Here's a problem I often here from my subscribers and clients:

“I just can't find the time for all these different marketing tactics. How can I keep up?”

And the answer, really, is that you can't.

No one – especially us small businesses – can do everything. And you don't need to.

There's a story I heard a while back from James Clear about advice Warren Buffet gave to his pilot who was discussing career goals with him.

Buffet got him to write down his top 25 goals, then circle the absolute top 5.

The pilot told him “great, I'll really prioritise these 5.”

Then Buffet asked him “what about the other 20?”

The pilot replied, “well, these are important too, I'll try to fit them in when I can.”

But Buffet violently disagreed.

“You've got it wrong. Everything you didn't circle just became your Avoid-At-All-Cost list. No matter what, these things get no attention from you until you've succeeded with your top 5.”

The point is that every minute you spend on one of those 20 is a minute you're not spending on your top 5.

It's the same with marketing.

There are literally hundreds of different things you could be doing. And there are people out there telling you that you should be engaging on Twitter, advertising on Facebook, connecting on Linkedin, doing live talks, webinars, video, SEOing your site, ad infinitum. 

And all of these things can work. The problem is that every minute you spend on them is a minute you're not spending on your “top 5”.

You don't need to do everything. You can't do everything. You can't even do more than about 5 things – so don't try. It will just distract you.

Whatever your top 5 is, stick to it. Maybe test out one new thing at a time and switch that in to your top 5 if it works really well.

But don't listen to all the folks telling you about the latest, greatest techniques they're succeeding with.

Usually they're biased: they want to sell you some training on how to do it. And often they're an unusual case. it worked for them but it won't work for you.

But even if it will work for you, the question is “will it work so extraordinarily well that it's worth stopping one of the other things you're doing?”

Usually not.

Stick to your Top 5, get great at them, and reap the rewards.