Count 'Em: 3 Resolutions for Digital Marketers

It's happening again: your gym is packed with faces you don't recognize, the kale at your local grocery store is gone by 10AM, and there is a line around the corner at the local overpriced juice shop. It's resolution season!

This year, my personal resolutions are less about lofty goals for self-improvement, and instead focus more on finding happiness in my daily routine. First, of course, I must establish a daily routine, so cheers to baby steps.

In my work life, however, I set some pretty clear-cut resolutions during the last week of December. All of the hustle and bustle around the holidays had me thinking about how I could make that time period less stressful for myself, team members, and our clients. Then, I thought about all of the stressful times we encounter throughout the entire year, not just the holidays - conference season, product releases, campaign launches, oh my! That is what brought me to my baseline professional resolution for the New Year: take ownership when you can, and recognize when you can't.

With that, here's my 2016 checklist for digital marketers looking to reduce the overall stress of the job this year and take control:

First Doesn't Mean Final

I still have days where I write what seems to be the best tongue-in-cheek tweet, wittiest blog, or most precise email, only to read it a day later and trash the entire thing. No matter how seasoned a professional you are, your first draft is likely not your best. Ask around, get a second opinion, and break out the red pen - there's nothing wrong with a rewrite.

Hey, Control Freak: You Can't Control Everything

Picture this: you're one day out from a brand awareness ad campaign launch. Your retargeting pixels are in place, the creative is approved, the copy is so fresh and so clean, clean. You're ready to kick off the campaign tomorrow, but...what's this? The Twitter pixel isn't firing on the page where the developer dropped it? Your retargeted audience pool is too small? The creative that already went through brand approvals not once, but twice, is now being recalled?

Especially in the ever-changing digital space, we cannot control everything. BUT....

Instead, Control What You Can

Plan ahead knowing that when it comes down to it, your campaign may not go off without a hitch. However, you don't want that hitch to be something that your team could have prevented. Get your tracking codes in place, secure all budgets, open the IO, draft the copy - do everything in your power to ensure that when there is an unplanned hiccup, all of your controllable ducks are in a row and you're prepared to handle whatever is thrown your way at the last minute. (That's right, I say 'when', because what would digital life be without a wrench in the plan? That's what makes us ninjas!)

Strap on those running shoes, break out the red pens, and get the checklist ready for work week one of the New Year. What are your 2016 resolutions?

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