Time-Saving Marketing Tips for Busy Practitioners

Marketing your business shouldn’t feel like a full-time job on top of everything else. And yet, for many CAM practitioners, it does. You're wearing all the hats, and marketing often ends up as the task that gets pushed to the bottom of your to-do list – or the one that eats up more time than it should, without much return.

But here’s the good news: You don’t need to do everything. The key to effective marketing often lies in doing less but better.

Discover time-saving marketing strategies designed to help you focus on what really works, let go of the ‘shoulds’, and make marketing feel lighter and more aligned with you.

Common Challenges of Wearing All the Hats

You’re a solo business owner, so your job description includes practitioner, administrator, receptionist, bookkeeper, and marketer. That’s a lot to juggle!

For CAM professionals, client work takes priority. Marketing often becomes inconsistent, rushed, or abandoned altogether. And when there is time for it, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed about where to start.

The Cost of Scattered Marketing Efforts

Trying to be on every social media platform, follow every expert’s advice or formula, and use every piece of tech available is a recipe for exhaustion. Without focus, you’re likely to end up spinning your wheels and seeing little progress.

Here’s one simple tip that makes a big difference to your marketing efforts: understand what’s working. Ask every new enquiry or client how they found you. That information helps you identify the activities that work so you can do more of those - and drop the things that aren’t working.

Focus on High-Return Marketing Activities

The things that will make the most difference in your marketing are clarity, consistency and connection. Marketing isn’t about being everywhere – it’s about showing up well in the right places. Start by getting clear on:

• Who you’re trying to reach
• What you want them to know or feel
• How they can take the next step towards working with you

Consistency builds trust. But that doesn’t mean posting daily. Jilly wanted to promote her business on social media but didn’t have the time or energy to post every day. We looked at her goals and focused on Instagram (her favourite platform), with two quality posts a week. She also started a monthly newsletter. Within a month, she was growing her list and getting enquiries.

It’s not about quantity. It’s about showing up with purpose.

Avoiding ‘Shoulds’ and Shiny Objects

There’s a lot of noise in the marketing world – new platforms, viral tactics, six-figure formulas. But chasing every shiny object rarely leads to sustainable results. They often sidetrack you and leave you questioning what you’re doing.

Give yourself permission to say no and focus on one to three core activities that suit you and your business.

Katie loves talking to people, so she decided to attend fairs and festivals, selling handmade products that sparked conversation and connection. Her warm energy drew people in, and many ended up booking her 1:1 services.

Working to your strengths makes marketing easier – and far more effective.

The Time-Saving Trio: Batch, Automate, Delegate

Batching Tasks Like Content Creation and Scheduling

One of the easiest ways to save time is to group similar tasks together. Instead of writing one post at a time, set aside a block of time to write and schedule a few at once. The same goes for emails, graphics, or blogs.

Templates are your friend here, especially for repeat tasks like newsletters, social captions, or emails. When I worked as a CAM professional, I discovered a colleague wrote every email individually, whereas I had a number of templates I could personalise. We worked out that responding to emails took me less than half the time it took her – that’s a huge amount of time to claim back!

Smart Tools to Automate Your Marketing

There’s no need to reinvent the wheel every week. Automation can help you stay consistent without the daily drain.

Here are a few tools that CAM professionals find helpful – these are some I recommend to clients, but there are plenty of alternatives on the market, and many have free versions you can try out:

• Email marketing: MailerLite or Mailchimp for automating email sequences and sending newsletters.
• CRM (Customer Relationship Management): HubSpot and similar tools to help manage and nurture clients and prospective clients. These can also integrate with email marketing.
• Diary scheduling: TidyCal gives prospective clients a simple way to book into your diary, saving time on back-and-forth messages. I moved from Acuity recently and have been impressed – especially as TidyCal offers a one-off purchase price rather than a monthly subscription.

When and How to Outsource Support

When the time is right – and you have the budget – getting help with your marketing (and other business tasks) can free you up to do more of what you love: helping your clients.

Consider outsourcing:

• Social media scheduling or content repurposing
• Graphic design for templates or promotional materials
• Website updates or landing pages
• Strategy and growth support with a trusted marketer (like me 😉)
• Admin or inbox support via a VA

Even a few hours a month with a VA or freelancer can make a big difference.

Simple Tools That Streamline Your Workflow

You don’t need to be techy to streamline your marketing. Here are some tools that work beautifully for many CAM businesses:

• Asana – my project management tool of choice to keep organised and plan out marketing actions
• MailerLite – for easy email marketing and automation
• TidyCal or Calendly – to make booking effortless
• Canva – for branded, professional-looking graphics
• Meta Business Suite – to manage Instagram and Facebook in one place
• ChatGPT – my go-to AI tool for content support, but it’s vital to brief it well and always review and personalise anything before you publish. You are your brand – authenticity matters.
• Templates are a game-changer – whether for emails, graphics, or lead magnets. Start simple and build from there.
• Prefer pen and paper? That works too. Use a diary or printed calendar to plan your marketing. Keep a notebook with a list of content ideas. Stick with what you’ll actually use.
• A notebook or spreadsheet is also a highly effective way to track where your new clients are coming from.

Make Marketing Feel Lighter

You want to save time on your marketing - here’s where to start:

• Track what works – ask every enquiry and client how they found you.
• Pick your focus – choose one to three strategies that have worked for you, that you enjoy, and that you can stick with.
• Batch and automate – use the tools available to make things easier. Or start simple with just one thing and take it step by step.
• Use templates – stop reinventing the wheel by creating templates as you go for regular tasks like email replies.
• Get help when you can – free yourself up to do your best work.

You don’t have to do everything. You just have to do what works for you – consistently.

Ready to turn your marketing chaos into clarity? Let’s chat.

Book a call today and take the first step towards marketing that feels authentic, simple, and effective.