Mindfulness for Digital Marketers

Digital marketers are busy people! There are always deadlines to meet, tasks to complete, meetings to attend, and… well, just stuff to do! 

In a sector where trends shift in the blink of an eye and algorithms seem to change on a whim, you’d be forgiven for feeling that you’re being pulled in all directions by the demands of the job. No wonder many digital marketers suffer from burnout. 

What if you could just find a moment to take a moment? Pause, breathe, reflect, and recharge? But where on earth (or in your schedule) are you supposed to find the time to do that? 

Luckily, there’s a powerful tool that you can use to slow down and catch your breath, whilst also boosting your productivity, creativity, and overall well being on the job. And that is mindfulness.

In this blog, we’ll explore how digital marketers can incorporate mindfulness into their daily routine. It is based on conversations we’ve had over the years with marketers and others on our digital marketing podcast and webinars.

What is mindfulness?

Mindfulness isn’t just about meditation rooms or yoga retreats. It’s a powerful practice that can revolutionize the way you work and navigate the digital marketing landscape. And the great thing is that you can practice it anywhere. 

Mindfulness, at its core, is the art of being present – fully engaged with the current moment, without judgment or attachment. It can be summed up best in the famous phrase “be here now”. Experience the present moment… and then let it pass.

In a recent episode of the DMI podcast, Andrew Simon of SAP Canada summed up mindfulness as “simply being aware”. And you can then bring this awareness and sense of calm with you into the workplace.

“I realized that the mindfulness piece is that component that I was missing. That ability to quiet the mind a little bit and focus my attention on what I want to pay attention to.” Andrew Simon

7 benefits of mindfulness for digital marketers

It’s not difficult to start incorporating mindfulness into your professional life to help you manage stress, become more productive, and achieve better work-life balance. 

Not convinced? Let’s explore how this age-old practice could benefit you, as a digital marketer, in your daily life.

Here are seven key benefits:

1. Enhance your focus
2. Reduce your stress
3. Spark your creativity
4. Make better decisions
5. Increase your productivity
6. Heighten your adaptability
7. Improve your professional relationships 

1. Enhance your focus

Digital marketers love data. However, the data can flood in on huge waves. And as new, real-time data comes in, you might have to alter the entire course of a campaign in mid-stream. In this fast-paced, evolving environment, maintaining focus can be a struggle. Your mind feels like a monkey frantically jumping from branch to branch. 

Mindfulness can hone your ability to concentrate on the task at hand. This helps you stay on top of your game without succumbing to distractions. You keep that monkey on one branch at a time!

2. Reduce your stress

Digital marketing can be a stressful space, especially when deadlines loom, budgets dwindle, and targets drift away just out of reach. 

Mindfulness techniques can equip you with the tools to manage stress effectively, according to the American Psychological Association. This then helps you to cultivate a healthier approach to handling work pressures.

Our podcast on mental wellness has some great tips on dealing with daily stress. 

3. Spark your creativity

Creativity is the lifeblood of successful marketing campaigns. However, it’s hard to get into the creative flow when you find yourself drowning in a torrent of competing demands.

Mindfulness nurtures a creative mindset, by making people feel calmer and more willing to innovate and experiment. This allows content marketers, for example, to explore innovative strategies, think outside the box, and craft compelling content that truly resonates with their target audience. By calming the mind, you make it more likely that the muse will visit you. 

Rand Fishkin also points out the importance of taking time out to care for yourself, on the DMI podcast:

“I have to get a lot of sleep. I try to get regular daily walks. Get my 10,000 steps and all those kinds of things. And that all feeds into it. I have to be healthy in order to be happy. And I have to be happy and healthy to be creative and productive” Rand Fishkin

4. Make better decisions

Amidst the flood of data, analytics, and so-called expert opinions, you might feel overwhelmed by the number of critical decisions you have to make. And it’s hard to make the right decision when your mind is jumping from one drama to another.

Mindfulness facilitates clearer and more rational decision-making by enabling you to assess situations with a calm and focused mind. ScienceDaily points out that by clearing the mind of distractions, mindfulness enables people to see the relevant facts clearly and without emotional judgment. You find a quiet space (or headspace) to look at the problem objectively and craft the best solution.

5. Increase your productivity

Many of us feel like we’re running on a hamster wheel, expending energy without making meaningful progress.

Mindfulness practices can help you gain the space and focus you need to streamline your workflow. Rand Fishkin noted on the DMI podcast that “when you are well rested and happy and relaxed and you've had all these things going for you, you're productive”. 

Forbes found that even short daily mindfulness ‘time outs’ can dramatically improve productivity. Mindfulness can also help you prioritize tasks effectively, and boost your overall productivity by creating a sense of purpose and direction. Mindfulness apps are a great way to help you calm your mind while also boosting your productivity. 

6. Heighten your adaptability

With the digital landscape constantly evolving, adaptability is key. 

Mindfulness fosters resilience, flexibility, and adaptability. Key Step Media found that mindfulness enables people to cope better with challenging environments. It allows you to embrace changes more readily and navigate through uncertainties with a composed and flexible mindset.

