8 Habits of Highly Efficient Marketers

Brittany Chaffee

24 October 2019
1 Comments

emma-matthews-content-production-O_CLjxjzN3M-unsplash

Photo by Emma Matthews Content Production on Unsplash

In marketing, the day-by-day is never really the same. In fact, sometimes it feels like you can plan out an entire day and it never goes as scheduled (hello random emails and sales calls and meetings, and more meetings). However, in order to be fully productive, you need the emotional and physical tools at hand to feel like you can create true awareness and engagement for your brand. You can’t build maximum results for a brand if you’re feeling flustered and un-prioritized. That’s why we did some research and put together a list of habits that make the best marketers thrive.

How can you truly organize to feel like a productive marketer? Dig into the list below.

1. Make prioritization the first thing you focus on.

You have five days in a week to make certain items on your list fall to the bottom or climb to the top. It’s up to you to define those things. So, how can you truly decipher what’s urgent vs. important? It’s really easy to get those two things mixed up – and push urgent jobs on top of the ones that are actually important.

Orbit Media put together a great two-by-two matrix to respond to anything that’s thrown your way. “Every possible action can be evaluated and assigned to one of the four categories,” Orbit Media explains. So, use this to file your urgent and important tasks. 

habits-highly-effective-marketers-eisenhower-box

Photo courtesy of OrbitMedia.com

2. Make PR and SEO a priority.

How do you know which things are so important that you should stop and work on them immediately? PR and SEO are a great place to start. Two things: never miss a PR hit (or a journalist call) and always communicate with a blogger that mentions your brand in an article. At the base of this lesson, content is always about networking. Never miss a chance to connect with the people talking about your brand!

First step? Set up a Talkwalker Alert.

3. Turn your inbox into a to-do list.

It’s hard to turn away from the “dinging” notifications of a full inbox. However, there are ways to use it to your benefit. Efficiency is key here, folks! Don’t be the person that never deletes emails. According to Orbit Media, 18% of marketers are “Red Creepers”, people that never deleted their email. 48% of people are deleting only some email, allowing the piles to grow slower. Then, there’s the 5% that delete it all.

The rest of us try to have only a few emails in our inbox, ones that cue action.

A great goal is to try and keep your inbox under 20 and to twice a day set a time to get the inbox down to that level. If you have low tolerance for crazy, utilize you inbox as a to-do list and empty by responding or accomplishing the task requested, and keeping things filed away in folders.

4. Block times in your calendar to answer emails.

This tip reflects the one above. Schedule two times a day to care for your inbox (and physically block the time out on your calendar). Unsubscribe to at least 5 newsletters you never read a week. Star or flag important and urgent emails to stay prioritized. Or, create folders named “Respond Today” and “Emails That Can Be Turned Into Articles” to properly prioritize urgent or safe keeping items.

5. Be mindful of the difference between delegating and creating social media.

A lot of tasks needs to be completed on the daily basis terms of social media. First, you have to create the content. Then, you have to promote it. And more importantly, you have to network and communicate through those channels. Orbit Media covers the three types of social media really well below.

habits-highly-effective-marketers-types-social-media

Photo courtesy of OrbitMedia.com

So, how do you decipher which can be delegated for someone else and created by you? Scheduling content can be be delegated. Use Buffer to schedule posts and ensure they don’t get released during weird times of the day. Promoting your content can be easily delegated. Orbit Media recommends CoSchedule for promoting content on social media so you can hand it off. The conversation itself is the most important – and it must be created by you. Allocate a fixed time on your calendar to look at social streams (we love Tweetdeck) and interaction is key.

"Marketing is all about networking. It’s how we build our tribes. It’s how we enhance content. It’s how we find our jobs to be effective."

6. Most good ideas are simple and fleeting – so make sure you capture everything in one spot.

For marketers, inspiration pops up everywhere! So, it’s especially helpful to a figurative net to capture all of those ideas (or managing them can get overwhelming).

Create a Google Sheet called “Marketing Content” and make a list of articles you find inspiring. On another row, add an article idea that reflects that content. Half-baked articles are always floating around, so filing away the content will be a perfect solution for letting them exit your mind. This is a great way to combine some ideas for future content as well!

7. Give real thanks.

Like we said before, marketing is all about networking. It’s how we build our tribes. It’s how we enhance content. It’s how we find our jobs to be effective. There’s no better way than saying thanks – with a real, physical card. Write the handwritten thank you note. Forget the inbox and think about US Mail. Try to make it your goal to write a handwritten note to a friend or client at least three times a week.

8. Um, rest. Please?

This (unfortunately) blew our mind. Low performing marketers are always watching TV and breezing through Facebook. High performers, however, are time-boxed and prioritized and they get the rest! Replace re-runs of Friend's with some free writing time here and there. We promise, it will help.

habits-highly-effective-marketers-timetable

Photo courtesy of OrbitMedia.com

Quick tips: delete a really distracting app from your phone. And try to wake up at 5am every day for a little while. Research shows it takes 66 days to form a habit, after all.

 

Have any questions about what we do at STAR? Want to talk experiential marketing? We're happy to chat with you. Contact us here.

Brittany Chaffee



LWT-Blog-poster

You Know More Than You Think About Esports (with Wim Stocks)

Esports are changing the landscape for media, tech, traditional sports, athletics, gaming, entertainment, celebrity, and culture on a global basis.

Register Now

Comments

1 Comments

Subscribe to our Blog