Community Discussion: Are You Practicing Awareness Of Your Own Marketing Questions?

[MiriamEllis]

Good Afternoon Moz Friends!

This week, one of my favorite bloggers in the Local SEO industry wrote a post to celebrate his 5 year blogging anniversary. Phil Rozek has brought an incredible level of knowledge to the industry and one of the things I've most admired about his writing is the consistency with which he tackles common, important problems everyone involved is facing. The tip from Phil's anniversary post that I'd like to discuss with you all this this one, about practicing awareness of the obstacles you encounter in your daily work, for the purpose of investigation and possible public sharing of the solutions you discover:

"Jot down every idea you have, every question you ask yourself that stumps you, and every question someone asks you that stumps you. Those are yourraw materials.  You probably won’t write on all of them, but you’ll want the ability to cherry-pick."

As a Moz staffer and a marketer, I can testify to the fact that my brain exists in a whirl of possibilities, questions and a never-ending search for relevant solutions. Never a day goes by in which I don't say to myself, at least once,"I wonder why that's like that? Why doesn't this work? How do I do that? What is that? Why don't I get that?" or something similar about a new product, new technology, Google issue, customer issue, industry issue or what have you.

What I've learned is that if I have a question about something that I can't instantly resolve, chances are, I'm not the only one who has that question. If you're a blogger, a copywriter, an email marketer, a social marketer, if you can solve a common problem, you have just discovered something to share.

_But,_if you're not practicing mindfulness, little questions that arise in the course of an 8 hour day can come and go. They can simply get lost. This is why I value Phil's common sense suggestion of jotting each mental query down as it arises. A spreadsheet seems like a great idea for this task. Just think of how many talking/sharing points you could accumulate in a month  ... and how that could translate into blog posts, newsletters, tweets, etc.

Now, I'd like to ask if you've come up with a method for capturing your own thought process when questions arise so that you don't lose track of what might be some of your best queries and ideas. If you have tips to share, the community could really benefit! Thanks!

[MiriamEllis]

Nice! Thanks for confirming, Andy.

[Andy.Drinkwater]

Hi Miriam,

It's the one that was on the phone. Does everything I need

-Andy

[MiriamEllis]

Hey Andy!

Another very cool suggestion. Is the voice recorder something that came out-of-the-box with your phone, or is it an app you installed? I like your method very much!

[Andy.Drinkwater]

My phone is constantly attached to me, more so than the ability to write anything down, so on the home-screen, I have my voice recorder. I say what I need to and then rename it. Takes me 2 seconds and means I forgot nothing - even when I am offline or have limited internet access.

The files stay there until they are no longer required.

-Andy

[MiriamEllis]

Hey Bas!

This is definitely the kind of thing I'm hoping our community will contribute to the discussion. Sounds like Todoist is really working well for you, and I like you point about how you can jot this stuff down quickly enough that it's not then distracting you from the work at hand, knowing you can return to it later. Cool!

Thanks so much for taking the time to share your strategy.

[BasKierkels]

Hi Miriam,

Since i always have my phone around, that has proven to be a perfect tool. I use the Todoist-app, Google Drive/Docs-app and the camera. These have proven to be invaluable (i believe that is how you say that in English..) to me!

When a new idea or a solution comes to mind, i rarely have a computer at hand. Or i might be working on a completely different thing or project.

Now I just have to open the app that seems to be the easiest and voila: i've captured the idea.

In the next couple of days i will always run into the image i took, the note in Todoist or the mention in Drive. At that point i usually have the time to write it down in my agenda to plan some time to really start working on the idea.

In the mean time i find myself finetuning the idea. And thinking how useful this idea actually is. It might seem like a great idea at 1.30 in the morning. But does it still after a couple of days? Doesn't have to be!

So: capturing the idea apparently makes my mind realise it can relax and doesn't have to hold on to this idea. And the other ideas that came up in the past. I think that is what people call 'mindfulness'.

Instead of draining myself, these apps help me stay focussed at the task that i'm being paid for now. While not losing potentially great ideas and allowing me to pick them up at a later moment in time.

For instance: today i have several categories in Todoist and Drive. Ranging from business goals, possible blog posts to possible birthday presents. I might not need some of these for quite some time. But when I do, I know I have captured the most ideas that came to mind. And they are there for when I'm ready. I like that thought.

Hope you can use some of this for your discussion!

Bas

[JordanLowry]

I think it also depends on your learning style too but its just easier to keep a small notepad with me while im at work or in meetings. Whenever I get an idea its easy to jot ideas down or sketch stuff out without opening documents.

[MiriamEllis]

Nice, Jordan. And funny how good old pen-and-paper can still sometimes be easier than opening .docs, typing things, etc. I like your common sense approach.

[JordanLowry]

I find it useful to keep a small notebook with me at all times that I can easily keep in my back pocket. It makes it easier to write down any questions or ideas that come to mind and then later transfer it to ms one note or an evernote account to review it later.