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20 ways to make your marketing team more productive

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20 ways to make your marketing team more productive

Productive teams means happier clients. Happy clients means income which keeps your team employed and also happy.

While this seems pretty obvious, it obviously isn’t easy to accomplish. One reason: Many marketing leaders were trained in archaic productivity techniques, such as meeting madness can kill enthusiasm and creativity and/or non-stop daily nagging via Slack. (That’s if they were trained at all.)

I’ve also seen lots of my clients implode due to a lack of focus on productivity measures – not only with their own marketing departments but with their entire staff. This is a major downfall for agencies  – because of their lack of productive habits, they failed internally and lost a client. 

Old habits die hard, especially when productivity comes into play. Managers learn managing from their own experience of being managed. That makes it easy to pick up bad habits and to not know there are, in fact, best practices when it comes to increasing productivity.

So whether you’re leading a team of writers, SEOs, or social media influencers, these 21 productivity hacks will help your agency succeed.

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And the more you repeat good habits, the stronger you can build on these, making you and your staff outrageously productive. 

1. Know the role

In two decades of working with hundreds of agencies and companies, one of the most common problems I’ve come across is not understanding roles.  

Undefined roles and responsibilities cause things to fall through the cracks because no one knows who is responsible for them. On the flip side, well-defined roles rein in managers’ natural impulse to give the most work to their most productive staff. Doing this creates bitter resentments in your best people.

That’s why it’s essential to define your work processes and clearly delegate roles and responsibilities. This needs to include even minute details like who takes notes at meetings, who schedules them and all other types of grunt work.  

2. Leverage your team’s strengths 

In order to assign these now well-defined roles, you have to understand what each person is good at. This can mean looking at skills and not just job titles. Say there’s someone in SEO who is really good at communicating, consider making them responsible for client relations. 

It’s very, very rare for an organization to have all the skills it needs. Outsource your weaknesses. Hiring freelancers or white labeling services is a great way to fill labor gaps without overwhelming your team or hiring new individuals. 

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Your job as a leader is to put these individuals in the best position possible to succeed.

Capitalize on your team’s strengths. Delegate the rest. 

3. Incentivize productivity

Even if responsibilities are assigned fairly, some employees may feel like they are taking on more than their share. Therefore, to prevent any sort of hostility and to incentivize greater production, it makes sense to tie compensation to productivity. 

There is no better work incentive than basing pay on performance. If that’s not possible (and even if it is) give workers the freedom and flexibility to work on their schedule (including remotely). If you don’t trust your employees to do their jobs if you can’t see them, then you’re the problem – not them.

4. Is this meeting necessary?

Meetings take up big chunks of time and interrupt people’s momentum. That said, there are some meetings that have to happen. That’s the key here: Make sure you only have meetings that are absolutely necessary. Also, make sure that only people who have to be there go to them.

Cut out wasteful meetings, but make the most of the meetings you do need. If you need to tell everyone something ask yourself if it can be done via email or Slack instead.

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Here are some guidelines to make your meetings as productive as possible:

  • Set a strict time limit (I keep meetings under 20 minutes as much as possible).
  • Create a plan beforehand to keep the discussion on point.
  • Share the agenda to prepare questions and remarks ahead of time.
  • Explain important topics as thoroughly as possible to avoid doing the same later.
  • Ask a colleague you trust for feedback on how well you run meetings: You may find out you’re doing a great job of it or that there’s something you’ve overlooked or both. 

5. Structure your day strategically 

Do you tend to be more productive in the morning, even without a cup of coffee? That’s the case for most people, who have energy levels which naturally spike after waking due to circadian rhythms and cortisol levels. However, there are plenty of people – especially those with attention deficit disorder (ADD) – whose most productive time is in the afternoon. There’s no right or wrong to this, it’s just how your body operates.

I’m a morning person, so I try to schedule tasks which need the most focus, like writing and strategy planning, for then. Be aware of your body rhythms and schedule around that. Perform essential tasks when you’re most alert and mindless tasks for when you’re crashing a little bit. This can significantly improve productivity without the need for a couple of espressos to stay focused.

6. Block hours and prioritize tasks daily

To follow up on this, it’s important to plan your day ahead of time. In fact, I like to take time on the weekend or early Monday to block off time for tasks throughout the week to keep my schedule on track. 

By using a project management software or Google Sheets, you can track progress throughout the week, spend extra time working on tasks when you’re falling behind on, and even gain a little hustle trying to beat the clock on tasks where you are falling behind. 

