3 Tips For Staying On Top of Your Marketing When Life Gets Overwhelming

It seems like there are never enough hours in the day and if you're an entrepreneur or own a small business, that goes double for you. It's easy for the tasks to pile up and the feeling of overwhelm to crash over you like a tidal wave.

I recently went through an extremely busy personal time and elected to do something I've never done before to deal with my feeling of overwhelm...take a hiatus from creating content for Minute Marketing and Isle of Books. I was nervous to do this because honestly, it felt like cheating. Take two weeks off to run around having fun? Whatever the opposite of hustle is, that's what it sounded like I'd be doing.

The reality was it was super great and I don't regret doing it at all. Sure, I lost some followers and some traction. But I enjoyed myself, made great memories, and emerged from my hiatus ready to keep creating great, value-filled content.

Taking a hiatus isn't the only thing you can do when you find yourself struggling to master your to-do list. I've included a few other suggestions to help you keep up with your marketing when life gets overwhelming:

1) Time Block

If you're not already time blocking your marketing efforts, you need to be. Your business deserves better than a fly by the seat of your pants approach to marketing. Set aside time each week to devote exclusively to your marketing activities. Use a scheduling tool like Buffer or Hootsuite to ensure your messages will be delivered consistently across your platforms at a later date. If you're trying to time blocking your marketing for the first time, make sure you allow enough time to plan AND execute! It might take you longer than you'd like in the beginning, but I promise you will get faster.

2) Delegate (If You Can)

If you're really bootstrapping your business, you might not have the option to delegate your marketing tasks to someone else. But if you do, definitely take that option when things are overwhelming. Focus on those things that only you can do and delegate the rest.

If you don't have an employee or partner to delegate to, consider outsourcing or hiring help. Services like Fiverr, TaskRabbit, and other sites that connect you with virtual assistants and freelance professionals can help you free up your time to focus on the most valuable, money-making activities that only you can do. You might consider outsourcing some of the marketing tasks you normally handle just for a short period while you get caught up and things return to a more manageable pace.

3) Take a Brief Hiatus

If time blocking isn't working for you and you can't delegate, consider a brief hiatus. If your busy period has a definite end date, focus on gearing up your marketing efforts for that date and go forward from there, rather than trying to play catch up in the midst of your crazy spell.

Got tips to add to this list? Let me know below! I'd love to hear your ideas for staying on top of your marketing when life gets busy, busy, busy!