How to manage your marketing projects more efficiently

Doing more with less is what every marketing manager hopes for but efficiency is easier said than done. Smaller companies might even feel they are too niche to be doing anything at all.

If you are exhausted from handling too many marketing tasks (or the mere thought of it), then it’s time to change things up. Here are four suggestions that will help you become more efficient in managing your marketing:

Stop micromanaging

Managers love managing – there is no doubt about it. In marketing that’s no different. When coordinating multiple campaigns at different stages, it might seem counter-intuitive to take your hands off everything. However, you have to remember that you have hired talented people to do the job.

Micromanaging is a bad habit which, more often than not, will actually slow down progress, screwing your own deadlines in the process. You don’t need to take the lead on every single task. Learning how to delegate work will not only help you stay sane, but gives you the time and space to see the bigger picture – which is actually your task. Remember that you are a marketing manager – not a graphic designer nor a copywriter.

If you trust in your hiring choices, then your teams don’t need micromanaging. They need to be empowered with information and space to manage themselves. This is true for in-house marketing departments as well as agencies that support your efforts.

Get help if you are understaffed

You know what to do, but you simply don’t have the resources to execute it yourself – so don’t even try. Smaller companies often try to manage all their marketing efforts in-house, sometimes relying on one person to ‘do it all’. Other companies operating in niches often disregard marketing altogether.

Hiring a marketing generalist to take care of newsletters, social media, blogs, and events will eventually cost just as much as using external partners. But it won’t get you the same outcome.

Marketing is results-driven, but tracking content and performance across multiple channel and platforms can become tedious. Use the resources of external partners to combine your marketing reporting and tracking in one platform. Don’t get me wrong – you still have to define your marketing goals. But working with agencies to plan, execute, and track marketing campaigns will make your work a lot easier.

Don’t chase every marketing trend

The world of marketing is fast-paced, ever-changing, and vast – touching everything from social media and content to PR and web design. Staying up-to-speed is your job, but not every trend will add value to your business. Just because Snapchat is hot, you don’t have to create daily snaps.

Being an expert in every marketing-related field is near-impossible. Specialised agencies can help you to fill your knowledge and resource gaps. If social media is your weakness, then hire an agency that specialises in it.

You need to understand what works for your brand and what doesn’t. Of course, it’s important to be informed about trends, but you shouldn’t let your goals out of sight. If the majority of your leads come via your website, you should focus on  your blog instead of Snapchat.

Reconnect marketing & sales

Especially in larger companies, it isn’t uncommon to encounter a disconnect between marketing and sales. While both are separate departments and work independently, they actually should work directly together – after all, they are chasing the same goals.

Establish a process that helps to connect these two departments. Create effective communication channels, set up regular meetings, and catch-ups. Being clear about objectives and how to achieve them together will help to connect these departments more closely. In the long run, it will simplify your work.

Bottom Line
  • Make the right hires, so you can delegate tasks and empower others
  • Get help to plan, execute, and track your marketing
  • You are never too niche to do marketing
  • Focus on what is bringing results – not trends
  • Create synergies across departments to achieve your goals

 

Need help with managing your marketing efforts? Get in touch with us at hello@mutant.com.sg

 

Mastering media relations in the digital-only age

The recent news of Today Newspaper and Campaign Asia shutting down their print editions and going fully digital got us all talking about the fate of newsrooms and journalism.

Make no mistake, earned media is still hugely important for brands and that is unlikely to change in the foreseeable future. However, the way people consume media has changed drastically and that has far-reaching implications not just for journalism, but also PR and communication teams.

Here are some tips to help you keep up and evolve:

Know your editors and their beats

This is key to ensuring your news is visible to those who need to see it. Understanding the new media landscape from a journalist’s point of view is paramount if you want to participate as a business owner, marketer or PR professional. And there’s multiple ways to do this! Start by reading every online and print publication that matters. Staying  in sync with topics journalists cover will only benefit your campaign. Industry news and hot trends are a must, but knowing what captures the attention of journalists and editors is the key to a successful pitch.

Use social media to connect

As more information goes out on social media, these platforms have become a valuable story resource for the journalists and editors. Social media is a key ingredient to mastering media relations, so use it effectively:

  • Gather intelligence – Want to pitch a story idea to a reporter? Then use social media to learn what makes them tick. Target specific journalists or bloggers and follow them on Twitter, their professional Facebook pages, Instagram or LinkedIn. It will provide you with insights that can help you with your next pitch.
  • Build relationships – Interacting through Tweets or comments can be a gateway to a conversation. Don’t underestimate the impact of a well-placed and thought-through comment.
  • Promote your thought leadership – The more you share your content and thoughts on social media, the higher your chances to appear on the feeds of journalists or editors.
  • Respond to breaking events – Share information that helps putting a related breaking story into context. You will have a good chance of attracting the attention of journalists. While you’re at it, pay attention to trending hashtags.
Use Google analytics for insights

Welcome to the age of data-driven PR. Using Google analytics, there’s an abundance of data insights at your fingertips, ranging from the source of your traffic to how many pages a visitor viewed. You can track visits from published PR materials and the source of leads. You can find out more about what your target audience looks at and where they come from. These insights into the readership of digital news websites add a strategic element to your campaign.

Suggested read: Up your PR game with data

Don’t limit your press releases

While it’s important to announce product announcements or executive changes, press releases can do much more. Use press releases to promote whitepapers, webinars, blogs and much more. Online content is becoming  more diverse in topic and imagery. It’s rare for a publication to be solely print nowadays, so it’s vital to consider content for the website.

A journalist is more likely to run your story if you can provide a few good quality images, a video and an infographic. Online publications rarely use only text. Announcements that are a little different and use alternative media will capture the attention and make your viewing experience as diverse and interesting as possible.

Need to get up to speed with digital media relations? Get in touch with us at hello@mutant.com.sg