Yes, you read that headline correctly.
Last week, I made a post on LinkedIn asking this question: Does anyone have advice for how a business owner and new father-to-be handles the dual responsibilities?
The post received over 1,000 views and 9 comments with great advice from some of my 1st degree connections who are both parents and business owners.
As a digital marketing agency owner and soon to be father, I certainly have my concerns about how to juggle these responsibilities. However, the sage advice I received on my post as well as talking to loved ones has made me more confident about this upcoming new reality.
Furthermore, after digesting all this advice, it dawned on me that there are some interesting parallels between the suggestions I received about how to juggle being a dad + business owner and how digital marketing should be approached.
Here are the 5 similarities I noticed:
1. The Beginning Can Be a Challenge
One of my 1st degree connections shared that the initial months of being a new parent can be challenging as you adjust to the new normal.
Well, the same can be said for digital marketing. A lot of business owners I speak with are dissatisfied with previous marketing efforts because it didn’t produce immediate results.
A lot of businesses have little to no marketing presence, meaning they are starting from scratch. Just because you have a Facebook page and a website doesn’t mean leads are going to start flooding your inbox.
Digital marketing can sometimes take 6-9 months before you see true results. Just like I will need to be patient with my newborn getting into a routine, you need to be patient with marketing. Give your marketing time to work and always be testing new strategies!
2. Some Things Can Wait
Another piece of advice I received on my post was things like the “dishes can wait.” Basically, there is more important things to worry about than household chores when you are talking about parenthood and certain matters require immediate attention.
Well, that is no different in marketing.
Some of the trivial marketing efforts like a generic Facebook post or perfect cover photo can wait.
Stop focusing on the small things and focus on what actually matters: Creating a brand, producing valuable content and bringing in new leads with your marketing efforts.
That one Instagram post probably won’t make a difference. But creating an effective e-mail marketing sequence, a lead generating advertising campaign or a valuable lead magnet is something that will make an impact in your marketing and is worth investing time into now.
3. It Doesn’t Necessarily Get Easier
Someone also informed me that it doesn’t get easier just because the children are getting older. There will always be challenges.
Well, that’s very similar to marketing. There will always be challenges:
- Social media platforms change and evolve
- Google changes its rules
- Technology becomes more sophisticated
- Algorithms limit content that worked good previously
- New competitors come into play
Just because you are consistently doing marketing and getting the hang of it doesn’t mean challenges won’t arise. Make sure to keep continuing your education. There are plenty of great resources out there, such as our blog or industry giants like Neil Patel.
4. Set a Schedule and Carve Out Time
One of my connections told me that you need to set a schedule so you can manage the workload of being a parent and business owner.
Just like you need to have a strong work/life balance and set time for your kids and spouse, you need to do the same in marketing.
I get it. You have so many responsibilities as a business owner, it’s easy to neglect marketing.
But if you set aside time each week to create content, send out that e-blast, make new connections on LinkedIn, make sure your website is in good shape, keep up your presence on Google, then you will be able to ensure marketing is apart of your schedule.
There are plenty of tools to help automate marketing, such as Hootsuite (for social media scheduling) or Kartra (for e-mail marketing), so you don’t have to worry about spending hours upon hours.
Also, you can always hire a marketing firm to help with your digital presence (shameless plug 😃).
5. “Pajamas with Zippers”
Okay, I have no way to actually relate pajamas with zippers to digital marketing, but I thought this was a really funny piece of advice and I had to include it.
I hope you found this valuable. I appreciate all my connections that provided some great advice for what to expect when it comes to being a new parent + business owner.
I am sure I will learn plenty of new multi-tasking tricks over the coming months.
Let me know if you have any additional advice!
