Marketing Tools: Coffee Break Episode 23

Speaker A: Keeping track of to dos, staying on top of project statuses, prioritizing tasks. There's a lot to juggle in the world of marketing. To help us manage our workloads, the New Boston Creative Group team uses a variety of tools and techniques. Today we're sharing those strategies and discussing how we discover new ones. But first, this episode is brought to you by Old Atlanta Boring individual. Not new, not Boston, not creative, and definitely not a group. Welcome to an almost productive coffee break. The same bold flavor of our original podcast brew in a single shot. Perfect for those times when you need a quick marketing pick me up.

Speaker B: I'm Sean.

Speaker C: I'm Julie.

Speaker A: And I'm Addie. And we're all marketing professionals at New Boston Creative Group in Manhattan, Kansas. Hi, everyone.

Speaker B: Sup?

Speaker A: Uh, as a, as a fairly type A work personality, I'm excited to dive into today's topic, which is tools and techniques and great resources to help us stay organized and on top of everything. So, Sean, um, let's start with you. What are some tools you use on a daily or weekly basis and how do they help you?

Speaker B: Oh, man, I love a good tool. This is one of the more fun. Yeah, it's fun. I'll say it's fun. Other people might find that tedious, but man, I really do like checking out different little tools and websites and services and apps to help do a thing. I think it's fun. So I use a bunch. Uh, and so your question was just

Speaker A: on day to day, Day to day or weekly basis?

Speaker B: Day to day or weekly? Okay, so I use two different to do apps and then there's a separate one just for the web team that we use. And then I guess technically there's a sort of a fourth one that we use as a company. So those are all different.

Speaker A: Can you tell us the names of them?

Speaker B: Yeah. Okay, so I use the built in Apple to do system for to dos. I have a separate app called Things for other to do's that I've deemed should go there instead of the to do, uh, to do app.

Speaker C: Um, what's the. What's the distinction?

Speaker B: I think it has to do with urgency on the to do so and then also the generality. So the app will do things like, oh, remind me weekly to take out the trash or I need to remember to pick up my prescription this afternoon. Where the Things app is, where I'll break down, say a project list into stages and deliverables and then maybe have a breakdown of like, oh, yeah, we're going to paint the house and then here's the list of all of those items. And so like I'll really flesh out a thing in the Things app versus the to do app, which is like check the box, move on and then this is great. Okay, go ahead. Sorry.

Speaker A: No, no, no. I was just gonna say that's great because you use it both personally and professionally, which I love. I think that's great.

Speaker B: Yeah. Ah, they both have crossover, um, where some things will go on either one depending and then separately. Uh, yeah, we use Trello as a web team, which is a to do project app that specifically does the uh, Kanban style cards. And so we use that to track project status and deliverable status as a team. So that gets shared amongst the three of us so we can track what items we have and where they're at at any one time. And then I sort of mentioned the company wide one, which is podio, where we use to track projects and some to dos and clients and other info as a whole as well.

Speaker A: Wonderful.

Speaker B: And then I also do use the notes app on my phone for random notes and tasks at times that's more free form. Um, and uh, usually those are more on a personal level. I'm keeping those and those also get shared with my wife. Things like shopping lists, things like that happen there. And finally I do have a notepad, physical pen and paper at my desk that things get written down. It's almost like a tiered system. So if it makes it to the pen and paper, that's one like deal with those first and then work your way up the chain of to do apps.

Speaker A: I love this. So you're. Would you say they help you keep pretty organized or are things kind of scattered throughout all of these lists?

Speaker B: They, they definitely make me feel better about me keeping track of where things are in any of the cases that like, I felt like I've dealt with these projects and know where they're at and what needs to be done. Even though they are sort of spread in different ways, each of them have their own little goals and reasons for being. That makes sense in my little brain. And so it does work. So yeah, I definitely feel better when I have collected everything and written out everything in the apps.

Speaker A: Amazing. That's what matters is that it works for you. So that's great. Julie, how about you? What are you using on a daily or weekly basis?

Speaker C: I've got a lot of overlap with Sean, so pen and paper also big for me. Um, but I'll often use that as brainstorming, so I'll make a mega list and then I'll organize it. I also use reminders on my phone. I like that you can mark them complete. I love them for recurring tasks. Are y' all good about changing your toothbrushes? Well, I am because I do it every recommended three months because it comes up there and I go, all right, it's time. So I really like it for things like that that aren't part of the regular routine. But it gives me that reminder. Like, has it been a while since I've changed the water filter on my coffee machine? Not to fear. I've got a reminder for that. Also a shared calendar that really is helpful to see. So we have one at work, but I also have one that I keep with my husband, and within that it's color coded. So we have, we each have a personal color and then we each have a work color and then we have a family color. So that's super helpful. And I know, Addie, this will overlap, but we use airtable for editorial calendar planning that has nice color coding and that has, you can essentially take, you can customize it for, get all the fields that you're after. The main view looks like a spreadsheet. But then you can say, okay, take that information, apply a filter and show it to me in a calendar form or show it to me in a card form. And that's super helpful when we're planning multiple clients whose, like, their social media posts are in different stages of approval, if it's draft, if it's been reviewed, if it's been scheduled. So I find that super helpful in terms of work. Those are some big ones for me.

