Question

Topic: Other

Organizing Marketing Information

Posted by Anonymous on 11/9/2005 at 7:11 AM ET 250 Points
As a marketer, I have a ton of digital information stored all over my computer. My file folder hierarchies are organized by Product line, then by such folders as: Advertising, Competition, Customers, Editorials, Evaluations, Graphics, Info Releases, Press Releases, Projects, Reports, Sample User Case Studies, Stats, Strategy, Surveys, Tutorials, User Quotes, Webpage Content, etc....

Sometimes I create info that doesn't fit into these categories, or I receive info via email or RSS and i'd like to store it all together, but i just can't seem to figure out how to do it....

What products / techniques do you use to make managing information easier?

Is a desktop search tool enough, or would you recommend any organizing tools?
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by mgoodman on 11/9/2005 at 11:19 AM Member
    Why are you collecting and saving all this stuff? If it were all on paper (i.e., hardcopy), would you store it in boxes and keep all those dead trees laying around for years?

    Why not just get rid of anything you haven't used in the last year and that doesn't help you do your job better right now?

    That said, if you're committed to electronic pack-rat behavior despite the obvious drawbacks, what I'd do is just store everything in one big folder and use Google Desktop to search for whatever it is you want each time you want it. (Be sure to embed some key words in the titles or sub-titles; that will make it easier to recognize what you want when you're retrieving.)

    This approach will ultimately be much less time-consuming and confusing for you.
  • Posted on 11/9/2005 at 11:32 AM Accepted
    David,
    One approach I use is just to keep references to my information in one excel spreadsheet. I have columns or fields relevant to what I might be looking for - in your case it might be type of information/data, major conclusion, date produced, etc. You can have it all in one workbook with a worksheet for each business or product line, and use the CELL formula to link to the specific document that are on your drive(s).

    Joy
  • Posted by Carl Crawford on 11/10/2005 at 12:26 AM Member
    Why not just export your emails in txt,rtf or html?

    As for RSS feeds, just gto your broswer window, click file -> save page as (this is for firefox), it creates a copy of the webpage with all the pictures and saves it to your harddrive for easy searching.
  • Posted on 11/11/2005 at 2:16 PM Accepted
    Hey David

    why don't you try GOOGLE desktop :) it indexes your HDD and then you can easily search for whatever you heart wants :)

    give it a try and the best part : it is for FREE :)

    Tsvetan Mladenov
    AUBG
  • Posted by Carl Crawford on 11/12/2005 at 8:10 AM Member
    The problem with google desktop search is that it logs EVERYTHING, so if you type in a password for your private top secret data base full of highly valuable info or a bank account number, a hacker could very easily (using one of the many unpatched windows holes) just use the google tool to get the password/numbers. Heck i could do it right now if i wanted to, using a free tool.

    It also makes finding anything easy, but if someone gets access to you computer they can also find it, just as easily as you.
  • Posted on 11/15/2005 at 4:18 PM Member
    Hi David,

    I'm guessing you could copy relevant info from emails and RSS feeds into word docs and reference them in the same way in the Excel workbook.

    -- Joy
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