No matter if you operate within a corporate or a boutique public relations agency, your clients’ goals and vision should always be top of mind. Staying on top of your mounting tasks is equally as important to upholding their individual goals and visions. Staying organized is key to avoiding stress and ensuring you’re fulfilling each and every one of your clients’ needs. The payoff of a well-organized workflow reflects well on you and your agency’s ability to handle any project thrown your way. Its true- organization isn’t easy. However, here are a few methods to get your agency headed in the right direction.
Project Management Software
One way to ensure you’re staying on top of those mounting tasks is to employ project management software. No need to reinvent the wheel- these are simple tools you can implement into your daily routine and expand throughout your agency.
At BLND, a boutique public relations agency, the tasks for various clients can accumulate relatively quickly. Trello isn’t just for keeping the to-dos for the day in order, it’s also come in handy for a variety of management systems, like social media management. Of course, Trello is just one of many platforms that can benefit the delegation and progress tracking of tasks.
If you’re in the business of content creation for any of your clients, Canva is a platform you can use to inspire layouts and design. Create an account that is easily accessible to other team members working with the same client. This ensures your agency is staying true to the clients’ branding and aesthetic, too.
Social media management is walking hand-in-hand with traditional PR practices. It’s not as simple as endlessly posting to one social channel. Platform management tools, such as Gain, are integral to maintaining a client’s vision across multiple social media platforms.
General Administration
It goes without saying that clutter can make your list of tasks seem even more daunting. Nothing says “I’m unorganized” more than a desk littered with sticky notes. Not to mention a desktop riddled with unanswered email pings, notification pop-ups and the assortment of open tabs on your browser.
Online calendars, such as Google calendars, can eliminate the need for paper planners and calendars. However, if writing things down is your thing, invest in a quality planner and a coordinating note pad. These tools will allow you to get the ideas and plans out of your head onto paper. There, you can clearly see what’s important for the day, week, and month. Plus, maintaining everything in a cohesive aesthetic maybe isn’t such a bad idea after all.
Communication
Staying connected is the bedrock of public relations agencies or any communications-focused agency for that matter. Whether you’re communicating with your clients or just keeping your team looped in on your tasks for the day, finding the right method to communicate will avoid work from piling up.
Slack and other virtual messaging systems are a simple way to stay on the ball without dishing out endless emails.
Weekly client calls and team meetings are great no matter the size of the PR agency. At our boutique public relations agency, we think emailing is fine for discussing minutiae, but voice-to-voice or video calls are integral to upholding strategy and keeping everyone on the same page.
