For business owners and people working in largely creative jobs, it can sometimes be difficult balancing your digital marketing and mental health, constantly coming up with ideas or feeling like you’re always in the public eye. The best remedy for these tougher periods is taking a break and being gentle with yourself. However, unfortunately the fast paced nature of digital marketing is not always so patient, so we have to find ways around this.
In this blog we offer tips on how to excel at your marketing alongside managing common struggles you may face as a business owner.
Time Management
It can become overwhelming balancing digital marketing content with your other responsibilities. Even in weeks where you’re hitting up to 50 hours of work, you may still feel like your to-do list isn’t even close to complete.
ChatGPT can help you manage your time so you can tick mundane tasks off quicker and put more time into enjoyable ones.
The possibilities with AI are endless. Here are some prompts you can put into ChatGPT to help you manage your time.
Everyday Tasks
- “Create a weekly schedule template for managing administrative tasks.”
- “Suggest tools and best practices for keeping track of invoices and receipts.”
- “Help me create an agenda for a team meeting covering project updates, deadlines, and team feedback.”
- “Write a professional email template for responding to general customer inquiries.”
- “Draft a thank-you email template.”
- “Outline a strategy for managing multiple projects.”
Marketing & Content Creation
- “Generate 5 social media content ideas.”
- “Create a social media content calendar template for a month’s worth of posts.”
- “Provide copywriting for an email newsletter that announces my new product or service.”
- “Help me brainstorm unique branding ideas for an upcoming campaign.”
- “Suggest ideas for a ‘behind-the-scenes’ campaign that humanises my brand and introduces the team.”
Remember, while AI is a useful tool, it is better to use it as a starting point to help you generate ideas, to ensure your content remains authentic and in your voice.
Low Motivation
Creating marketing content when struggling with motivation can feel daunting, but you can still maintain momentum by shifting your approach and expectations.
Instead of pushing for perfection, aim for consistency by focusing on smaller, more manageable tasks, such as drafting simple social media posts or repurposing existing content. Making your own brand templates in Canva can be really helpful for crafting social media posts when you’re feeling less creatively motivated.
Another method is making content that requires less effort, such as sharing behind-the-scenes updates or industry news and tips. Even on low-energy days, jotting down a few ideas or posting a quick Instagram story can keep the creative spark alive and prevent content gaps.
Imposter Syndrome
It can feel impossible to make content positioning yourself as an expert in your field when you’re questioning your own expertise or worry about being perceived as inadequate. However, this feeling is common for lots of people.
Our advice might not be what you’d expect. Instead of trying to hide it, capitalise on it in your marketing!
You don’t have to go into depth or share anything you’re not comfortable with, but honest anecdotes are game changing. People love raw content and knowing the face(s) behind a brand, and sharing your challenges is a great way to connect with people. Try emphasising on storytelling rather than positioning yourself as an expert – talk about your journey, the lessons you’ve learned, and the challenges you’ve faced.
Tall Poppy Syndrome
While it feels quite the opposite to imposter syndrome, tall poppy syndrome can offer similar challenges with how you position yourself online.
You may worry that you sound “too proud” in promotional content, but usually your audience won’t feel this way and truly loyal followers will enjoy seeing you grow and achieve. Position your successes as opportunities to uplift others and share the knowledge you’ve gained on your social media. For example, instead of just highlighting a personal win, frame it as a case study or lesson to help your audience achieve similar results. You can also share wins that your team members have had to give recognition to everyone, or even create a series highlighting this. Collaborating with others in your industry to build a sense of community can help soften the perception of “standing out” alone.
Your achievements aren’t something to downplay! They are essential to highlight in your marketing.
Comparing Yourself to Others
This is human nature and an unavoidable part of work. It can be useful in social listening to see what your audience likes to see and what is and isn’t working for brands similar to yours. However, it becomes counterproductive when it is interfering with your confidence and ability to create content you enjoy.
Rather than viewing competitors as threats, see them as sources of inspiration and learning opportunities. Instead of fixating on how much larger their audience is or how polished their feed appears, focus on what unique value your business offers. You can even consider building connections with accounts you admire which can lead to giving each other marketing tips and tricks.
Going back to your marketing strategy and what you want to achieve is a great way to deal with negative self comparison. Rather than focusing on how to create content that looks similar to another account’s, look at how to achieve positive results for your business.
Loneliness and Isolation
Small business and solo business owners are no stranger to feeling lonely or isolated in their work.
Using social media can be an effective way to combat these feelings, by fostering a sense of community and connection. You can actively engage with your audience through interactive content such as polls, Q&A sessions, or live videos.
To connect with other business owners, join Facebook groups for entrepreneurs to find local meetups and events, or join marketing community groups, such as Social Club Community.
Procrastination
Procrastinating creating or posting marketing content often stems from feeling overwhelmed by the many tasks involved or feeling discouraged by a lack of results from current marketing efforts.
A lot of us may wait for our spark to return before starting to create again, but often the best way to combat procrastination is to just start.
When you’re feeling this way, break your tasks into smaller chunks. Start with ones you enjoy the most, or the most low effort ones, such as posting to your story or replying to DMs. Even simply engaging with your business’ social media or content researching is a small way to boost your marketing, that doesn’t require a lot of effort.
Ready to Find the Momentum in Your Marketing?
At the end of the day, being a business owner is about setting your own environment that works for you, and even though this is filled with many overwhelming tasks, remember that you have the power to build the environment that benefits you and your employees.
Here are some tips from our team and other marketers on dealing with mental health alongside work.
Amy Evans | Founder & Company Director of LBD Digital
As a small business owner and a content creator, I definitely struggle with imposter syndrome sometimes, especially when scrolling social media and seeing everyone’s successes. However, we often forget that people do often just post the good parts of their life and/or business and not what a real day in their life looks like. Instead of comparing myself to others, I like to take a step back and look at how far my business and I have come, because when you do this, you really do realise how successful you have been, even if it’s a different definition of success.
Madeleine Litchfield | Marketing Assistant at LBD Digital
Since starting in the industry, I’ve learned that generating creative ideas daily and getting in a flow can be challenging. Accepting that some weeks are better than others has really helped. Turning to my personal hobbies gives me a mental break from work stress, too. While constant creativity can be draining, writing is also a sanctuary for me, so I focus on the writing focused sides of work to help get through difficult periods.
Abby Dalziel | Digital Marketing Coordinator at Oh My Digital Agency
As a digital marketer, I’m quite prone to burnout; there’s always so much happening in the industry and sometimes it can feel hard to keep up. A strategy that works for me is dividing my work up more than usual. Instead of working on one task for 3 hours I’ll work on it for half an hour to an hour and switch between tasks quicker. This is to keep myself interested and so I can come back to them with a fresh perspective.
Hannah Whittaker | Digital Communications Officer at The Department of Premier and Cabinet
My biggest struggle is not feeling like my opinions and ideas are valid, and then not having the courage to share them. With experience, this gets a little easier. But finding a workplace culture that values collaboration and all ideas being equal really helps.
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