The key is in not spending time but in investing it.
Stephen R. Covey.
The lighter nights and hopefully warmer weather we welcome every year when the clocks go forward will be particularly welcome this year as the loss of an hour on Sunday morning coincides with the relaxation of the Covid restrictions to allow for outdoor meetings of up to six people or two households.
That said, I always experience a sort of jet lag in the weeks after a clock change as my body adjusts. An hour here or there to the sleep cycle does make a difference. Yet it’s such a small amount of time.
The truth is an hour can make a big difference and not just to your sleep cycle; invested well, an hour can impact your business and marketing too.
Golden hour
For the past few weeks, I’ve been starting work at 8am to get in a distraction-free hour before 9am to work ON the business, not in it. I am more focused and efficient at this time and it means my business gets the best of me, not the depleted energy that’s left at the end of the day.
This practice hasn’t resulted in me working longer hours, because I run out of steam an hour earlier at the end of the day, but it does focus my efforts on the things that are important but not urgent before the inevitable distractions of the day gather pace and take over. This new habit means I have carved out five hours a week of business development time and as a result I’ve seen a real shift in what I’m achieving for the business.
What could you achieve in an hour?
We may be losing an hour on the 28th March, but if you could invest an hour a day, week or month on something that made a difference to your marketing, what would it be? Here are some ideas:
Monthly
- Write an email newsletter
- Review your website analytics to understand where your website traffic is coming from and the best quality source of traffic
- Review your social media activity and engagement to understand what kind of content to do more (or less) of
- Create recommendations or endorsements for some of your LinkedIn contacts who deserve recognition
- Email your clients asking for feedback on your service and a Google Review
Weekly
- Write a blog post, LinkedIn article or email newsletter
- Review how you’re progressing against your marketing plan and schedule activities for the next week
- Experiment with a new campaign, landing page or advert
Daily
- Engage with contacts on LinkedIn by commenting or sharing their statuses, sending follow up emails and creating your own status updates
- Take an online course with any available from Google Skillshop, Facebook Blueprint, Linkedin Learning or Canva Design School
- Take an online course with any other course provider
By investing our time purposefully, we’re less likely to notice the hour we’re losing at the end of March!
How will you reclaim your hour? Email us at jess@idealmarketingcompany.com to let us know.
MD & Head of Digital Marketing
Jessica has worked in digital marketing for over 10 years and has watched it evolve from an experimental marketing option to an essential tool for most businesses. She is driven to help businesses achieve their objectives using the best digital marketing resources available and recognises that each business is different. Jessica devours the latest news about digital marketing and is constantly learning in order to stay ahead of the trends for clients.