Speaker B: Yeah. And I want to, uh, reiterate the calendar as well. I do the same with the office calendar. We have personal calendar, we have shared calendars, color coded, uh, up the wazoo,

Speaker C: I would say. Like Sean, I love a productivity tool, but I also, every time I've had, like, I used to have the, the little paper planners when they came out, and I was like, this is going to be the greatest thing ever. It's going to let me organize my life. And I find that that's not the case. My bits of information are stored in different places. I think similar to how your brain stores information. I also have notes too, but that's for running lists. So if I think of an idea, oh, this would be a great Christmas gift for my brother. I'll put it in my note app so that come holiday shopping time, I'm like, what did I jot down for people this year? I would love it if There were one unifying thing that made my entire life better and more simple and organized so that my brain could be calm. But really I think my brain is that thing. And you can't outsource that.

Speaker A: Sadly, you cannot. You and uh, you both hit all of mine as well. Airtable at work is one of the biggest ones. Podio is a company the shared calendar and then for individual to dos. I'm definitely an analog girly. I write down all of my to dos and then cross them off. And then at the end of every workday I write the next day's to do lists and then I review them in the morning. And that just kind of is a nice flow that helps me get out of work and, and then into work the next day. And then Julie said the only other one I had for personal life, which is for gift giving. I have a note in my phone that's just labeled by person and then there are some bullets under that like oh, this would be great for my sister, this would be great for my husband and you know, so forth. So that's funny that we have that

Speaker B: overlap that's three for three. I also have a note four gifts labeled every person bolted list of ideas that shared with my wife so we can both add to it. M and then I do have a separate private gift list for just me and things that I think of for my spouse so that they can't see it.

Speaker A: I love that we're all such thoughtful people. Kudos to us I think because what we've learned today. So in addition to all of these tools, there are also workflow or timing techniques. So for instance, there's the Pomodoro uh, technique which is where you work for 35 minutes, then take a five minute break and after four cycles you then take a longer 15 minute break and then there's time blocking. So doing certain tasks at specific days or times and then task batching, which is just what it sounds like. Grouping similar tasks together before then moving to a different type of work. Do either of you use any of those techniques? Why or why not?

Speaker B: I don't have. I don't have a structure like that exactly. There are pieces of that that do make sense in that I usually at the beginning of the day will, will take care of small tasks that I can get done quickly as like first things to get into the day. And so that's a little bit like batching. So what are the tiny things that I can just like check off and get those off of the, the list. And then I can get into something that's a little bit heavier and longer. And I will say that like, I think. Would you say, like, was it 35 and 5 as far?

Speaker A: Yes. Yeah.

Speaker B: That's probably roughly what my attention span is anyway. And when I'm focusing hard is you get a good 30 minutes and then it's like, okay, I need to like, step back for a second and then do it again.

Speaker A: Nice. Julie, what about you?

Speaker C: I would love to say that I use some of those because I know that they've been research backed as being helpful. But so much changes day to day and it's really hard to say, okay, well, let me, you know, let me take the first two hours and focus on the big brain, the heavy lift, the heavy cognitive lift tasks. But I can't always do that. You know, our meetings change day to day. Uh, typically Fridays are quieter, so if there are projects that I need a little, you know, they're going to take a little bit longer. Then sometimes I'd try to save those for a Friday. Uh, but usually day to day is so different based on workload, based on meeting schedule. It's hard to do stuff like that.

Speaker A: Agree. That's why I don't really use any of those either. Um, I do, when possible, try to. It's called eating the frog. So you do your most dreaded task or your hardest task or something you've been dreading at the beginning of the day. And when possible, I try to do that because then it just makes me feel like, oh, uh, so light. I've done so much already today. I don't have this weighing over me. So when that's possible, I do try to do those tasks first.

Speaker C: Yeah. And sometimes I like the quick wins that Sean was describing. The. Yeah, no, let me just check a bunch of stuff off so that I get that victory. And I think both are, both have value.

Speaker B: I couldn't do the. My most hated task or the one I'm dreading first because then I wouldn't be able to put it off later because, uh, if I put it off through the end of the day, think about the day's over, I'll do it tomorrow. So the more I procrastinate on it, the better chance I can keep pushing it away. So whatever the opposite of that is.

Speaker A: Procrastinating.

Speaker B: Yeah, you're not, um, alone.

Speaker A: I think a lot of people do that too.

Speaker B: Instead of eating the frog, you're just, yeah, you're just eating the, I don't know, piece of pizza, whatever yummy thing

Speaker A: you're just doing that, which sounds a lot better, so maybe you're onto something. Oh, well, thank you both for the intel. And before we go, I do have a joke, so brace yourselves. Um, what is a Pirate's Favorite marketing content?

Speaker C: Organic search.

Speaker B: Oh, that was a good guess.

Speaker A: You're on the right track. A webinar, preferably one that's B to C. Ha ha ha ha ha. C spelled S E A, not C. That one works better when it's written. Thank you for listening to this episode of Almost Productive. If you'd like to learn more about what we do at New Boston Creative Group, you can reach us at newbostoncreative. Com. You can also follow us on social media ewbostoncreative on Instagram and New Boston Creative Group on Facebook and LinkedIn. If you liked this episode, please like, follow, subscribe, leave a review, and share the podcast with your friends. And if you didn't like the show, feel free to recommend us to your enemies. Tune in next time for more office shenanigans, thoughts on trending topics, and marketing adjacent insights. Until next time, we hope you have a productive day.