Question

Topic: Other

Organizing Marketing To Do Lists And Ideas

Posted by Anonymous on 11/13/2008 at 12:57 AM ET 125 Points
I'm trying to streamline the many lists, notes, meeting to-dos and other information that's part of my job as Marketing Manager. I have about 15 running Microsoft Word documents with dates, projects and scribbled thoughts --- and I don't always remember what information is where!

I'm curious how other marketers organize their work. Maybe we can brainstorm a few ideas....

Thanks!

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RESPONSES

  • Posted on 11/13/2008 at 4:39 AM Accepted
    You can use project management softwares, but an easier solution lies in Outlook, Excel and a structured folder organization.
  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 11/13/2008 at 8:25 AM Accepted
    How about Google Docs: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Docs_&_Spreadsheets and https://docs.google.com/
  • Posted on 11/13/2008 at 11:37 AM Accepted
    For years, I've used an Excel spreadsheet for each client or product group. On it is the project, the marketing tactics/strategies, dated backwards from date of event or product launch in order to help set the launch schedule; responsible parties for each component, budgets/cost projections; status; and timelines.

    This helps to at-a-glance see the entire project, those involved and dates for each piece of the project. For special events, I add everything from catering to printing of invitations. Everyone on the team gets an electronic copy of the spreadsheet so they can keep track of their assignments and we update it weekly.

    Hope this helps!
    Renee
  • Posted on 11/13/2008 at 2:22 PM Author
    Rennee or dpasini.worldwide,

    Do you customize excel spreadsheets for each project, or do you use a template?

    thanks again!

  • Posted on 11/21/2008 at 1:25 AM Member
    The idea is to do both.. one sheet is a general listing (with as many details as you like). It's function is keeping you on track and giving you the basic information you need. The way to use it functionally, is to assign a 'next date' to each entry. In this way every morning when you open it, you just need to sort it by that date and it shows you the tasks of the day. If the tasks are time sensitive, you can use 'Task' from Outlook.

    Likewise, for some projects you might have a complex and busy timeline. Then again, a gantt chart or another separate excel sheet can help you keeping track.

    Regarding to organizing files, an organized folder structure and proper file naming help a great deal. For example, you can name your folder as follows:

    01 Business
    02 Personal
    03 Miscellaneous
    04 Media

    ..and inside business..

    01 Clients & Prospects
    02 Suppliers
    03 Affiliate programmes
    04 ....... and so on

    The advantage is that, besides knowing where you put what, when you open a folder you alreadi know the position of the next folder you have to open because the numbers in front of the folders name create a fixed sorting method.

    Also you can naame files by preceding the descriptive title with the following date format:

    yyyy,mmdd_-_File_name.xxx

    eg. 2008,1121_-_Clients_and_prospects_list.xls

    The advantages of doing this are that the documentsare always sorted by date and not alphabetically, plus its easier to remember when you created something rather than using v1, v2, v3, etc etc.. It also makes it easier for communications when you refer to the file.

    It is also good if you use the same date format in emails
    ie. yyyy,mmdd - Subjet line



    At first it might appear time consuming, but you'll soon realize that it saves you a LOT of time in the future when you start building up files in your folders.



    Hope this helps further.

    Davide Pasini
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