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Ever feel like you're chasing your tail with marketing tasks that just don't seem to pay off? Join Sylvia as she tackles the beast of inefficiency head-on, empowering legal and financial professionals to streamline their marketing and amplify their influence. She dissects how to cut out the dead weight of your daily grind, from those relentless email chains to the juggling act of multitasking that could be zapping your productivity. In a world where time is currency, learn to invest wisely, prioritizing strategies that resonate with your objectives and leverage the magic of automation, ensuring your marketing footprint thrives while your focus remains on serving your clients.
Resources Mentioned:
#12 How To Create Your Messaging That Gets Attention
#15 Secrets to Conquering Self-Doubt and Productivity with Gary Miles
#18 How To Fill Your Prospecting Pipeline
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What You'll Learn in This Episode:
- Identifying and eliminating time-wasting activities that hinder your productivity
- Aligning marketing strategies with your business goals and available resources
- The power of automation and scheduling to maintain a consistent online presence
- Repurposing content across multiple platforms for wider reach and message consistency
- Creating evergreen content and using it as powerful lead magnets
- Streamlining workflows, optimizing email habits, and reducing unnecessary meetings
- Delegating and outsourcing marketing tasks to focus on what you do best
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00:00 - Sylvia (Host)
Let's dive in. Hello everyone, and welcome back to episode 23 of the Serve First, sell Later marketing podcast. So when our clients seek us out, they usually come to us feeling tired and overwhelmed about the demands of their practice and they're really struggling to find the time to effectively market their services. So if you feel the same, I want you to know you're not alone. As a legal or financial professional, you know how critical it is to stay ahead of the curve in today's fast-paced digital world. So in today's episode, I want to talk about how you can take control of your time, streamline your marketing efforts and ultimately grow your practice. We know you have limited time, so, based on the limited time that you have, what and how should you be engaging in your marketing? So it's not easy to balance because, as you know, running a financial or legal practice today is complex and very demanding, and so, on top of that, you're also expected to maintain a strong online presence and market your services consistently and effectively to attract new clients. So if you can relate to this, this episode is for you. I want to share with you strategies to prioritize your time, leverage those automation and scheduling tools and look at outsourcing and delegating tasks to really optimize for efficiency.
03:25
And if you've been following along with this podcast, then you will have learned that neglecting your online presence can have some serious consequences that can lead to missed opportunities, lost clients and, of course, revenue. So the very first step is to look at prioritizing and streamlining your marketing and social marketing activities so that you can identify the most impactful activities that will drive the greatest results for your practice. So which are the marketing activities that you get the best results with? That's the very first question I'd like you to ask yourself. And when identifying your most impactful marketing activities, look at which activities align with your business goals, with your target audience and, of course, your available resources. So, for example, if your goal is to attract more high net worth clients, you may want to prioritize activities such as connecting with referral partners, speaking on stages to specific audiences. On the other hand, if your goal is to increase brand awareness among millennials, then you're going to want to focus on social media platforms like maybe Instagram, on social media platforms like maybe Instagram. So equally important is to consider your available resources, such as time, such as budget and, of course, if you have a team, if you have a limited budget, you may want to prioritize organic marketing activities like content creation and social media engagement.
05:02
But also don't forget to look at past marketing activities, and you know we always ask our clients which ones did you get the best results from, consistently, and so I think it's worth looking at these activities and deciding did they really work? Do they need to be tweaked? Do you actually need to engage in this activity much longer? Because the amount of time that you worked that activity wasn't long enough to really determine if it was successful or not. So I hope that's making sense. So these activities may be the best ones to engage in, again because of, as I mentioned, past results. So really really important to take some time to look at that.
05:45
Now, once you've identified the most impactful activities, you can develop a very focused strategic approach to maximize your return on time investment. So let's say you've had some great results with focusing on creating high quality webinars that provides engaging content and really resonates with your target market. And you're seeing that you're getting consultation calls. People have questions they want to have answered. So if you're seeing that you're getting some really good results in that regard, then you will want to amplify and repeat your webinars. So by prioritizing and streamlining your webinars and not engaging in other marketing activities, what you're actually doing is you're maximizing your return on time investment and you're achieving your marketing goals more efficiently. That is the objective here.
