5 Ways marketers can work smarter, not harder
There are many challenges running an international marketing agency. The first being the tyranny of distance, with travel being instrumental in providing real life face-time in front of staff and clients. The second, the fact that many marketers struggle to be abreast of the latest in marketing techniques and technologies.
We have built a business on education and the training of marketers through on-the-job experiences. When someone has worked for a year at Marketing Eye, they are equipped to do any marketing job. It's something we pride ourselves on and has set us apart from the rest of the pack of small to medium sized business marketers.
When a marketing manager starts at Marketing Eye, they often feel overwhelmed. They need to learn fast and efficiently, and face-time with clients is always within weeks of starting through meetings and online communications, which require them to know everything there is to know about the client and exactly what the clients marketing expectations are.
We have built a business on education and the training of marketers through on-the-job experiences. When someone has worked for a year at Marketing Eye, they are equipped to do any marketing job. It's something we pride ourselves on and has set us apart from the rest of the pack of small to medium sized business marketers.
When a marketing manager starts at Marketing Eye, they often feel overwhelmed. They need to learn fast and efficiently, and face-time with clients is always within weeks of starting through meetings and online communications, which require them to know everything there is to know about the client and exactly what the clients marketing expectations are.
A typical marketing manager has between 10 and 17 clients in which they manage. Often these clients are in different industry sectors, requiring the marketing manager to expand their knowledge and expertise before being able to effectively execute a marketing strategy on a clients behalf.
In agency land, marketers are required to work at an optimum level. Billable hours translates in higher salaries and bigger bonuses. Clients expectations are greater than they are when they employ in-house, so a marketing consultant has the added pressure to be the "best of the best" in everything they do.
Over the years, we have worked out a few tips that are instrumental in ensuring that marketing managers are working to an optimum.
- Use Microsoft Outlook to its fullest capacity: Set rules for client emails to go into client folders. Ensure that all meetings are recorded in your diary. Book your entire week out in advanced and only leave 1 to 2 hours per day free for anything that comes up or takes a little longer than first thought.
- Book client meetings in 60 days in advance at a minimum. If you have regular meetings, place it in their diary and yours for the entire year.
- Don't manually upload social media, unless it is on the fly. Use Hootsuite or an equivalent to upload all social media each week, then forget about it. Only check when you are waiting for a meeting, or going for a walk and want to utilise the time efficiently.
- Check emails only once an hour for 5 minutes and cancel any email popup application. It's distracting and not very efficient.
- Plan your day in 1/2 hour increments. Use the mornings for any task that requires a lot of thought, and the afternoon for tactical application and meetings.
We use technology to power performance. Everything from time management software through to social media, project management, timesheet, CRM, marketing automation, e-marketing, analytics and various other software programs that all work in synergy to achieve efficiencies - are used at Marketing Eye.
We capture the technologies that best suit our people and their ability to adopt the technology as a performance enhancer. Importantly, all technologies must work in synergy, and complement each other providing record keeping and analytics that enhance our ability to make decisions on behalf of clients and ourselves.
Marketing Managers and Marketing Executives require time out, similar to any other creative industry position. They need time to see what others are doing, surf the net, visit art galleries and walk the streets. It's important that as marketing consultants we all give ourselves time to do this, while at the same time ensuring that the company is profitable. A fine line, but an essential one!
One of the perks of working at Marketing Eye in Melbourne, Sydney, Seattle, Dallas, Denver, New York or Atlanta, is the freedom to learn and grow. But this is not possible if the marketing manager or marketing executive is not efficient in the way they manage their work week. It's a catch-22.
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comments ( 7 )
continuing education online
30 Apr 2015I used to be recommended this blog through my cousin. I am not sure whether or not this submit
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Lily Gu
14 Apr 2015Very useful post! To excel marketing duties perfectly. People should improve the personal skills such as communication skill, time management skill and learn quickly to adapt to a new industry. Marketing is so fascinating, that's why I love it.
ReplyAlso it is cool to know marketingeye owns the right tool for the people who are ambitious in marketing field. I am keen to know and learn it.
Lisa Vuong
10 Apr 2015What a great blog post! Whilst it's important to know how to be smart and efficient, it's essential that customer retention is remembered.
ReplyLisa Vuong
10 Apr 2015What a great blog post! Whilst it's important to know how to be smart and efficient, it's essential that customer retention is remembered.
ReplyLiese Molendijk
25 Mar 2015Good piece of writing and definitely worth reading. Especially the part where marketing managers use their time efficiently to focus on the clients and their field expertise. Failing marketers forget most of the time what’s most important: your remaining customers. They are the ones that will bring you new customers and that will create your image in a positive or in a negative way. Customer intimacy is for that reason one of the most important factors in a business. Everyone wants to be heard, feel special and get attention. If you can give that for 100%, your customers will return for sure. I will definitely remember these tips, thank you!
ReplyLiese Molendijk
23 Mar 2015Good piece of writing and definitely worth reading. Especially the part where marketing managers use their time efficiently to focus on the clients and their field expertise. Failing marketers forget most of the time what's most important: your remaining customers. They are the ones bringing you new customers and they will create your image in a positive or in a negative way. Customer intimacy is for that reason one of the most important factors in a business. Everyone wants to be heard, feel special and get attention. If you can give that for 100% to your customers, they will return for sure. I will definitely remember these tips, thank you!
ReplyEllen
21 Mar 2015Great post!
Reply