PR Agencies

A Guest Post By David Klein, Director of Marketing at ClickTime

What if you could magically pause time? Think of everything you could do! Work would be easy. You’d have ample time to spend with friends and family. Your to-do list would be a joke.

Okay. Back to reality. Time is arguably our most precious resource. And for agencies, time is not merely a concept — it’s our currency! With that said, here’s a handful of tips on how to better manage your time and, perhaps, trick your clients into thinking you have magical powers.

Create Your Ideal Work Environment

Do you work best in a coffee shop, in an office, or perhaps indoors surrounded by the sound of gentle rain? Apps like Noisli give you control over where you are, even if you haven’t left your desk. Once you’ve got your environment under control, all you’ve got to do is to figure out how to stay focused in your now-ideal workspace. Again, here’s where technology can help. Chrome Extensions like Block Site allow you to temporarily suspend access to websites that might distract you from the task at hand.

Make It Easy to Book a Meeting with You

How much time do you spend going back and forth just to schedule a meeting? This time could be better spent pitching new business, servicing clients, or mentoring an employee. Using apps like Assistant.to (yes, that’s what it’s actually called) or You Can Book.Me make it easy for your clients and partners to see when you are available. It’s brilliantly simple — with this technology, your open meeting times appear at the bottom of your emails, which clients can click on and immediately schedule time on your calendar.

Automate Email Follow Up

Did that reporter get back to you? Is it time to reach back out to a potential new client? It’s 2016 — we live in the future! And that future is one where you should never have to manually follow up with anyone. Whether you’re looking to send simple email follow-ups (I recommend Boomerang) or multi-touch campaigns (it’s tough to beat Yesware), there are dozens of apps that can save you time and reduce stress and confusion from your workday.

Embrace Single Sign-On

Are you signing in and out of multiple applications on your phone or computer? With single sign-on (SSO), you don’t have to! Applications like Google and Salesforce will allow you to use one username and password to power many of the technology platforms you use, whether it’s media reporting, invoicing, or project management.

Spend Less Time Completing Timesheets

How much do you hate filling out your timesheets? A lot? A whole lot? Is this perhaps a sensitive subject? Completing timesheets is not an enjoyable process, but there are steps you can take to main it as painless — and fast — as possible. You’ll want to find timesheets that are integrated with your calendar (to automatically track meeting time), pre-populate common or repeat tasks, and allow you to quickly copy entries from previous days or weeks.

Stop Over Servicing

Time management isn’t just about making more time available, it’s about organizing your business so that employees can focus on billable hours. This leads us to one of the major challenges PR professionals face: over servicing. When you over service, you are performing free work on behalf of your clients and limiting your capacity to take on additional (paying) clients. It’s critical that you reduce over servicing, keep a close eye on employee utilization, and ensure that your projects are profitable.

David Klein is a San Francisco-based marketing executive who focuses on technologies that empower people and businesses. He is currently the Director of Marketing for ClickTime.