Our Picks of 6 Productivity Tools for Marketers
Review your current working style.
Working in multiple locations has promoted a new outlook on the way you work and the processes you follow do assess whether we can be more productive as it is easy to get comfortable with dated and often inefficient process.
Reviewing your working style can help you become better equipped to work faster more efficiently to a better standard. There are many tools you can use to try and improve your working style; the best way to help you change your approach is by bringing in more support and implementing new tools that will help you become more productive.
By adopting some of these productivity tools you will help put yourself in a position to work better and faster. Marketing is a busy function and you are likely to be dealing with a multitude of projects at the same time. Implementing some of these tools into your working process might help you make sure all tasks are completed to high standards.
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1. ASANA
This is a great tool to help you keep track of everything you have on. Asana is always updating its platform to try and make it better for the user to use and understand. Asana runs webinars for different outcomes, sometimes to help you become more familiar with the platform in general. One of the webinars I attended was to show the new features they were implementing and how to use them. I have attended three webinars and each has provided valuable information that I can implement in my own work.
There are three different ways I use Asana. Firstly, you can use the platform to create personal tasks that wouldn’t need to be shared with other people in the organisation because only you need to action them. Secondly, you can use Asana within your organisation to collaborate on tasks. This way you can all add tasks and comments to live projects and everyone will be able to access the information. Working this way means you will all be on the same page with your team. Lastly, you can use Asana to collaborate with people outside of your organisation. Some campaigns you work on will involve multiple people sharing a team, where external users can make sure materials and deadlines are completed by everyone and not just the people in your organisation.
2. TOGGL
Asana and Toggl can be used alongside each other where Asana can help you keep track of the tasks you have, Toggl can help you keep track of the hours you are spending on those tasks. I use Toggl to help get a better understanding of how long I spend on a certain task. It’s easy to get carried away with something or flip between tasks - Toggl will help you stay focused on the task at hand. Browser syndrome is all too common in the new world we operate in, so Toggl is a good tool to try assist in eliminating distractions within other browser tabs.
It’s so easy to become distracted by emails, music, conversations etc. If Toggl has the timer running in your browser it will jog your memory on the task you were dealing with. As you can see below even if you start straying from a task Toggl will still be counting the minutes and you will see the incrementation.
At the end of the week, Toggl will supply a report where you can see how long you have spent on individual tasks. After some time you will be able to start comparing these reports together and begin to see patterns in your working days, weeks and months. Once you begin to see the patterns you will be able to see which days you are more productive and which days you have forgotten to use the system. From this, you will be able to see if using Toggl makes you more productive.
3. EVERNOTE
Evernote is a good tool to help you find information from multiple platforms and keep it all in one place. You can create lists, add images, and/or mark web pages where the platform is completely customisable for your personal experience. We all have moments when things just pop into our heads that don’t have any relation to the task in hand but we want to eliminate the risk of forgetting that information. Using Evernote you can quickly note that information.
This tool can help you increase productivity because you can document quick-fire ideas down in one place. The platform doesn’t need to be neat and organised, it can be a slightly messy place where all your ideas go until they can then be organised into a clear and concise format.
This works across devices which is helpful for when you are out of the office on client meetings because it means you can quickly pick up your phone and find the information you need, or you can use it to take notes of the meeting that you will then write up later and circulate.
When you first get the tool you can choose the purpose it will be serving for you be it work, school, or personal. You can change your mind on this later, what you choose during setup isn’t definitive. You can select all the places you think you will use Evernote, and why you want to use it, complete this section in order of importance (meeting notes, project planning, and to-do lists). I primarily use Evernote for to-do lists (scruffy notes).
4. RESCUETIME
Are you struggling to see where all the time is going or why it is taking you so long to do things? RescueTime is a tool that will help you notice things that you normally would not. This tool can do automated time tracking and distraction blocking. The constant tracking will help you see exactly where all your time is going, you will be provided with daily reports that will help you improve all aspects of the working day.
This is a little different to Toggl as you can use it to turn off social media and news distractions when you need to have complete focus on a task which will, in turn, help you keep focused on all your goals. You can use the calendar to help you keep track of what you are doing at all points of the day. If you are going into a meeting put it into the calendar, having a brake put it into the calendar or even just a phone call put it into the calendar getting into this habit will really help you see where you spend your time.
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5. FREEDOM
As mentioned previously, it’s very easy to get pulled in different directions and onto other tasks which makes us forget what we were previously focused on. Freedom can help prevent these distractions from becoming a downfall in your productivity.
The tool allows you to block certain websites you can set which sites you want to block and the app will do that across all the devices it’s connected to. Keeping yourself focused can be a hard task in itself. Wondering off in different directions onto websites happens, but if you block the sites that usually have a negative effect on your workflow then you will have more time to stay focused on the tasks that matter the most. This is a good tool to help you try and discipline yourself when you normally wouldn’t have the strength to do so.
6. NOIZIO
Noizio is very important and we don’t always notice the negative effect listening to music can have on us. Even silence can be negative, sometimes silence can become deafening and distracting.
Work isn’t the best place to play out to your favourite music. Some people like to use music to help them zone out and stay focused but listening to songs you know isn’t always good either because you will end up more focused on the music than the task in hand.
Noizio is an app I use to help keep my focus. You can choose which sounds you would like to listen to be it rain, campfire, birds there are lots of options and they make it easier to stay focused. Noizio is very relaxing and easy to use. There are adjustment bars that will let you determine how much of each you want to hear, so if you want to hear more of the birds and less of the rain you can set it to that. See the example above for the different adjustment levels and how you can add new sounds to your day which might help you become more productive.
7. BONUS TOOL #1: COUPLER.IO
Coupler.io extracts data from Xero and other applications into Google Sheets. It runs on a schedule, is extremely easy to use, and requires no coding. The product helps entrepreneurs and small businesses, including people working in operations, accounting and finance departments, synchronize data between apps and Google Sheets. You can also make salesforce data export with Coupler.io
It increases reporting capabilities by allowing you to link apps to create custom dashboards and reports in the blink of an eye. Workflow automation and integration with Google Sheets saves a lot of time and creates a consistent data structure for everyone
8. BONUS TOOL #2: PROOFHUB
ProofHub is an all-in-one Project Management and Collaboration Software that brings together everything a team needs to stay in ultimate control of their tasks, project, clients, and communication. It simplifies the way teaks manage their everyday tasks, whether they are working remotely or under the same roof.
WHAT MAKES YOU MORE PRODUCTIVE?
COVID-19 - and working from multiple locations on multiple devices - has led us to work differently, often adopting new processes and using new tools such as those on this productivity list. Please get in touch should you use any other productivity tool that should be included on this list.