For example, blocking off time for something like looking at emails is a great way to reduce distractions and condense tasks into a small, manageable chunk of time without being overwhelmed.

I check my email only three times a day on my “creative” days, which are Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and about seven times or so Tuesday and Thursday when I plan the bulk of my meetings and more administrative work.

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7. Daily breaks

Of course, don’t forget to block off downtime throughout your day and week for breaks. While breaks seem unproductive they are anything but. Taking 15 minutes here or there will actually make you more productive throughout the day overall. 

Not only do breaks make you more productive, they make you more alert and a better decision-maker.

For example, a famous study of Israeli judges found that judges who took two breaks in the day prior to granting detainees parole were more likely to grant parole. On the other hand, judges who had not taken breaks typically chose the safest or most simplistic answer of just denying detainees parole altogether. 

In addition, this study from Stanford showed that writers and other creatives who were stuck with writer’s block benefited tremendously from taking walks to clear the mind. 

I also cease all work duties at 6 p.m. every Wednesday, and spend alone time either in the woods hiking, riding motorcycles, or in my office reading with a glass or two of wine.

I shut off completely, and reset myself for the rest of the week’s duties. This means no computers or checking work emails or social media from my phone. I also do the same thing for all Sunday, which is mostly spent with family to recharge. 

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Be sure your team members are also taking breaks and doing what they need to stay sharp.

8. Prioritize well-being 

The more mental clarity your team has daily, the sharper the focus and productivity.

While you don’t need an entire yoga studio or massage center like those found at Google headquarters, some tips to improve mental clarity and reduce stress throughout the day include:

  • Giving people adequate breaks (including lunch).
  • Giving staff flexible work hours or remote options.
  • Providing stand up desks to boost productivity.
  • Blocking off time for meditation.
  • Providing healthy snacks.
  • Creating a calm environment.
  • Acknowledge the outside events – pandemics, etc. – that have an impact on us all; pretending they don’t is bad for your mental health.

9. Reduce distractions

Creating a calm environment involves reducing distractions. Whether you have an open office layout, cubicles, or are remote, there are a few ways to reduce distractions throughout the day, which will help your team focus:

  • Keeping any music at a reasonable volume.
  • Blocking off time for breaks.
  • Providing areas for recreation and relaxation separate from work.
  • Training staff to avoid online distractions, such as looking at emails, Slack messages, or social media.

10. ZERO multitasking

Humans can’t actually multitask. We think we can, but we can’t. Computers multitask because they can allocate parts of their processing capability to different tasks. Humans can’t do that. We can only focus on one thing at a time. What we usually mean by multitasking is focusing on one thing for a moment, then on another and another, etc.

Focusing on one thing at a time is actually one of the hardest things for a human to do. Try five minutes of meditation – sitting still and doing nothing – and you’ll understand this.  Also, a ScienceDirect study found that college students who multitasked during homework and class assignments took longer to complete their homework and had a worse GPA.  

Train staff and yourself to focus on single tasks, even if it means blocking off points of the day for communication, like email and Slack. 

11. Create project management sheets

One way to help your staff’s productivity is giving them the proper tools and training they need. For example, project management software and calendar apps have led the way as a resource for individuals to plan out tasks in advance, set due dates and block off time to complete tasks. 

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If you’re looking to save money, I also like to set up simple project management spreadsheets with tasks, checkboxes once a task is complete, due dates, and employee signatures to track and assign tasks. These tools also provide a transparent view of staff members’ productivity and help you identify distractions or tasks they struggle to complete. 

Other tools to consider: Semrush for general keyword research, backlink audits, and topic research. In addition, my team also uses Grammarly to cut down on editing times and provide clients with a polished finished product. 

12. Explain projects thoroughly

Furthermore, there is no better way to set your staff up for success than by explaining tasks thoroughly to avoid confusion. Many employees struggle to ask questions at work when they are confused about a task. To prevent confusion and anxiety, give detailed explanations – verbally and written – and hands-on teaching to help staff master tasks quickly. 

13. Trust factor

Transitioning a little bit from individual productivity hacks, the culture you create at your company will be a massive determinant of success and productivity. This article from Harvard Business Review outlines the importance of building a high-trust culture and how it boosts productivity:

“Employees in high-trust organizations are more productive, have more energy at work, collaborate better with their colleagues, and stay with their employers longer than people working at low-trust companies. They also suffer less chronic stress and are happier with their lives, and these factors fuel stronger performance.”

