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Top marketers are organized.
The most organized marketers are 397% more likely to report success.
Is this stat true?
YES. But 400%? Maybe not. This data from CoSchedule is self-reported, so it makes sense that organized marketers think they have more marketing success.
As an organized marketer, I can tell you that I think I have more success with clients' marketing mainly because we MEASURE & TRACK IT! And you need to be organized to do that.
Here are a few ways to keep your marketing organized:
✏️ Develop a marketing plan.
Document your top 3 business goals. (Example: Build my email list to 250.)
Write a quick plan on what marketing you're going to do consistently to reach your goals. (Examples: Emails every other week, sign up forms on my site, post on Instagram once a week with a link to sign up)
Create a tracking sheet on how you will measure these marketing efforts towards your goals. (Examples: List size, open rate, click rate)
This is the big stuff. Now you need to break your marketing down into weekly activities on a calendar. (Examples: Write a blog, create blog graphic, develop accompanying social posts)
✏️ I'm a fan of keeping a content calendar. I like Google Sheets as a calendar template.
Loosely plot your blogs, social media posts, and emails on a calendar that is easy to keep handy and easily rearrange.
Oh, you need a Google Sheets calendar template for 2022? Here's one I made for you. (It even has fun productivity tips.) When you open it, go to "file," then "make a copy." Save to whatever Google Drive folder you want, and then you'll be able to edit it.
✏️ Incorporate these marketing activities into your weekly "to do" calendar.
I print my Google calendar off every Friday to plan for the following week. Yes, it's paper. I like paper. Many colleagues and clients use an online project management tool, like Trello. If that's your jam, cool.
Note all the marketing things you are committing to doing for your business that week. Use colors and stickers to make this activity more fun.
Find deep satisfaction in checking things off. Little things do add up to big wins!
Try to stay at least a month ahead in your planning. It's tough, but you can do it.
✏️ Every month, fill in your tracking sheet. But don't just fill it in. Really look to see what's working and what's not and adjust what to do next—more of what's working, new things to test in place of what's not.
THIS IS HOW YOU GET BETTER RESULTS! If you put in these efforts, I promise your marketing will get better and better and better...
BONUS: My favorite tools for organizing?
Pencils. (Duh.) These allow you to erase all the ideas that aren't working and add new ideas to test. Also acceptable: Erasable colored pens. As an extra bonus, these allow you to color-code items.
Gmail & Google Calendar. I made the shift from Outlook to Google years ago and don't regret it at all.
Google Drive—easy to access and great for creating and sharing docs, sheets, and slides!
Timeular time tracking device ⬇️. It's instrumental in seeing where you're spending your time, and this device basically helps you learn that if you think it will take an hour, it will probably take four. (Just me?)
Stickers. You need to add fun to your organization, and stickers are fun.
A social media scheduling tool of your choice. I currently use Facebook's free Business Suite. They all have their pros & cons.
An easy-to-use graphic creator. Most use Canva. I like Adobe Spark. Pro-tip: Create templates so you're not recreating the wheel whenever you need a blog post graphic or an Instagram story.
A word of warning:
If your systems to be organized and productive are taking too much time to manage, abort. It's not working. The systems and tools you use to be organized should benefit you with time.
Over-organizing is real. Don't spend so much time organizing that all you do is organize.
A real concern.
What if you suck at all of this organizing stuff? Or can't get ahead? Or you don't like doing it?
Some people are just not into organizing. So, like any other task that falls into your weakness bucket, you need to outsource it.
If it's marketing, let's chat about partnering.
If it's all the other business stuff? A great virtual assistant can help.
If you haven't already, sign up for my emails for more marketing tips!
Note: I've never used CoSchedule, so I can't advise on the software itself, but I'm a fan of any tool that helps us stay organized.