If you've ever found yourself saying, "I really need to do some marketing this week," you're not alone. For so many business owners, marketing becomes the thing that gets pushed down the to-do list, and client work always comes first, then emails, then the team, then about a dozen other things that feel urgent, and before you know it, the week has gone, and the marketing is still sitting there, waiting for when things get quiet, but they rarely do. 

Running a business has a habit of filling every available gap.  So if marketing only happens when there's spare time, it often becomes one of those jobs that is always important, but never quite urgent enough for today's list. Then a few months later, when the enquiries slow down, we wonder why things feel quiet. That's because marketing has a delay built into it. 

The work you're doing today isn't just about tomorrow. 

It's about the relationships, trust, and visibility that will bring opportunities three, four, even six months down the track, and that's why a marketing routine matters. It replaces that scramble with a rhythm that supports your business over time.

There Isn’t One Perfect Marketing Routine

One thing that often trips business owners up is trying to copy someone else’s marketing routine, especially when that routine looks very organised from the outside and seems to involve colour-coded calendars, daily content creation and an impressive amount of coffee.

The reality is that your marketing routine needs to fit your business, your workload and the way you naturally work, because the best routine is not the one that looks good on paper, it is the one you can actually keep doing when the business gets busy.

For some people, that might mean blocking out an hour every Monday morning to plan content and schedule a few posts. For someone else, it might mean setting aside half a day once a month to batch videos, emails or social content while they are already in the right headspace. Another business owner might prefer to work in shorter bursts across the week.

There is no prize for doing it the “right” way.

What matters is that marketing has a regular place in your calendar, rather than relying on you remembering to squeeze it in when everything else is done, because we both know how often everything else is actually done.

Once you find a rhythm that suits you, it becomes much easier to build on it, and that is where things like time blocking, batching content and working ahead start to make a real difference.

Make Marketing an Appointment, Not an Afterthought

Once you know what kind of routine works for you, the next step is to actually give marketing a place in your calendar, because “I’ll get to it when I have time” is usually code for “I’ll remember it at 9.47 pm while I’m brushing my teeth”.

This is where time blocking can be really useful. You might block out an hour each week to review what is coming up, a couple of hours once a fortnight to create content, or a larger block once a month to batch a group of activities together. The important part is that the time is protected in much the same way you would protect a client appointment, a team meeting or anything else that keeps the business moving.

Marketing is part of running the business, not something you do once all the business work is finished.

Work 60 to 90 Days Ahead Where You Can

I am a big believer in having your marketing planned 60 to 90 days ahead, not because every post, email and campaign needs to be written three months in advance, but because what we do in our marketing today often shows up in our business three to six months from now.

If you only start marketing when you need sales, you are already putting yourself under pressure.

Planning ahead gives you room to see what is coming, prepare for seasonal opportunities, create content properly and make decisions before everything becomes urgent. Christmas, EOFY, school holidays and the seasons themselves are remarkably consistent about turning up every year, so we may as well use that to our advantage.

That does not mean your plan is locked in. Things change, opportunities come up and sometimes you will want to respond to something happening right now, but having the foundations planned means you are adapting a plan rather than scatter gunning marketing ideas every time you feel like things have gone quiet.

Batch the Work While You Are in the Right Headspace

Batching is one of the easiest ways to make a marketing routine feel lighter because instead of constantly switching between client work, recording a video, writing an email, going back to client work and then remembering you still need a social post, you group similar tasks together.

You might record four videos in one session, write two or three emails while you are already in writing mode, create a month of graphics at once or turn one strong idea into several different pieces of content.

This is exactly why I love Get It Done Days and quarterly marketing planning sessions, and why we work this way inside the Ideas Impact & Marketing Circle. Sometimes the most useful thing you can give your marketing is dedicated time, a plan and fewer distractions.

My Marketing Planner works on the same principle, giving you a place to map out what is coming and tutorials to help you work through the planning rather than staring at a blank calendar hoping inspiration arrives.

Mix Evergreen Content With What Is Happening Now

A good marketing routine also does not mean creating something completely new every week.

I like to think about marketing as a mix of evergreen content and current content. Current content allows you to respond to conversations, trends, events and things happening in your business right now, while evergreen content gives you useful material that can keep working long after you first create it.

A helpful blog, a how-to video, a frequently asked question, a case study or an educational post might still be useful six months or even two years later. That content can be updated, reshared, repurposed and introduced to people who were not part of your audience the first time around.

The two work really well together. Evergreen gives your marketing some stability, while current content keeps it relevant and connected to what is happening now.

And, perhaps most importantly, it means you do not have to wake up every Monday morning and invent marketing from scratch.

Build a Routine Future You Will Thank You For

Your marketing routine does not need to look like anyone else’s.

It might be an hour every Monday morning, a content day once a month, a quarterly planning session followed by smaller weekly check-ins, or a combination of all three. You might create six evergreen pieces in one batch and then leave room each week for something current, or you might prefer to work one campaign at a time.

The important thing is that there is a rhythm.

Take a look at the next 90 days in your business and ask yourself what you already know is coming, what you want people to know about before they get there and what content you could create now that will still be useful later.

Then put the time in the calendar.

You do not need a perfect marketing routine, and you definitely do not need another beautifully colour-coded plan that you never look at again.

You need a routine that fits your business, gives you enough space to work ahead and keeps your marketing moving even when everything else gets busy.

Because the best time to market your business is not when the enquiries have already gone quiet. It is while things are going well, future you is not lying awake at night wondering what on earth to post tomorrow.