We all want to be the best person we can be, but in a complex job like marketing, it can be hard to know what steps to take to make improvements to help deliver the best work possible. But simply setting yourself up for the working week and taking on the right frame of mind can to set you off on the road to success in the office.
From organisation to positivity, we’ve put together seven things that you can do every week to help yourself and your marketing work flourish.
Eat the frog first
It’s proven that taking on the toughest task on your to-do list first makes you more productive overall. It’s known as “eating the frog”. This term was coined by Mark Twain who said if the first thing you do in the morning is eat a live frog, you know the worst of the day is behind you. Leaving daunting tasks means you are more likely to procrastinate or put off doing them and leave to another day if they are not urgent. By taking on your more challenging tasks first, you will find smaller jobs easier to complete…
Sort out emails
It may seem obvious, but clearing out your inbox clears your mind and sets you up for the day ahead. The average employee spends around 28% of their working day dealing with their emails, checking their emails an average of 15 times a day. Manage your emails to give yourself more time to dedicate to work. Flag emails that aren’t urgent but still require your attention so you remember to come back to them later.
Check in with your team
Communication is vital if you want things to run smoothly: check in with your team and see where everyone else is at and how this affects you. It doesn’t have to be a formal meeting: it can just be an informal chat or even a quick email to catch up and subsequently plan out your working week. Besides organising yourself, an Accountemps study found that 33% of employees believe inadequate communication from management is the primary cause of morale issues in the workplace. A tool such as Slack can help with your team management.
Time management
Plan what you aim to get done by the end of the week and how long each task will take to complete. This may mean also booking out other people’s time: copywriters for writing content, designers for creating content design, analysts for number crunching. Make your team aware of what you need them to do for you so they can manage their time too. Use a time management tool or team time planning software to record and track this. However much you feel you’re on top of time management, many are often wishing for more hours in a day. Here are some books to offer you some further advice:
- 15 Secrets Successful People Know About Time Management by Kevin Kruse
- How to be a Productivity Ninja: Worry Less, Achieve More and Love What You Do by Graham Allcott
- Time Management for Dummies by Clare Evans
- Work Smarter Not Harder: 18 Productivity Tips That Boost Your Work Performance by Timo Kiander
Use technology to make your day run more smoothly
Set up any automations you have: social, emails, website etc. SiriusDecisions found that 85% of B2B marketers using a marketing automation platform feel that they’re not using it to its full potential, so make sure you are using your software to your advantage. You are also probably running reports from these systems, so check all reports are up-to-date. Take a look at our whitepaper, 13 Marketing Tools Under £40, for a roundup of the best marketing tools.
Keep informed
Keep abreast of the latest news, trends and technologies: this will help you to come up with new campaign ideas and ways to help your brand or client. There is always something to be learnt: whether it’s a new marketing technique, or something about your industry. Where you can, try to feed back what you’ve learnt to your team – brainstorming can be a powerful tool. Network where you can too, whether it’s at an official event or someone you get talking to in a bar: you never know who you’re going to meet. Use a tool like ScoopIt to keep informed of industry news; it’s also a great content curation tool.
Be positive!
When you have a positive attitude, you feel more empowered, motivated to do well and less stressed. Even if you are stressed, trying to maintain a happy disposition will help you and others around you: stress and negativity can spread like wildfire through an office. So keep positive to promote good teamwork and customer relations.
Selbey Anderson Group of agencies