Today, Hannah Istead of HiCommunications is here to share some of her 10 minute marketing ideas for authors. I really admite Hannah’s approach to marketing - her ideas are so approachable and easy to implement. I also find her a regular inspiration to me and a reminder to practice what I preach - marketing can be really joyful! You just need to find the fun in it.
Almost 3 years ago I was on a dog walk with my (now husband) Tom. I turned and said to him, wouldn’t it be cool if someone could just tell you exactly what to do to promote your business each day so you didn’t have to make that decision? We agreed it would be cool, and the next week The Best 90 Days Ever membership was born.
The Best 90 Days Ever is a series of daily 10-minute marketing prompts with weekly themes to help you grow your audience and promote what you do. Last year I won a book deal with Practical Inspiration Publishing and now those prompts have been turned into a book which is out on 26th March 2024 [aff link]!
Everyone I work with is busy, so whether they’re promoting books, services or products I always try to give them marketing tips which are quick and easy to tick off their to-do lists.
Here are some of my favourite 10-minute tasks that I’ve been using to promote my own book too!
Get all of your ideas out of your head and on to paper
First things first, get all of those amazing ideas out of your head and down somewhere you can see them. We do this task in every round of The Best 90 Days Ever and it really helps to get the ideas flowing and show yourself you have so much more to talk about than you think.
Set a timer for 10 minutes, start with a big piece of paper and put your name in the middle. You can do this digitally but I don’t find it as satisfying as some scrap paper and coloured pens.
Now write down EVERYTHING you know and can talk or write about. Words, themes, questions, topics. Nothing is too big or too small but if you have a big topic like ‘marketing’ break it down into smaller pieces that could spark an idea for a post or email.
The aim is to give you a boost of motivation and think - actually I do have lots of things to say.
Leave this out somewhere you can see it and keep adding to it as you have new ideas. Often conversations and comments will lead to more pieces of content you can create.
Send out a pitch
I’m often asked for advice on how to grow your audience, and pitching and collaborating is one of my favourite ways to do it. If you’ve got the consistency with your content sorted, the next step is usually to look for ways to get in front of other audiences too.
Take a look at the topics and themes you’ve written and start to put together ideas for a pitch. This could look like asking to be on a podcast or inviting someone to be on yours, doing a joint Instagram live to discuss a topic you have in common or even a Substack collaboration like this one.
This should be mutually beneficial for you both. What is some great advice you could share with their audience? Where might they have a gap in their knowledge or experience you could fill?
Although your initial pitch might take a little bit longer, you should be able to create a template that means putting yourself forward for opportunities can take as little as 10-minutes. Be prepared for when last minute occasions come up so you can pounce on them!
Make content feel like part of your day
When we don’t think we have time for marketing, it’s usually because it feels like something ‘extra’ we need to do, rather than making up part of our working day.
People are nosey. We love to watch TikToks of an influencer cleaning their bathroom or a day in the life of another business owner… and don’t even get me started on pimple poppers.
Your audience will be interested in what you’re up to, even if you think it’s a mundane part of your week.
Try and get into the habit of documenting your day. Of course you can have boundaries of when and where you want to put your phone down and have screen free time, but a quick photo or a short snippet video takes seconds and can be used for so many things. Imagine what you could do in 10 minutes!
Are you going to an event and you could take your book? Is your book on your desk that day and you can have a flick through it? Could you film a timelapse of you working?
We visited Hay-on-Wye recently which is known as a ‘town of books’ and had loads of fun taking pictures and videos with The Best 90 Days Ever in different places. Getting your book involved in your content can be fun, I promise!
Don’t assume how much people know
If you’re trying to grow your audience, people will be joining you at different points in your journey. They haven’t all been here from the start so there are things they might not know and it’s your job to share it with them.
Even if they have been here for a while, it’s always fun to find out more about someone and connect with them on a more personal level.
If you’ve recently had a new boost of followers or you’d like to re-engage your current audience, why not set a timer for 10-minutes and try one of these? You should be able to get a good start in that time!
Re-introduction post - Share some fun facts with us that we might not know, tell us what you’re working on or what we can buy and ask your audience a question too.
Podcasts - Tell your story on your own podcast or as a guest and share it with your audience.
Blog posts - Blog posts are a great piece of long form content where you can go into the nitty gritty with your updates! Pick a topic that you would like to do a deep dive on to show your expertise.
Emails - I love using emails to link a marketing message to what’s happening in my life right now. Maybe you can find a similarity in the message of your book with something that happened this week and talk to your audience about it?
One of my easiest reels around the book launch was a chatty update about how it’s all going. It doesn’t need to feel formal or forced, think about what you would say to a friend if they asked ‘what’s new with you at the moment?’
Remind people you exist
We are all busy and generally people need to see your content multiple times before they are in the right place or mindset to read more and buy from you.
That means you’re going to have to remind people that you exist, even when it feels uncomfortable.
Remember the only person that sees all of your content is you, so when you feel like you’re being annoying and couldn’t possibly speak about this thing anymore, your audience might have only seen a fraction of those posts.
If you’re feeling nervous about sharing one more time, use the timer to give you a boost of motivation. When I feel like I’m all out of ideas, I set the timer for 10-minutes and just write how I’m feeling in that moment, or record a quick Instagram story to share an update.
If you spend 10-minutes each day pushing yourself out of your comfort zone, not only will it get much easier and quicker, over 90 days you will have spent an extra 15 hours on your marketing.
Squeeze the juice out of that content
My final 10-minute marketing tip is to set up a system to help you reuse your content.
One of the quickest and easiest ways to save time on your marketing is to reuse something you’ve already created. Whether that’s a post from this time last year, a piece of writing that you can chop up into something new or a photo or video that you can recycle.
We want to be repetitive with our messaging. We want to be known for something and when people think of that topic they go straight to you.
The easiest way to do that is to just keep talking about it.
Squeeze the juice out of all of the amazing things you have shared and get creative in the ways you can reuse them.
I’ll definitely be reusing this article for my own marketing at some point in the future, so see if you can spot when I do!
Thank you so Hannah for sharing your 10-minute marketing tips. If you don’t already follow Hannah on Instagram, you can do so here. The Best 90 Days Ever book [aff link] is out on 26th March (and at time of writing is 99 pence on Kindle!?!?!?) and The Best 90 Days Ever membership starts again on 1st April. Doors are open now to sign up!
Hannah, you had me at 10 minutes! My book is also about spending 10 minutes a day but on taking care of your mental and emotional wellbeing. It’s called The 1% Wellness Experiment because 1% of your waking hours is 10 minutes 😊 I’ve bought your book and I’m excited to get going. Huge congratulations for tomorrow, it’s a tremendous achievement so celebrate yourself! x