One of the principles that I tend to lean into when it comes to my own marketing and that of my clients is to simplify. 

I like to keep things easy, straightforward… uncomplicated. This shows up in a number of ways, like being on only one social media channel. Or you can either blog, or do video, or do a podcast, but you can’t do them all. Pick one.

Keeping things simple is essential for me because my energy is limited. When I find myself going in too many directions, it saps my energy more and I get even less done. I’m definitely not a multi-tasker!

Unfortunately, simple isn’t always enough. When you’re only in one place, you put a serious limit on the people that can find you. At some point, growth demands expansion.

And so the question becomes:

If my audience is on Instagram, and LinkedIn, and Facebook, and YouTube, and they listen to podcasts, and read their email… How can I possibly be in all of those places?

I still like to lean in to simplifying here, but I’ve brought in some additional words: Repurpose, Systematize, and Intentional.

Repurposing is about taking one piece of original content, like a blog post or YouTube video or podcast episode, and sharing bits of it in places like social media and email. It can be a powerful way to get more out of your content creation efforts. Create something once and then reuse bits of it in key places.

It’s important to not let repurposing take up a ton of time and energy, which it so easily can. We can do that by systematizing our repurposing process. In other words, get really specific about how we go about it, be selective about which tools we use, and put our whole process on repeat.

And then with every piece of repurposed material, I ask: What do I want to happen here? This is about being intentional with my messaging, being sure that I’m offering valuable information to my reader, and also asking, “What do I want them to do with this?” Sometimes, my message is just a stand-alone “Ah-ha!” or a new piece of knowledge, and sometimes I’m inviting my reader on a journey of discovery. 

This is actually where I have to be very careful… It's easy to put a ton of time and energy into this process that is supposed to be saving me energy. Holding these ideas close - simplify, repurpose, systematize, and intentional - are helpful. 

And so I add one more: Mindful. By this I mean that I make sure I am aware of my time and energy boundaries and I choose to manage them.

Because marketing and working on our businesses never really ends. At some point, we really just have to trust that we’ve made the best decisions, put the right content out in the world, and then choose to stop and let whatever we’ve done be enough.