Finishing up my third week here at Epicom, I can honestly say I have learned a lot. While getting up to speed with our SugarCRM system, custom integrations and partners’ products, I have also started to dive into the strategic marketing efforts behind them.
And while I was extremely excited to begin strategizing and collaborating with my team, there was a part of me that was extremely nervous. It has been awhile since I’ve had the wide range of responsibilities this internship allots me, so I didn’t even know where to begin. And even before starting I had to brush up on my social media skills and marketing software knowledge. So as you can imagine, I felt like I was juggling swords while simultaneously balancing on a tightrope. Trying to learn all the recent updates in twitter, linkedin and every other social media avenue, as well as learn the characteristics of all the current softwares and integrations at the same time seemed almost impossible.
But with determination and motivation comes hard work and progress. I began immediately and everything else seemed to fall into place. In the field of marketing, managing your time appropriately is extremely essential in the flow and function of your company. Not only because it helps to navigate your efforts, but also because it creates the atmosphere you subject to your clients and your staff.
Below, I have created a list of the 5 most essential tips I found helped me manage my time and my marketing efforts. These factors played an instrumental role in organizing my work ethic, my thought process, and how I attacked and accomplished each goal.
1. Prioritize and Organize
Nothing is more essential than prioritizing. Everything cannot get done immediately. But it is important to organize and outline which tasks must be done first. Then you can create a list of other tasks that need to be accomplished by level of importance. Organizing your thoughts as well as your tasks is the first step. Once this is done, now you have something tangible you can look at as a reference, rather than running around with a million thoughts and not a single record of any of them.
2. Find a Source/ Outlet for Scheduling
The wonderful world of the interweb offers you a way to simplify almost anything. There are numerous outlets and programs out there to help make your day more efficient and useful. Find these and use them! For instance, I use Hootsuite to help schedule my social media announcements, as well as Basecampto organize my to-do lists. While I also have written to-do lists on my desk, everyone knows these can vanish just as easily as they were created. It is helpful to have something tangible, online and available at any time. There are also many other programs out there to help you manage some of your marketing efforts, and to consolidate your thoughts as well as your materials.
3. Motivate Your Team/ Your Office to be Involved
There is nothing more helpful and resourceful as group effort. Your co-workers are there to help you, so use their input and their advice. By involving your co-workers you get a wider range of support and intel. Don’t expect them to create your marketing campaigns, or write your press releases, but during your weekly meetings, mention your progress or some of your ideas, and ask if they have any suggestions. Everyone’s efforts only works toward benefiting the entire company. People are also always willing to give their opinion on a subject or matter, so use this to your benefit! Having other people’s recommendations and opinions may save you time consistently altering your material.
4. Create Quality Material
Everyone knows quality always wins over quantity. When it comes to marketing, the same applies. People would rather have quality materials exposed to them, than a million different useless and annoying marketing efforts thrown their way. So when it comes to drafting your strategy and your actual materials, make it count! Put purpose and effort into what you’re creating. Don’t just create a newsletter to have one. If your marketing efforts are lacking quality, they will feel as though your products and services are as well. So whether you are writing for your blog, creating a brochure, or organizing a drip campaign, make sure your work has quality and substance behind it.
5. Keep Measuring Your Efforts
Lastly, measuring your efforts can pinpoint exactly what is working, and what needs improvement. The essence of marketing is to engage your customers, and to consistently acquire and retain them. But if your approach is not working, or your targets are misplaced, how will you know unless you gauge your efforts? Paying attention to what is not working, can help steer you into the direction of what is working! There are numerous websites that can help you monitor these efforts. Google Analytics, Alexa.com, and Compete.com are just a few out there that can help you know how your websites are doing and what content visitors are focusing on. Besides these, there are many other useful resources out there that can help you improve your marketing efforts and become a more successful marketer!
Overall, closing up my third week, these 5 tips have helped me to manage my work as well as organize my efforts. It is hard to sit back and collect your thoughts, but it is necessary. Staying organized and creative are all extremely important facets to marketing. Regardless of your workload, it is important to stay focused and remember your goals. These 5 tips definitely have worked for me these past few weeks. While it may still be hard at times to maintain a balance, having a key strategy and organizing your efforts can definitely help you effectively manage your marketing!
