Five tips to improve productivity and stay focused on big picture marketing goals

We’re halfway through the year, making July a fitting time to revisit your goals for 2019. Here are a few tips to ensure you don’t get lost in the weeds executing your strategy, and instead, are able to home in on your big picture marketing goals.

What could you eliminate?

Answering this question will force you to prioritize your to do list. Are there reports you’re drafting weekly that would serve the same purpose if you delivered them monthly? Be honest with yourself, and your organization – are there things you’re doing on a regular basis that you could eliminate altogether? Pick a few tasks, projects or reports to really analyze and see if you can change or do away with them. Voila! You’ve just given yourself more time and resources without adding a new team member.

What are you doing all day?

Tracking hours is second nature for agency folks and though we sometimes gripe about it, it truly is a helpful practice to see where your time goes. Take a week or two and account for every hour of the day. It may sound tedious, but just jot down what time you started working on a project and what time you stopped, throughout the day. You might be surprised at how most of your time is spent.

Make the big picture a big priority and revisit it often.

Set time aside to revisit your broader business and marketing goals. If that means you need to put a weekly or monthly meeting on your calendar or take some time to disconnect from your phone and email to think strategically, do so. Remember, your day-to-day emails and meetings are important, but be sure to balance getting smaller tasks done by focusing on larger priorities. How much of your time is spent truly working toward those big picture goals? Are you spending too much time in meetings or answering emails? If you never step away, it’s easy to get sidetracked with smaller one-off requests and projects.

Talk to your team.

Set aside some time – weekly or monthly – to revisit your big picture marketing goals with your team. Use this time to understand how their time is spent and examine whether or not the assignments you’ve given them align with your overarching goals. Does your team understand what you all are trying to achieve? Do your expectations align with theirs? Talk about these types of things to make sure everyone is on the same page and you’re tuned in to any roadblocks to all of your successes.

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What time of day is best for you?

This one may seem like a no-brainer, but it’s been immensely helpful for me. Determine what time of day you perform most optimally. Are you most clear-headed and able to focus in the morning, over your first cup of tea, or in the early afternoon after lunch? For me, early morning hours are my most productive. That’s when I work on writing projects, research and analysis for audits and set aside time to think about the big picture for my clients. As marketers, it can be easy to fall into the trap of an overwhelming email inbox or the next big thing in marketing technology. To stay on track toward achieving your broader marketing goals: prioritize your efforts, know how you spend your time, make the big picture a big priority, talk to your team and find the time that works best for you each day.

Laura Elizabeth Saunders

Laura Elizabeth is a strategic dynamo, especially when it comes to implementing inbound marketing strategies. She also enjoys doing research, writing and media relations works for a variety of B2B clients.

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