5 Things to do When Your Marketing Feels Overwhelming
There are many reasons why our marketing might be making us feel overwhelmed right now. Maybe you’ve just opened up Instagram and although it’s a platform you love and want to be present on, when it comes to creating a new post it feels as though your mind has gone completely blank. You might have an image ready, but the words just aren’t appearing for the caption.
Or you might have joined in with a social media challenge this week to ‘level up’ your marketing, where each day there’s a specific prompt. But you’re already on day 2 and it’s starting to feel too much already. The prompts also may not feel like you, and instead feel uncomfortable and you’re having to force yourself to do them instead of being able to enjoy them.
Maybe you’re comparing yourself to others in your niche (I totally know how you’re feeling) and you’re feeling disheartened, fed up and you’re questioning everything that you do and are doubting yourself.
Or perhaps everything is just feeling very scattered. You want to show up and you want to give your business, or your project, or something else you want to share with the world, your all, but when it comes to marketing it, you’re just not sure where to begin, you’re feeling confused, and instead of doing the thing you want to get done, you procrastinate instead and do something totally different (a big hand up to this one!).
If any of these are you, or perhaps your marketing is making you feel overwhelmed for a completely different reason, below I’ve shared 5 ways to help begin remove that overwhelm, think a little differently, go back to the good old basics, and do more of the things that bring you joy (because it really does help a lot!).
Break it down in to smaller chunks
This is something I very often help my lovely clients with. It’s amazing how small steps soon add up! Let’s take a blog post for example, because your blog is such a BRILLIANT space to market your work (I wrote all about it, here), but again it’s something that can leave us feeling overwhelmed, so let’s simplify that…
Here’s a little look at how I worked my way through this blog post - although do keep in mind that each small step may look quite different for you, as it’s important to create in a way that feels good (something I’ll be touching on shortly):
- Choose an idea from my ‘blog post ideas’ list.
- Write the headings for what I want to cover
- Begin writing
- Complete the intro
- Complete the first half of the post
- Complete the other half
- Add links
- SEO - Meta description, tags, category, featured image and social image
- Choose and add images
- Check through and preview
- Hit publish
- Promote on social media
Ticking off each one is surprisingly motivating and very satisfying, and it begins to simplify the process a LOT! It’s something you can do for a social media post, Substack post, email, podcast and even for your marketing goals by creating small intentions for each one.
Get back to your ‘why’ and ‘purpose’
These two words can completely transform your marketing! When I first launched my business,
everything I usually advise others to do went right out the window! I was so focused on getting my business noticed and to reach as many people as possible. This was quickly beginning to make me feel very overwhelmed, especially because I wasn’t seeing the results I had hoped.
So, I decided to go back to basics! I began to reflect on who I was selling to, who my ideal audience was, why I created my offerings, what problems they solved, and so on. It wonderfully transformed how I was showing up online, helped me to give my messaging a good tweak, and I began to reach the people I hoped to reach. It also meant that my followers could very clearly understand what I do and how I can help.
It’s something I actually share so much more about in my Reflect & Nurture workbook, where we journey through the who, where, what, why and how, of creating an effective online presence through your marketing.
Stop trying to do what you think you should be doing
I really wanted this heading to not sound quite so blunt… but I just couldn’t find the words! Maybe because it’s something we need to tell ourselves in exactly that way!
It’s SO easy to look at what others are doing and automatically decide that’s ‘what I should be doing too!’ But this can quickly lead to us feeling exhausted, and comparison can also very quickly set in too, and we begin to doubt ourselves.
But what’s actually happening, is that we’re all beautifully unique, and what works for one person doesn’t necessarily work for another. And that’s perfectly ok, there’s definitely nothing wrong with that.
We can still take inspiration from them, but we also need to think about our own time and energy and what can work well for us (as someone with a chronic illness, this is very important to me), and something I love telling my clients is to ‘create the content you want to create’. Because that’s when authenticity shines brightly through. It also brings back the joy in creating.
Instead of comparing (which I know is easier said than done), simply cheer that person on, congratulate them, and let what they’re doing inspire you, rather than let it make you feel defeated. It can turn your whole mindset round into a positive one, rather than a negative one, and we all need to be encouraging and cheering one another on.
Build community and connection
While our marketing is such a valuable part of what we do, there’s two other very valuable things that get easily overlooked, and that’s building community and connection.
…Not just for our own benefit, but to connect with lovely likeminded people who will become our friends, and surround ourselves with those who are going to lift us up, support us and cheer us on, and vice versa. To build a beautiful community who love what we do and want to get to know us better, and who may even become loyal customers.
The little things we do can make such a huge positive difference, like giving someone a follow who you’d love to connect with, liking their post if it’s brought joy and inspiration to your feed, leaving a comment, sharing it, or sending a private message to let them know it resonated and that you enjoyed it. It could be leaving a comment on a blog post or a Substack post, or replying to a newsletter that’s arrived in your inbox.
There’s so many amazing ways we can support one another that don’t cost a penny, only takes a few seconds, and brings a lot of (because it really does) happiness to someone’s day.
Pause to do something that fills you up creatively
Yep, it can be that simple, and it does you the world of good too!
I’m a BIG advocate for bringing more of the things that bring us joy into our days. Whether it’s settling down with a good book, taking a walk, stepping outside for some deep breaths, sitting in the garden, painting, sketching, listening to a podcast, plus all the many other things that come to mind for what brings you joy, these are the things that can help us to recharge, light up inspiration, get those creative juices flowing again and is extra good for our well-being.
In this blog post, I shared a few of the things that bring me joy in busy seasons. And here, I shared some cosy self-care tips I love as a small business owner. Plus, you can also discover some of my favourite places to find creative inspiration, the books I love that never fail to inspire me, and where to find inspiration in the little things around you. And if you’d like some more lovely book recommendations, here I shared 4 books for a slow journey through the seasons.
Does your marketing ever feel overwhelming?
I really hope you’ve found this blog post helpful.