Commentary

Making Working In Work Out: Crisis Tips For Email Marketers

Two-thirds of the U.S. workforce is now working remotely, at least part of the time, according to research released on Thursday by Clutch. That’s creating problems for people in specialized fields like email marketing, starting with reduced budgets.   

For example, NewsCred surveyed executives in over 100 companies, most of which have offices in North America and EMEA and APAC regions, and found that marketers are cutting their investments in the following areas:

  • Events (conferences) — 88%
  • Direct mail/outreach — 34%
  • Digital advertising — 27% 
  • Content (premium) — 19% 

On the other hand, brands are increasing their spending in these areas: 

  • Events (virtual) — 78% 
  • Web content — 72%
  • Webinars — 67%
  • Social media — 66% 
  • Content (blog) — 57%
  • Video production — 50%

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The study doesn’t specify where email fits into all this. But since email is the primary way of promoting webinars and disseminating content, you have to learn how to manage it from home.

Brooke Emley, a software implementation consultant for Wideen, writes on CMS Wire that emailers and other marketers need these capabilities: 

  • Project management 
  • Instant messaging 
  • Marketing automation
  • Digital asset management 
  • Analytics 
  • Social media management 
  • Cloud document editing 

In general, according to the research released on Thursday by NewsCred, marketing teams working remotely face these challenges: 

  • Shifting & communicating team priorities & objectives—49%
  • Uptick in required meetings (i.e. planning or team checkpoints)—33%
  • Increase of mundane tasks & status updates (e.g. emails, reporting)—28%
  • Difficulty maximizing distributed teams/resources—27%
  • Additional burden to report on team efforts, production or results—27% 
  • Inability to effectively collaborate in real-time—22%

Does your marketing group face any of these issues?

All those things aside, the biggest concern, on anyone’s mind, is job security. Will your job — or even your company — exist a month from now?

Ryan Phelan, co-founder of Origin Email, advises you to “reconnect and keep active your network of professional contacts. Make sure you’re talking to your peers around you.  Ask how they are and stay in touch. If you do (God forbid) lose your job, you’re going to need these peers to help you out just like you would help one of them.”

Phelan says “you have to be prepared. Do your best and give 100%. Focus and have a plan if it does indeed happen.” (For more advice on this subject, check out a video titled Email Geeks Working at Home -- Phelan is featured in).

Let’s say you are still employed and lumbering along at home. What about the personal side?

Phelan advises you to “avoid housework. Laundry, cleaning, that kind of thing. It’s very distracting being at home if you’re not used to it and what can help is setting up rules. If you would not do it at work, don’t do it at home. It leads to distractions and you lose focus.”  

Also, at the end of the day, “disconnect,” Phelan adds. “I have a practice of closing the office door to mentally transition to my time. Balance right now is so important and you have to mentally connect to work and disconnect from work.” 

We’d add one more thing.   

New research from Citrix shows that 25% of those working at home wear pajamas or sweatpants.

Don’t do it. Dress for work—in business casual at the least. For men, that means a button-down shirt or sports shirt--no polos--and maybe even a sports jacket. (Author Robert Caro wears a jacket and tie to work alone in his office). And, guys, shave. Who knows when you’re going to be live on Zoom or Skype?

And make sure you take a break to walk the dog. 

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