06:42
So let's talk about the power of automation and scheduling to help you maintain a consistent online presence without sacrificing the quality of your client work, and so automation is a way to use your time much more efficiently. So, as a busy legal or financial professional, you know how challenging it can be to keep up with the constant demands of social media, email marketing and other digital marketing tasks. But what if I told you there's a way to automate these tasks and free up your time? So I've seen firsthand how automation can be a real game changer for legal and financial professionals, along with my own practice, and so if you're struggling to keep up with your marketing tasks, this is an area you're going to want to explore. So one of the biggest benefits of automation is the ability to maintain a consistent online presence. So by scheduling your social media posts, your email campaigns and other marketing activities in advance, you can actually ensure that your brand is staying top of mind with your target audience, even when you're focused on client work, and that's really important. And so the best part is there are so many great tools and platforms out there that can help you automate these tasks.
08:05
So you've heard me talk about the different social media scheduling tools out there. So you've heard me talk about the different social media scheduling tools out there Hootsuite, buffer, later. There's so many to choose from, but I think you know if you're at a loss of which one should I choose from? You can always go directly to the channels like LinkedIn, facebook and Instagram, where they have the scheduling capability built into their social media platform, so you really don't need to go anywhere else if you want to actually schedule directly on the platform. So you do want to consider email marketing platforms like MailChimp, activecampaign, constant Contact. The options there are endless as well, but super important to have an email marketing platform in place Now, in addition to the time-saving benefits, automation can also help you improve the consistency and the quality of your marketing efforts, and so, by using pre-made templates and scheduling tools, you can really ensure that your messaging is not only on brand, but it's also engaging, even when you're juggling all those multiple priorities, which I know most of you are, and it actually saves you more time because you're not reinventing the wheel each time.
09:27
And don't forget to use AI, when applicable, to help you brainstorm ideas and topics and help you write some of your marketing pieces. If you're ready to take your practice to the next level, then you'll want to get a hold of our free, comprehensive marketing planning workbook, designed specifically for professionals just like you. With this step-by-step guide, you'll unlock the secrets to attracting your ideal clients, generating more leads and mapping out your entire year of marketing with ease. Don't miss out. Simply go to sgandassociatesca. Forward slash marketing hyphen planning hyphen workbook for podcast Link is also in the show notes. Check it out.
10:17
So I now want to shift gears a little bit and talk about the importance of delegation and outsourcing in your marketing. So the key here is to identify the tasks that are best suited for delegation or outsourcing. So for most professionals, things like social media, email marketing and content creation are really time-consuming tasks, and for some of you, you may delegate them to your marketing team or you may outsource them to writers, to virtual assistants or to marketing agencies, and so I know at SG&Associates, we handle content creation and social media management for a lot of our busy professional clients, and the benefit is that they get to spend their time doing what they do best, which is solving problems for their clients and leaving the rest to others, and so when outsourcing your marketing, it's critical to work with professionals who have a proven track record of success in your particular industry. So, for example, our work is very specific to legal and financial professionals. My team and I know the market really well and we have a deep understanding of our target audience and the unique challenges that they face. All right, so you'll want to start looking at those marketing tasks and other tasks for that matter and make a list of them, and once you have identified them, start small and test the waters. So I don't want you outsourcing everything at once. Begin with one or two tasks and see how it goes. It's really important to communicate your expectations clearly and set up regular check-ins to ensure that your marketing efforts are really aligned with your business goals. So delegation and outsourcing can be a real game changer for legal and financial professionals, and it's really important for you to approach it strategically.
12:19
So content really is the foundation of any successful marketing strategy. But as busy professionals, I know it can be really challenging to find the time and to have the skill set to actually create high quality, engaging content consistently. Who want to do their own and they want to maximize their time and resources. So I would recommend, if you want more of a deep dive into messaging and how to develop content, that you check out episode 12 of my podcast and I'll link it in the show notes because it really will help you in developing content and messaging. So I've seen firsthand how impactful well-crafted materials and content can be, and the key here is to focus on creating content that resonates with your target audience and provides real value, but in simple language, in a language that they will get, which means no technical jargon get, which means no technical jargon.
13:26
So one of the most effective strategies is to repurpose and reuse your content. Once you've created some really great content, you're going to want to reuse it across multiple platforms. So, for example, you could take a blog post that you've written and turn it into a series of social media posts, a podcast episode or even a short video. So repurposing is the name of the game, and this not only saves you time, but it also helps you reach a wider audience and ensure that your message is consistent across all of your marketing channels, and this is something a lot of busy professionals miss. There is no consistency in their message, and that is super important that there is a consistency and that when people are reading, when they're listening or they're watching, they are getting a consistent message that resonates.
