent efforts lead to compounding results over time. Stopping and starting disrupts this momentum, making it harder to regain traction later.
Staying Seen: In a competitive market, staying visible is crucial. If you go quiet when you’re busy, competitors may seize the opportunity to capture your audience’s attention. Regular marketing ensures that your brand remains top-of-mind, even when you’re swamped with work.
Showcasing Success: Busy times are often when you’re delivering your best work. Use this opportunity to showcase your success stories, client testimonials, and behind-the-scenes glimpses. This not only strengthens your brand but also attracts new clients who are impressed by your approach.
Practical Strategies to Market When You’re Busy
Understanding the importance of continuous marketing is one thing; implementing it during busy times is another. Here are some practical strategies to help you maintain your marketing efforts without feeling overwhelmed:
Automate Where Possible:
Social Media Scheduling: Tools like Hootsuite, Buffer, or Later allow you to schedule posts in advance. Spend a couple of hours each week planning and scheduling your content.
Email Marketing: Use platforms like MailerLite or 17Hats to automate email campaigns. Pre-write a series of emails and set them to send over a period of time.
Leverage User-Generated Content:
Client Testimonials and Reviews: Encourage satisfied clients to leave reviews on your website or social media. Share these testimonials regularly to build trust and credibility.
Photos and Videos: Ask clients to share photos or videos of your product or service in action. This not only provides fresh content but also authenticates your brand.
Content Repurposing:
Blog to Social: Turn blog posts into bite-sized social media updates. Share key points, quotes, and statistics to drive traffic back to your blog.
Webinars to Articles: If you’ve hosted webinars or workshops, transcribe them into blog posts or create infographics.
Outsource Wisely:
Freelancers: Hire freelancers for specific tasks like writing, graphic design, or social media management. They’ll complete tasks faster and to a higher standard that you would.
Virtual Assistants: A virtual assistant can handle routine tasks, freeing up your time to focus on strategic aspects of your business.
Use Content Calendars:
Planning Ahead: A content calendar helps you plan your marketing activities in advance. It ensures you have a steady stream of content ready to go, even during busy periods.
Consistency: It also helps maintain consistency across your marketing channels, making your efforts more cohesive and effective.
The Long-Term Benefits
Investing in marketing when you’re busy might seem counterintuitive, but the long-term benefits are substantial:
Sustained Growth: Continuous marketing efforts lead to a steady stream of new clients and projects, supporting sustained business growth.
Brand Authority: Regular, high-quality content positions you as an authority in your field. This builds trust and makes clients more likely to choose you over competitors.
Client Relationships: Keeping in touch with your audience through regular updates helps build stronger relationships. It shows that you value their engagement and keeps them connected to your brand.
Resilience: A strong marketing foundation makes your business more resilient to market fluctuations. You’re less likely to experience drastic downturns during slow periods.
Your marketing is a never-ending circle
As celebrants, the best time to put more effort into our marketing is when we’re really busy. It’s easy to let marketing fall by the wayside when you’re swamped with work, but doing so can lead to a feast-or-famine cycle that undermines your long-term success. By maintaining consistent marketing efforts, leveraging automation, repurposing content, and outsourcing tasks when necessary, you can keep your business thriving all year round.
If you’re looking for more tips on marketing your Celebrant business, sign-up for my regular Bulletin.