So I'm hardly Madonna, but “getting into the groove” is a crucial part of marketing.

If everything you do to try to win clients takes a monumental effort and a ton of thought then you'll get worn out pretty quickly.

Much better to have one or two “go to” marketing things you do week in, week out that make it easy for you to switch into marketing mode and get going with.

Of course, it's easy for me to say that. If you're struggling to get traction with your marketing and you spend most of your time staring at a blank screen or dreading the next event you have to go to it probably doesn't seem like “getting into the groove” is at all possible.

But it is.

The trick is to find one thing you're good at and enjoy (or at least don't dislike) and then schedule a fixed time to do that every week.

For me, it's writing my weekly email on a Saturday ready to go out on Sunday morning.

I schedule some nice quiet time. Have a think about something interesting I could say that you'd find valuable. And then tap away for a bit and it's done.

It takes a bit of effort to force yourself to do it every week until it becomes a habit. But like exercising or taking time out to read, or even learning to drive or play a sport – once you repeat it often enough it becomes much, much easier.

Once you have a successful marketing habit grooved-in you can start adding other activities, safe in the knowledge that if nothing else happens, you've still got your weekly email or blog post or social activity or whatever it is you choose to do.

It helps you be more relaxed about the rest of your marketing.

And it gives you space to get your next marketing habit in the groove. Then the next.

Pretty soon people start asking you how you're so productive with your marketing when all it took was a little habit to get going.