14:18
So another important strategy is to focus on creating evergreen content, so content that actually remains relevant and valuable to your audience over time. So this could be things like educational guides, industry insights or even case studies that showcase your expertise, and I also want you to think about how these long-term valuable guides or insights, you can actually turn them into lead magnets. So these are great examples of lead magnets as well helps you attract new clients, but it also keeps your existing clients engaged and coming back to your website or your social media channels, because they know that there's going to be new material that they can download or read. So let me share an example. I'm going to take the example of a family lawyer who wrote a blog post on the five things that you must do during a divorce. So this post for this family lawyer was really popular, generated thousands of views and led to new clients. So to repurpose and create evergreen content from this you could repurpose the content by turning the blog post into a short video or podcast episode discussing the key points in engaging, conversational format. You could create an infographic that visually summarizes the five key things to know during a divorce. You could expand the blog post into a more comprehensive guide or ebook that provides in-depth information on the divorce process. Now, if you want to make the content evergreen, which I recommend you do you can review the content and update any information that may have changed, such as new laws or regulations related to divorce, and then you can upload it as a new lead magnet. So you can also ensure the core information remains relevant and applicable to clients regardless of when they access the content and the content to the firm's regular content calendar to be re-shared on social media, in email newsletters, really just on a recurring basis. So you will definitely want to see how you can repurpose and create evergreen content that really maximizes your marketing efforts and I hope you're seeing how you're saving time and effort.
16:48
So let's talk about streamlining your workflows and eliminating time-wasting activities, because, let's get honest here, as busy professionals, we all have those tasks that leave us feeling drained and unproductive, and I think you know which ones those are. So the key is to identify and eliminate those time-wasting activities that are dragging you down. So maybe it's things like endless email checking, mindless social media scrolling, answering calls, and it's really that inefficient task switching that can eat up all those valuable hours in your day. So once you've identified those time wasters, it's time to streamline your workflows, and this could involve automating certain tasks, batching similar activities together or even outsourcing some of the more time-consuming marketing responsibilities. So how do you go about doing this?
17:47
Well, one of the most effective strategies that I've seen is to batch your content creation. So, instead of trying to write a blog post or record a video every single day, set aside a block of a couple of hours or whatever time frame you want to commit to and crank out all of your content at once. So you can batch weekly, you can batch monthly, whatever works best for you. And another great tip is to automate your social media posting, which I have already referred to earlier in this episode, and I think the beauty of this is that you can schedule your updates in advance, so you're really maintaining a consistent presence without having to constantly be on your phone or computer. So another example of batching similar tasks together could be clocking off time to respond to all emails at one or two times during the day. So maybe you check it first thing in the morning and then you don't go back and check it until right at the end of the day, and so what this does is it allows you to focus without being distracted by the new messages coming in throughout the course of the day.
18:59
And I'd be remiss if I didn't talk about eliminating unnecessary meetings. So if a meeting is needed, keep it focused by setting an agenda and a time limit. Let the person know you have X amount of time available. So the key here is to identify your biggest time traps and put systems in place to just avoid them. Traps and put systems in place to just avoid them.
19:46
So it's really understandable to feel overwhelmed by the demands of running a legal or financial practice, and I want you to remember that you're not alone in this struggle. We've worked with so many clients in the exact same position that you're in, and the strategies that we've discussed today are practical and actionable steps that you can implement starting now to make a real difference in your practice, and I really look forward to hearing about your progress and success in the days to come. So I have a challenge for you Feel free to send me a text message about what you will commit to, and if you go to the top of this episode, there's a link that reads send us a text message. And I read each and every one of them. So, whether it's identifying your most impactful marketing activities, leveraging automation and scheduling tools, delegating tasks, repurposing content or streamlining your workflow, there are ways to make your marketing efforts more efficient and effective. But feel free to commit to what one action you'll take and send me a text message. I'd love to hear from you.
20:54
So remember it's important to know that Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither will your practice be transformed overnight. However, by taking consistent and intentional steps towards prioritizing your time and optimizing your marketing efforts, you will see results. So, whether it's scheduling a brainstorming session to identify your most impactful marketing activities, or maybe researching automation tools to streamline your workflows. Every small step counts. Believe in yourself, trust in the process and take action. Your future self will thank you for it. So thank you for tuning in with me and if you found this episode valuable, I would be most honored if you subscribe to the podcast rate and leave a review, or please share this with anyone who you think would most benefit. And remember there's no better time to start than today.