Call it visibility, awareness, marketing … In any case, this is the key to successful self-employment. Because most of us are not automatically fully booked the day we set up our business. No, we have to make our work better known in order to convince – the right – customers. At the same time, self-employed people don’t earn money by posting on Instagram or writing blog articles, but by working with their customers. In this respect, a disproportionate amount of time should not be needed for your own marketing. In this article, I therefore share my tried-and-tested strategies for a time-saving and effective content workflow.
From flash of inspiration to strategy: using ideas in a targeted way
In the evening before going to sleep, in the morning in the shower, on a dog walk … Ideas for blog articles, newsletters or Instagram posts usually pop up when we’re not sitting at our desk. That’s why it’s important that you can write them down at any time – and evaluate them strategically later.
- Take notes: You can simply use the notes app on your smartphone, for example. Most people always have this with them and the first thing to do is to write down the idea without evaluating or sorting it.
- Select strategically: When you prepare your content in the office, you can evaluate the ideas. Which offer is currently the focus of your marketing? Which ideas fit with it?
- Change perspective: The final check is carried out with your target group in mind. Is this topic really relevant to them? How do you need to present it so that you pick up the right people?
This ensures that your content is not only creative, but also targeted.
Ideas for your content: find inspiration in everyday life
If you are in a lull at the moment and have run out of ideas, it helps to listen carefully in everyday life.
- Conversations with customers: What challenges and wishes do they talk about? What typical problems or knots in the head are repeated by your target group?
- Our own experiences: Super important, because this is exactly what sets us apart as experts in artificial intelligence. We can report on our own experiences, classify trends or express an opinion that is not mainstream.
- Social media and reviews: You can also find exciting approaches for your own content in posts from your target group or in reviews (e.g. of books on your topic).
Structure creates efficiency
As I said, self-employed women generally have no time to waste. That’s why it’s important to have a clear plan for your own marketing. This helps you to keep an overview and select and publish your own content in a very targeted manner.
- Always keep an eye on what you want to achieve: Is there an event coming up in the near future that you want to publicize? Are you currently focusing on a specific offer? Then your content should support this goal.
- Coordinate your marketing channels: For example, your social media posts should cover the same topic as your podcast (and point to the latest episode), your newsletter should lead to your blog article, etc. This not only makes it easier for you, but also reinforces your message.
Tip: Your focus should be on your “long content”, i.e. your blog or podcast. Newsletters and social media can support this long content and draw your target group’s attention to it.
Tools and routines: The basis for consistency
Your marketing doesn’t live from one-off content that goes viral overnight. It depends on you publishing regularly and reliably, becoming more and more visible and building up more and more trust. A fixed schedule and appropriate tools will help you do this.
- Designate one day as your marketing day: block out time on this day for the next podcast episode, your blog article, the newsletter, social media posts … This can be one morning a week, but also a whole day every two weeks. It’s important that you find a rhythm that suits you and your everyday life.
- Use a content planner: Some people like to work with project tools, I’ve had an Excel list for several years that my clients also use. It’s important to have an overview somewhere and to be able to plan across multiple marketing channels.
- Proven tools: Find and decide on a few tools that will help you to organize and automate your marketing efficiently. If you’re hoping to remember to write and publish an Instagram post from the sofa at 6 pm on a Sunday, it’s not only annoying, but usually unreliable.
Content recycling: use content multiple times
This may seem like a no-go to many self-employed people at first, but it makes perfect sense to repeat content and distribute it via several marketing channels at the same time. One podcast episode can easily become two newsletters, one blog article several social media posts. This saves you time and ensures that your message really gets through to people. We need repetition in marketing – more than most people think.
Achieving goals instead of getting frustrated
I’m hearing from more and more customers that they are frustrated – especially with their social media marketing. The platforms are becoming more crowded and are constantly changing their rules. Individual reach is decreasing. There are new trends all the time. And the time invested doesn’t seem to pay off at all. Then it’s time to give your Instagram or LinkedIn account exactly one task and broaden your marketing overall. If you become less dependent on social media, the pressure will drop and you can have fun creating content again.
Get the Content Planner 2025 by Steffi Müsse here – for 0 euros.
About the author
Steffi Müsse ist Marketing-Coach, Unternehmensberaterin, Podcast-Host und Speakerin. Als ehemalige Journalistin bringt sie ein tiefes Verständnis für zielgerichtete Kommunikation mit. Heute unterstützt sie vor allem psychologische Beraterinnen und Coaches dabei, effiziente und authentische Marketingstrategien zu entwickeln, die auch für Einzelunternehmerinnen zeitlich gut machbar sind. Ihre Devise: minimaler Zeitaufwand - maximale Sichtbarkeit. Als introvertierte und sensible Person weiß sie, welche Struggle das Thema Sichtbarkeit mit sich bringen kann und wie man diese Schritt für Schritt überwindet.
