Time, precious time…

When there are barely enough hours in the day to do the essentials, how do you manage to do the things that, while not essential, will help you to grow your business?

Process, process, process

Setting up processes can help you to maintain communications and marketing initiatives and do them as efficiently as possible so you can focus on doing what you do best – helping your clients. Here are a few tips to get some good processes in place.

1. Have a plan

Think about your end objective and what you want to achieve and develop a plan of attack. While it can be challenging when you are time poor to put time and effort into planning, perhaps clear one day a quarter to focus on your marketing and you won’t be disappointed. That time spent pays dividends when it comes implementation.

2. Maximise what you already have in place

Very few practices or businesses are starting from scratch when it comes to their marketing and communications. Look at what you already have in place and build on that, reviewing how effective your different types of communications are. This may be existing marketing material or content you can utilise and internal resources who have skills and knowledge to share. For example, if you already do a quarterly newsletter, think about supplementing that with the occasional topical update sent out to your client list, or if you have a website that’s looking a bit tired, think about a refresh.

3. Set up templates

Set up templates or sign up for access to a platform that provides you with templates so you are not creating from scratch. Don’t try to be a designer/ HTML coder! Using a templated approach is not only fast but it also means that it’s easier to find the time to customise your material and add a personal touch which your clients and potential clients will appreciate.

4. Automate and schedule

Using scheduling tools can mean that it’s a lot easier to manage your communications. Your email updates can be created and scheduled to be sent at the most appropriate time to maximise their reach. Scheduling your social media posts in advance is time efficient way to easily maintain an effective social media presence. Think about automating the blog section of your website so that it regularly refreshes to display topical, relevant content that clients and potential clients will be interested in.

5. Go for an integrated approach

Review the tools you are using for content sourcing, creation and distribution, making sure that there is some degree of integration as that’s what is going to be critical to achieving the best efficiencies.

Develop and maintain an ecosystem of tools that are compatible with each other or have some degree of integration.

Don’t try to do it all yourself!

Advant was formed by advisers who were frustrated with how time-consuming client communications can be. We have continued to evolve with our driving force behind what we do being making your lives easier.

Advant Plus gives you the opportunity to quickly and easily create, personalise and distribute your communications and marketing material, selecting from white labelled, professionally written content.

We have worked very hard to ensure that Advant Plus is seamlessly integrated with Mailchimp so you can send fully formatted emails at the click of a button, it supports all of the major social media platforms and offers a scheduling tool as well as integration with WordPress websites so you can easily refresh the content on your website.

Of course, you also have the option of letting us do it all for you – we offer solutions where you don’t have to lift a finger. Contact us if you’d like help with maximising the effectiveness of your marketing and client communications while minimising the time you spend on them.