In this first chapter, we look at how to get off to the right start; how to set sensible objectives; how to think through what your communication can do; and how it might realistically do this. Most of us understand the value of planning and preparation. A sports match without a game plan means fumbling on the field. A big event without all the details in place leads to chaos. Find the productivity method that works best for you by taking our Productivity Methods Quiz to better understand your unique style of working. Choose your planning tool

All very ambitious. But nowhere in the rest of the brief was there anything about how to achieve these heady objectives. No radical new positioning. No new audience or usage occasion identified. No new channel thinking. And no increase in budget. In short, a total disconnect existed between objectives and plans – or more accurately, between marketing fantasy and reality. A paper planner can take any number of forms including notebooks, agendas, or specialized planners. A digital and paper hybrid

Recommendations

This criticism might be fun once a month in a magazine article, but one after another (66 times) in a book gets quite tiresome. Especially, as they tend to blame the tool or channel as useless, rather than the way people use that tool or channel. (there’s plenty of examples of the things they trash, done well for anyone who’s worked in marketing). When marketing efficiency is the focus, targeting and segmentation come to the fore. And that’s the second problem. Like many marketers, our clients focused on a tightly defined market segment. When shown how customers were defecting to the smaller brands, they argued that these weren’t competitors. Some were too cheap. Others too premium. They defined their market segment so narrowly, there was only one other brand in it: their big rival. The third problem is short-termism. When brands narrow their focus and cut brand investment, the result is long, slow decline over years. Our clients were so focused on month-to-month sales fluctuations versus their big rival that they never noticed the long-term, decline. Most days you won’t finish everything on your list. However, get to “To-do List Zero” anyways. Amir Salihefendić, the Founder and CEO of Doist, shares his personal productivity method, Systemist, including “To-do List Zero”, a concept inspired by Inbox Zero: This article was co-authored by Jennifer Clark. Jennifer Clark is an Evolution Coach and the Founder of Soulful Solutions, her life consulting business which helps both individuals and organizations evolve and grow into their full potential based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. She has over 20 years of experience assisting over 8000 individuals with life consulting, workshop facilitation, and public speaking training. She received a Risk Management Certification from the Sprott School of Business in 2000, an Integrated Energy Therapy Master and Instruction Certificate in 2004, and an Assertiveness Coach Certificate in 2015. She earned a BA with Honors in Political Science from Queen's University in 1992.

The Pomodoro Technique is best for people who enjoy working in short focused sprints with frequent breaks. This method was developed in the late 1980s by Francesco Cirillo, then a struggling student, who committed to just 10 minutes of focused study using a tomato (pomodoro in Italian) shaped kitchen timer. This method includes the following steps: Really wanted to like this more than I did. If you’re in the target audience, you’ll probably love it.

Latest Comments

app_quote_featured]“The first step...is deciding what you want to make time for. Every day, you’ll choose a single activity to prioritize and protect in your calendar.”[/app_quote_featured] If you’re struggling to create realistic daily to-do lists that reflect all of your goals, you may have too many. Overextending yourself isn’t only tiring, it also means you’re unlikely to make meaningful progress in all these areas. Complete a commitment inventory to hone in on a smaller number of goals that are most important to you. As a general rule, avoid having more than 5 big goals at once, and consider a mix of short-term and long-term goals. Step two: Look at your week as a whole The central thing about planning, is that there is no one answer or way of doing things. You have to be an entrepreneurial, as well as a long term thinker. And you have to apply your imagination, understanding and analysis in different measures according to the problem at hand. So in the sink or swim world of planners, strategists and their clients, now more than ever, there is a need for a practical handbook to guide us through all the main parts of the process. For example, the explanation of how Kahnemann’s System 1 and System 2 thinking applies to advertising is as clear as you can get. Similarly, the push on advertising planners to consider the wider marketing mix beyond promotion, and in general to be critical thinkers and have a broad viewpoint, all very good.

As an industry, we celebrate and share the good stuff. Meanwhile, the ‘less said about that the better’ stuff is swept out of sight… for obvious reasons. But through writing these articles, we came to realise that we perhaps learn more from the myths, misunderstandings and screw-ups than from the successes. And so our articles started to become useful little summaries to answer questions from planners. And planners, in turn, found them good jumping-off points for client discussions on similar real-life issues. Use a task manager like Todoist to mark the Highlight for your day as high priority and move it to the top of your list. You’ve made planning your day a habit, translated your long-term goals into actionable tasks, chosen a productivity method, and selected your tool of choice. You’re set for more productive days that build to more meaningful weeks, months, and years. oThink people, not just numbers. Who do you need to influence? What do you want them to do, exactly? Instead of what?The Databank also reminds us that reach and ‘Share of Voice’ (SOV) are crucial. No matter how well thought through your objectives, or how good your creative work, a campaign can’t deliver unless it reaches enough people. It’s also unlikely to succeed if it doesn’t outshout the competition. These are basic hygiene factors, but too often ignored by the wishful thinkers of marketing. How Not to Diet goes beyond food and identifies 21 weight-loss accelerators. Dr. Greger uncovers the latest discoveries in cutting-edge areas like chronobiology to reveal ways to maximize our natural fat-burning capabilities. He builds the ultimate weight-loss strategy from the ground up, taking a timeless, proactive approach that can stand up to any new trend. It’s amazing how often clients happily commit huge sums of money with no clear objectives. Even when objectives are specified, they’re often incredibly vague. One company recently spent millions of pounds without defining their objectives any more clearly than to ‘sell a shedload of X’. Learn more about aligning your day with your long-term priorities in our guide to creating a Commitment Inventory. This method forces you to take a realistic look at your responsibilities, continuously trim your list of priorities, and assign time to your tasks that matter most.