If employees are motivated to come to work and feel happy at their job, they are more likely to work harder and contribute as much as they can to improve their workplace. Contrast this to toxic work environments where individuals are most likely to slack, gossip and complain, often not fearing if they will get fired or let go. 

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14. Diversify

As many studies have shown, a diverse group of people with different backgrounds and opinions contributes to knowledge sharing, boosting productivity and the efficacy of projects. And, since most employees demand diversity in the workplace, this improves your overall culture and the well-being of your employees. Again, happier employees are more productive ones. 

15. Gratitude for all

I’m a big proponent of positive reinforcement and its efficacy in forming positive habits. While discipline is effective at curbing bad habits, rewarding productive members with gratitude is a great way to reinforce positive habits, improving productivity. 

16. Constructive feedback

Discipline for the sake of discipline is rarely effective. Rather, if you want to curb unproductive habits at work, you need to provide constructive feedback with solutions for employees to improve their habits. For example, if I come back to you and say this article is poorly written without any feedback, how are you supposed to address my specific criticisms or improve?

Make feedback constructive and a learning process. 

17. Authenticity

As previously stated, high-trust cultures tend to be more productive. Well, one way to build trust is to be authentic, open and honest with employees. Building trust with your employees and establishing a positive company culture starts with your actions. Admit your mistakes, give credit to others. Being genuine and transparent with employees cultivates trust, builds their confidence and boosts their productivity.

18. Establish vision

A major part of building trust is transparency and being on the same page as employees. Establishing a shared vision for company growth and branding is a great way to build trust across your organization and also make employees feel like they are a part of your agency, not that they just work for it. Actualizing your company’s vision will require tons of hard work, which is where proper time management and productivity hacks come into play. 

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19. Set realistic goals

To bring your vision to life and improve the productivity of your employees, you need to set goals.

Goal setting can increase employees’ productivity by 11 to 25 times. Most importantly, big goal setting has a huge impact. That’s because when employees feel they are working for something, they are more committed to seeing it through. Even in an immediate sense, goal setting makes you one step closer to your goal just by setting expectations and tracking progress. 

2O. Challenge employees with stretch goals

Stretch goals are high-risk, high-reward goals that require a lot of effort and creative problem-solving. While wellness and proper guidance are all nice ways to boost employee productivity and happiness, sometimes it takes adversity to see what employees are made of.

So challenge leading team members with ambitious tasks to push them out of their comfort zones. Not only will employees learn more through this, but they may even come close to reaching these goals, thus improving your agency’s efficiency.

Build a culture and train employees on good habits that lead to better business outcomes

Reinforcing these habits through continued education and guidance forms long-lasting habits that will help make your agency operate the leanest possible. And lean means higher profit margins, which equates to a sustainable business. 


Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily MarTech. Staff authors are listed here.

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About The Author

Ron Lieback is the founder/CEO of ContentMender, an SEO-driven content marketing agency based in Northeastern Pennsylvania, and the author of “365 to Vision: Modern Writer’s Guide (How to Produce More Quality Writing in Less Time).” While working in digital marketing for the past decade, Lieback has ghostwritten nearly 500 articles for C-level executives across various industries. He also contributes content to leading motorcycle magazines, including Cycle World.

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How To Combine PR and Content Marketing Superpowers To Achieve Business Goals

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A figure pulls open a dress shirt to reveal the term PR on a Superman-like costume, reflecting the superpower resulting from combining content and PR.

A transformative shift is happening, and it’s not AI.

The aisle between public relations and content marketing is rapidly narrowing. If you’re smart about the convergence, you can forever enhance your brand’s storytelling.

The goals and roles of content marketing and PR overlap more and more. The job descriptions look awfully similar. Shrinking budgets and a shrewd eye for efficiency mean you and your PR pals could face the chopping block if you don’t streamline operations and deliver on the company’s goals (because marketing communications is always first to be axed, right?).

Yikes. Let’s take a big, deep breath. This is not a threat. It’s an opportunity.

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Reach across the aisle to PR and streamline content creation, improve distribution strategies, and get back to the heart of what you both are meant to do: Build strong relationships and tell impactful stories.

So, before you panic-post that open-to-work banner on LinkedIn, consider these tips from content marketing, PR, and journalism pros who’ve figured out how to thrive in an increasingly narrowing content ecosystem.

