You’re in marketing for one reason: Grow. Grow your company, reputation, customers, impact, profits. Grow yourself. This is a community that will help. It will stretch your mind, connect you to fascinating people, and provide some fun along the way. I am so glad you’re here. -Mark Schaefer
By Mark Schaefer
I’ve never met a marketing professional who said “I just have too much time!”
So I wondered … if you HAD more time to work on marketing, what would you do with it? What are the priority activities that seem to be falling off the table?
I posed this question to some of my marketing friends and had some very interesting responses.
The most popular answer was “getting away from social media and talking to people in person.” Coming in second was spending more time on blogging, and number three was diving into analytics.
Here are some highlights of what my digital marketing friends would do with a little more time in their lives:
Amazon just unveiled a suite of Machine Learning products at their AWS Re:INVENT conference. Of particular note was “Amazon Transcribe.” It claims it can accurately transcribe an 18-minute video for 43 cents. It’s time to start experimenting with audio and video files on that platform — and test for accuracy.
Number 1: Get cracking with Facebook Live! I have been wanting to do more video since 2016, but have putting it off for lack of time and resources. It’s my New Year resolution for 2018. Again.
I would utilize the additional time for two things 1. Influencer relationship building and 2. Livestream sessions with them on awesome topics.
Measurement! What’s working and what’s not working? This is often overlooked and sometimes organizations just jump to the wrong metrics to begin with.
Engagement! You can never do too much engagement. No matter how much good content you create and how many platforms you post on, if you don’t engage, it’s all worthless!
Quora is fantastic. I would spend an extra hour of the day on it, writing, networking, engaging.
I would try to escape from technology … Hunting for personal conversations and taking care of others. My favorite group: disabled people. It‘s amazing what you could learn, especially as a communication/marketing/technology analyst! At the end you could realize that disabled people are closer to human needs and social responsibility than we are as so-called “normal professionals.”
I’d have to say human interaction and relationship building through content and conversations equally. Getting to know people, their stories, and WHY they are passionate and inspired to work towards their professional goals inspires me. Investing more in learning about someone’s why can translate into your HOW.
Deep dives into data. It takes time to pull out meaningful insights, and too many marketers are either uncomfortable or incompetent with analytics.
I’d set my sights on YouTube and create brand promotion content for the generation born after 1995.
I’d spend it outside talking to more humans who aren’t presenting their lives as perfect behind a screen. All the psychology and data needed to be an effective marketer is out there, not in Facebook Insights.
Mine would definitely start with blogging and engagement. I’m so time-crunched these days I deliberately avoid creating social posts that ask questions or start discussions. I know I won’t have time to give responders the kind of time they deserve.
I would spend my term learning more about measurement and analytics. So important to my field.
Research is what I would add to the list. If you come up with a well-researched blog post, the end user gets the advantage and when the end user gets that advantage, the stickiness increases.
Personally, I would spend more time researching audiences — read what they read, hang out where they hang out, learn to see through their eyes, become a better listener. We all know it’s important, but as content creators we often skimp on it because we feel that we should be focusing on producing and promoting content. The latter is a more tangible activity — but it will never have the desired impact if we neglect the former.
More research into our psychology online and how design/content influences our behavior.
I have about 250 blog posts and spend too little time re-purposing that content. Mid-funnel content like case studies would be a close challenger to re-purposing. But for some reason it’s just more fun creating new content than maintaining old stuff.
And me? It would be time spent on consuming content instead of creating it. During the winter and summer “down times” I am a voracious reader but struggle keeping up during most of the year.
What’s on your “more time” wishlist?
Mark Schaefer is the chief blogger for this site, executive director of Schaefer Marketing Solutions, and the author of several best-selling digital marketing books. He is an acclaimed keynote speaker, college educator, and business consultant. The Marketing Companion podcast is among the top business podcasts in the world. Contact Mark to have him speak to your company event or conference soon.
