There are only so many hours in a day, so it is vitally important that you make the most of your time. There are two ways we can increase our output – which are to put in more hours in a day or work smarter. I know when possible, I much prefer the latter.
Being more productive in your marketing efforts is not rocket science, but it does require being more responsible about how you manage your time. This post will give you 15 very simple, but effective strategies that I have developed over the past decade since I embarked on my online marketing career. I hope you find value in these as viable solutions to increase your output as well as your profits.
1. Tracking and putting a limitation on how much time you spend on any given task. – You might think you are good at estimating how much time you spend doing any one method of marketing. There are great tools like Rescue Time that can assist marketers and let them know exactly how much time they spend on daily tasks such as social media, email marketing, blogging, content creation, and video marketing, just to name a few.
2. Taking regular breaks – It might sound counterintuitive, but taking a scheduled break can help improve your concentration. In my years of doing internet marketing, I have found taking short breaks during longer tasks has helped me sustain a more constant level of output, while doing my marketing tasks without taking breaks resulted in a decline in my performance.
3. Setting self-imposed deadlines – Generally stress is not a good thing to experience, a level of self-imposed stress that is manageable I have found can be helpful in terms of helping us focus more and meet our goals in a timely fashion. For a task that is more open-ended, you should try to give yourself a deadline and adhere to it. It is actually quite surprising to discover how focused and productive you can be when you start watching the clock.
4. The “two minute rule” is a good one to follow – Most of us have at least one task a day we can accomplish in two minutes or less. This is the one you should do first and immediately when you first start your day. This generally gets our adrenaline flowing and sets the foundation for a productive rest of the day.
5. Multitasking – I have learned early on that it is important to master this skill for the best in efficiency which is important on a day to day basis. When you get busy if you are involved in multiple streams of income, this skill is one that is most important to lead with.
6. Learn to say no to meetings – As you might come to realize, meetings can be one of the biggest suckers of your time, and sometimes we just continue to book them and even over book. These days with so much going on online, we can manage those long drawn out meetings, through tasks like email, phone, web-based meetings and can accomplish the same goals as in a face-to-face meeting.
7. Hold standing meetings – If you really have to have a meeting, the best kind to engage in are the standing ones. From experience, they create an increase in arousal and improvement in group performance.
8. The two minute commute – this is the biggest advantage to working from home. Most of us make it to our “in-home” office within two minutes and avoid the hour or hour plus high-traffic commute so this alone helps us to be much more productive and accomplish much more on any given day of the week.
9. Give up the allusion of perfection – It is so typical for entrepreneurs to get hung up on attempts to perfect a task and the reality is that nothing is ever perfect Especially when it comes to video marketing. My advice is just be yourself and do not worry about writing scripts for your videos. People tend to relate much better the “real you” and not the “fake you”. Just be yourself. It is better than to waste time trying to be someone you are not, to just bang out your task to the best of your ability and move onward. It’s better to complete what you need to do and move it off your plate, so to be as real as who you really are is the best advice I can offer. This way you can build the know, like and trust so much easier.
10. Take exercise breaks – Add fitness and exercise is one of the biggest benefits to working from home and being your own boss. Making time to exercise no matter what you do, may actually help improve productivity, It is important no matter how busy you are to fit in that walk or trip to the gym. Afterall, getting your blood pumping could be just what you need to clear your head and resume your focus.
11. Take a proactive stance, not a reactive one – If you allow those incoming phone calls and overwhelming number of incoming emails to consume your day, may have an adverse effect on your accomplishments. While they may be important, you should allocate a certain amount of time each day to get this done, but learn how to prioritize which communication takes priority over the other to not only maximize productivity but also profitability. Learning how to phase out tirekickers is essential.
12. Turn off notifications – No one can be expected to resist the allure of an email, voicemail, or text notification. During work hours, turn off your notifications, and instead build in time to check email and messages.
13. Work in 90-minute intervals – Researchers at Florida State University have found elite performers (athletes, chess players, musicians, etc.) who work in intervals of no more than 90 minutes are more productive than those who work 90 minutes-plus. I have also found this to be an ideal timeframe to be most productive to get my daily method of operations complete (my marketing).
14. Give yourself something nice to look at – It may sound unlikely, but it helps to outfit an office with aesthetically pleasing elements—such as pictures, candles, flowers, or anything else that puts a smile on your face.
15. Minimize interruptions (to the best of your ability) – Don’t let unwanted text messages, phone calls, instant notifications junk email and the like distract you from accomplishing what you are in the middle of doing.
In summary, you always want to strive to be working SMARTER, not HARDER.