1. See journalists as your audience

Savvy pros know the ability to tell an impactful story — and support it with publish-ready collateral — grounds successful media relationships. And as a content marketer, your skills in storytelling and connecting with audiences, including journalists, naturally support your PR pals’ media outreach.

Strategic storytelling creates content focused on what the audience needs and wants. Sharing content on your blog or social media builds relationships with journalists who source those channels for story ideas, event updates, and subject matter experts.

“Embedding PR strategies in your content marketing pieces informs your audience and can easily be picked up by media,” says Alex Sanchez, chief experience officer at BeWell, New Mexico’s Health Insurance Marketplace. “We have seen reporters do this many times, pulling stories from our blogs and putting them in the nightly news — most of the time without even reaching out to us.”

Acacia James, weekend producer/morning associate producer at WTOP radio in Washington, D.C., says blogs and social media posts are helpful to her work. “If I see a story idea, and I see that they’re willing to share information, it’s easier to contact them — and we can also backlink their content. It’s huge for us to be able to use every avenue.” 

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Kirby Winn, manager of PR at ImpactLife, says reporters and assignment editors are key consumers of their content. “And I don’t mean a news release that just hit their inbox. They’re going to our blog and consuming our stories, just like any other audience member,” he says. “Our organization has put more focus into content marketing in the past few years — it supports a media pitch so well and highlights the stories we have to tell.”

Storytelling attracts earned media that might not pick up the generic news topic. “It’s one thing to pitch a general story about how we help consumers sign up for low-cost health insurance,” Alex says. “Now, imagine a single mom who just got a plan after years of thinking it was too expensive. She had a terrible car accident, and the $60,000 ER bill that would have ruined her financially was covered. Now that’s a story journalists will want to cover, and that will be relatable to their audience and ours.” 

2. Learn the media outlet’s audience

Seventy-three percent of reporters say one-fourth or less of the stories pitched are relevant to their audiences, according to Cision’s 2023 State of the Media Report (registration required).

PR pros are known for building relationships with journalists, while content marketers thrive in building communities around content. Merge these best practices to build desirable content that works for your target audience and the media’s audiences simultaneously.

WTOP’s Acacia James says sources who show they’re ready to share helpful, relevant content often win pitches for coverage. “In radio, we do a lot of research on who is listening to us, and we’re focused on a prototype called ‘Mike and Jen’ — normal, everyday people in Generation X … So when we get press releases and pitches, we ask, ‘How interested will Mike and Jen be in this story?’” 

3. Deliver the full content package (and make journalists’ jobs easier)

Cranking out content to their media outlet’s standards has never been tougher for journalists. Newsrooms are significantly understaffed, and anything you can do to make their lives easier will be appreciated and potentially rewarded with coverage. Content marketers are built to think about all the elements to tell the story through multiple mediums and channels.

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“Today’s content marketing pretty much provides a package to the media outlet,” says So Young Pak, director of media relations at MedStar Washington Hospital Center. “PR is doing a lot of storytelling work in advance of media publication. We (and content marketing) work together to provide the elements to go with each story — photos, subject matter experts, patients, videos, and data points, if needed.”   

At WTOP, the successful content package includes audio. “As a radio station, we are focused on high-quality sound,” Acacia James says. “Savvy sources know to record and send us voice memos, and then we pull cuts from the audio … You will naturally want to do someone a favor if they did you one — like providing helpful soundbites, audio, and newsworthy stories.”  

While production value matters to some media, you shouldn’t stress about it. “In the past decade, how we work with reporters has changed. Back in the day, if they couldn’t be there in person, they weren’t going to interview your expert,” says Jason Carlton, an accredited PR professional and manager of marketing and communications at Intermountain Health. “During COVID, we had to switch to virtual interviewing. Now, many journalists are OK with running a Teams or Zoom interview they’ve done with an expert on the news.”

BeWell’s Alex Sanchez agrees. “I’ve heard old school PR folks cringe at the idea of putting up a Zoom video instead of getting traditional video interviews. It doesn’t really matter to consumers. Focus on the story, on the timeliness, and the relevance. Consumers want authenticity, not super stylized, stiff content.”

4. Unite great minds to maximize efficiency

Everyone needs to set aside the debate about which team — PR or content marketing — gets credit for the resulting media coverage.

At MedStar Washington Hospital Center, So Young and colleagues adopt a collaborative mindset on multichannel stories. “We can get the interview and gather information for all the different pieces — blog, audio, video, press release, internal newsletter, or magazine. That way, we’re not trying to figure things out individually, and the subject matter experts only have to have that conversation once,” she says.

