Tips & Tricks for Becoming an Organized Badass Digital Marketer
If you are in the digital marketing industry, you know how quickly it can change with the blink of an eye. It can be hard to keep up with trends, and even harder to stay organized. I sat down with a handful of Power Digital’s best and brightest to pick their brain on how they stay so organized, efficient, and all around amazing.
Keep reading for helpful tips and tricks for becoming the most badass, organized digital marketer there ever was!
Utilize Thy Project Management System
Have a project management system that you like to use? Great. USE IT. Whether it be Asana, Basecamp, Workzone, Scoro, etc., learn the ins and outs and make that system your holy grail for staying organized. Many project management systems have a ton of great tools to help you stay on top of things. We recommend taking the time to fully get to know your project management system so that you know all the ways it can work for you, instead of you working for it.
Our Director of Client Success, Joy Commodore, uses Asana religiously to keep track of her tasks. “I live and die in Asana. It has so many helpful tools and is so user-friendly. I love finding new ways to utilize the tools this project management system has to offer.”
Time Block
Ever heard of time blocking? Time blocking is an extremely effective way to visually break down the hours in your work day and allocate those hours to specific projects. Time blocking can help you bring your productivity to the maximum level.
The first step in time blocking is to determine your most and least productive times of the day. Each person is going to be different, so it may take a bit of time for you to identify the specific times of your day that are primed for productivity.
Once you’ve established the most productive time of your day, begin to block off that time in your calendar —and stick to the time blocks. Save this time for your most important projects. This is the time when you can be confident that you will get your high priority tasks done, and done efficiently.
Antonio Johnson, our VP of Client Success, time blocks his whole day based on the priority of different tasks. “Not only do I block off time for certain projects, but I also block off 15 minutes at the beginning and end of each day in order to check on the status of everything I was supposed to get done for that day.”
Plan Ahead
Let’s face it. If you’re a digital marketer, we know you’re ALWAYS busy. Have you ever thought of planning your week out ahead of time? It’s one of the greatest ways to stay organized with your workflow. Planning out your week in advance is great for multiple reasons:
- It allows you to get an idea of all the tasks you have for the upcoming week.
- This also allows you to see what is the highest/lowest priority and how much time you have to complete these tasks.
- It allows you to map out what meetings you have for the week and what you may need time to prep for, and then allocate time for that accordingly.
- Planning out your upcoming week also gives you an idea of times where you might be more flexible.
- Project taking a lot longer than expected? Did a last minute meeting get added to your calendar? By planning out your week ahead of time, you can be as prepared as possible for the unexpected.
Planning ahead can give you peace of mind and keep your busy schedule from getting out of control. Samantha Wormser, our Director of Public Relations & Influencer Marketing, plans her entire week on the Sunday prior. “Planning out my week ahead of time gives me a chance to see all my tasks and meetings in an organized way and keeps me from getting too overwhelmed. I also love to front-load my week by putting the majority of my week’s work on Monday and Tuesday – that way I feel more accomplished during the rest of the week.”
Put Everything in Writing
This tip is more of a way to keep yourself, coworkers, and clients accountable for the things you discuss together. One piece of this that we recommend is to always follow up with a recap email after a meeting. Not only will you have a recap of what was talked about during the meeting in writing, but you’ll be able to locate the recap easily in your inbox.
There’s nothing worse than not being able to remember what a coworker or client said during a meeting. Sometimes your memory isn’t as sharp as you think it might be and you need a bit of support. Having everything in writing allows you to easily recall communication between coworkers and clients without the headache of trying to remember what was said verbatim. This tip can come in handy when you are seeking backup.
Dani Paris, one of our Paid Social Account Managers, has made it a habit to write down anything and everything in all coworker or client interactions. “I always keep everything in writing. This helps to prevent any miscommunication later down the road.”
Keep All Your Notes in One Place
Whether it be Google Drive, Evernote, Microsoft OneNote, Bear, etc., keep ALL of your notes in one platform so you can easily access them whenever needed. You can use any of these platforms to organize and keep your notes handy. I recommend keeping different folders, notebooks, etc. for different clients so that your notes are easy to find and are nicely organized.
Spice Up Your Inbox
Piggy-backing off of the previous tip, organizing your email inbox can be extremely helpful as well. Try creating folders for each client and only file those emails into their respective folders once you’ve read them. This can help you stay accountable on your unread emails and encourage you to file them away once you’ve responded to them.
Makenna Johnson, our Influencer Marketing Manager, can’t live without organizing her email inbox. “I star every client email and leave them unread until I’ve responded to them. I also acknowledge emails from clients right away so they at least know I am looking into the situation if I don’t immediately have a response for them.”
Be Proactive
One major way that you can stay organized is simply by being proactive. Ensure you are hitting all your deadlines, follow up, and continuously look for other ways to stay on top of things. With a proactive attitude, your organization can go a long way.
Wrapping Up
In the end, no two people work the same. It’s all about finding what organizational recipe works for you. We encourage you to explore different methods and tools in order to find what works best for you. Another thing to remember is that technology is here to help. Whether that be Slack reminders, email boomerangs, project management tools, etc., take advantage of what technology has to offer to help you to stay even more organized.