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Regular, cross-team meetings are essential to understand the best channels for reaching key audiences, including the media. A story that began life as a press release might reap SEO and earned media gold if it’s strategized as a blog, video, and media pitch.

“At Intermountain Health, we have individual teams for media relations, marketing, social media, and hospital communications. That setup works well because it allows us to bring in the people who are the given experts in those areas,” says Intermountain’s Jason Carlton. “Together, we decide if a story is best for the blog, a media pitch, or a mix of channels — that way, we avoid duplicating work and the risk of diluting the story’s impact.”

5. Measure what matters

Cutting through the noise to earn media mentions requires keen attention to metrics. Since content marketing and PR metrics overlap, synthesizing the data in your team meetings can save time while streamlining your storytelling efforts.

“For content marketers, using analytical tools such as GA4 can help measure the effectiveness of their content campaigns and landing pages to determine meaningful KPIs such as organic traffic, keyword rankings, lead generation, and conversion rates,” says John Martino, director of digital marketing for Visiting Angels. “PR teams can use media coverage and social interactions to assess user engagement and brand awareness. A unified and omnichannel approach can help both teams demonstrate their value in enhancing brand visibility, engagement, and overall business success.”

To track your shared goals, launch a shared dashboard that helps tell the combined “story of your stories” to internal and executive teams. Among the metrics to monitor:

  • Page views: Obviously, this queen of metrics continues to be important across PR and content marketing. Take your analysis to the next level by evaluating which niche audiences are contributing to these views to further hone your storytelling targets, including media outlets.
  • Earned media mentions: Through a media tracker service or good old Google Alerts, you can tally the echo of your content marketing and PR. Look at your site’s referral traffic report to identify media outlets that send traffic to your blog or other web pages.
  • Organic search queries: Dive into your analytics platform to surface organic search queries that lead to visitors. Build from those questions to develop stories that further resonate with your audience and your targeted media.
  • On-page actions: When visitors show up on your content, what are they doing? What do they click? Where do they go next? Building next-step pathways is your bread and butter in content marketing — and PR can use them as a natural pipeline for media to pick up more stories, angles, and quotes.

But perhaps the biggest metric to track is team satisfaction. Who on the collaborative team had the most fun writing blogs, producing videos, or calling the news stations? Lean into the natural skills and passions of your team members to distribute work properly, maximize the team output, and improve relationships with the media, your audience, and internal teams.

“It’s really trying to understand the problem to solve — the needle to move — and determining a plan that will help them achieve their goal,” Jason says. “If you don’t have those measurable objectives, you’re not going to know whether you made a difference.”

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Don’t fear the merger

Whether you deliberately work together or not, content marketing and public relations are tied together. ImpactLife’s Kirby Winn explains, “As soon as we begin to talk about (ourselves) to a reporter who doesn’t know us, they are certainly going to check out our stories.”

But consciously uniting PR and content marketing will ease the challenges you both face. Working together allows you to save time, eliminate duplicate work, and gain free time to tell more stories and drive them into impactful media placements.

Register to attend Content Marketing World in San Diego. Use the code BLOG100 to save $100. Can’t attend in person this year? Check out the Digital Pass for access to on-demand session recordings from the live event through the end of the year.

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Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute

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Trends in Content Localization – Moz

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Trends in Content Localization - Moz

Multinational fast food chains are one of the best-known examples of recognizing that product menus may sometimes have to change significantly to serve distinct audiences. The above video is just a short run-through of the same business selling smokehouse burgers, kofta, paneer, and rice bowls in an effort to appeal to people in a variety of places. I can’t personally judge the validity of these representations, but what I can see is that, in such cases, you don’t merely localize your content but the products on which your content is founded.

Sometimes, even the branding of businesses is different around the world; what we call Burger King in America is Hungry Jack’s in Australia, Lays potato chips here are Sabritas in Mexico, and DiGiorno frozen pizza is familiar in the US, but Canada knows it as Delissio.

Tales of product tailoring failures often become famous, likely because some of them may seem humorous from a distance, but cultural sensitivity should always be taken seriously. If a brand you are marketing is on its way to becoming a large global seller, the best insurance against reputation damage and revenue loss as a result of cultural insensitivity is to employ regional and cultural experts whose first-hand and lived experiences can steward the organization in acting with awareness and respect.

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How AI Is Redefining Startup GTM Strategy

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How AI Is Redefining Startup GTM Strategy

AI and startups? It just makes sense.

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