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7. Improve your professional relationships

Building strong relationships is fundamental in digital marketing. Mindfulness helps cultivate empathy and effective communication, enabling you to foster better connections with clients, colleagues, and your target audience.

Emotional intelligence is at the center of effective relationship building. As Andrew Simon points out, “You need to be able to leverage all of that emotional range, to do what you need to do.” 

Check out our podcast on emotional intelligence in the workplace.

7 mindfulness techniques for digital marketers

How can you actually incorporate it into your daily digital marketing tasks?

Here are seven effective techniques that can help you to seamlessly integrate mindfulness into your daily work life.

1. Build mindfulness into your daily rituals
2. Schedule breaks for mindful breathing
3. Focus on one task at a time
4. Incorporate mindfulness into content creation
5. Give thanks for the small wins
6. Communicate with attention and focus
7. Have a digital detox

1. Build mindfulness into your daily rituals

Do you ever notice how a bad encounter in the morning can ruin your entire day? Maybe someone cut across your lane during the frantic commute to work or a colleague didn’t respond to your cheerful greeting. 

However, by starting your day right, you can create the mindset to enable you to better deal with these morning aggravations.

“I try to take a couple of minutes before starting the day. Anything that you do with intention, with awareness, with consciousness, that's how you bring mindfulness into your day.” Andrew Simon

Here are some tips to create a routine:

• Kickstart your day with a brief meditation session, setting the tone for a focused and composed mindset before diving into your tasks. 
• Take a moment to mindfully enjoy and savor your coffee or breakfast. Put the phone away and nourish yourself. Don’t forget that breakfast is regarded as the most important meal of the day. Allow yourself time to enjoy it. 

Journal your thoughts or organize your priorities for the day. 

It’s also important to bring a mindful attitude to the end of the day. Give yourself time to unwind. Take time away from your digital devices before going to bed. And don’t forget to prioritize your sleep. A restful night is essential to give your body and mind time to recharge.

Talking on our podcast about emotional wellbeing, Catherine Mooney notes that our phones “are like an extension of our body now”, which makes us constantly available. She emphasizes the importance of removing digital devices from the bedroom so we can properly switch off.

2. Schedule breaks for mindful breathing

Take a breath to catch your breath. When we feel stressed, we are more inclined to panic or lash out. Our bodies pump out the ‘fight or flight’ chemicals and we get ready to do battle or flee in retreat.

If you incorporate short mindful breathing exercises during your work breaks they will help to rejuvenate your mind and maintain a sense of balance throughout the day. 

So, whenever you feel that impending deadline, take a breath to calm your mind and regain perspective. 

3. Focus on one task at a time

For a long time, multitasking was seen as the silver bullet for improving your productivity. 

It’s now generally agreed that multitasking isn’t as productive as we might have thought. When people multitask, their attention is inevitably split across multiple tasks. As a result, they can’t focus on one task, and all tasks suffer. 

Be aware of when you’re drifting into multitasking, and instead, practice focusing on one task at a time. Give that one task your undivided attention and energy for increased efficiency and quality of work. 

4. Incorporate mindfulness into content creation

Marketing often involves creative thinking as you try to conjure up the next innovation or craft a campaign that’s going to turn your business around. Content marketing, in particular, requires you to be alert to inspiration and to cultivate the receptive frame of mind that allows ideas to flow. 

By taking a mindful approach to content creation, you can help yourself to tap into your creative reservoirs freely, and infuse your work with authenticity and resonance. 

5. Give thanks for the small wins

Just as most days are not all good, most days are not all bad either. There’s usually something positive to take away from every experience, even if you do have to think about it.

 Take a moment at the end of each day to reflect on the positive aspects of your work and express gratitude for the opportunities and challenges that contributed to your growth. Perhaps the work was difficult, but it contributed something valuable to the team, organization, or customer. 

Rand Fishkin notes that even in the midst of problems, we can find gratitude by keeping an eye on the bigger picture. Focus on the larger purpose rather than the messy bits and pieces of daily work life.

“I am happy to do work that I don't enjoy if I believe that it has a positive outcome.” Rand Fishkin

Remember, you can’t control everything that happens to you, but you can control how you react to it. By being tuned in to the good things that you take for granted every day, you can cultivate a mindset that enables you to deal resiliently with all the bad things that inevitably try to derail your day. 

6. Communicate with attention and focus

Today, we are able to communicate in more ways than ever before. Email, text messages, app notifications, and the endless pinging from the phone. But how often do we really communicate? Much of our communication is fast paced and ephemeral, especially in the work environment. Small talk quickly evaporates. 

Not every conversation has to be a deep and meaningful exchange of ideas. However, it is worth investing some time in mindful communication during the day. Practice active listening and empathetic communication in your interactions with clients, team members, and stakeholders. This will help you to build stronger, more meaningful relationships.

Also, take time to  mindfully prepare yourself before going to a meeting. As Andrew Simon points out, you can “take a minute to arrive into a meeting before starting the meeting”. 

Emotional intelligence is another important facet of mindful communication. Andrew Simon notes the importance of “learning how other people are feeling, feeling what they're feeling, and getting in touch with what's going on with them”. The more you learn, the more mindfully you can communicate with colleagues, your boss, or your customers. 

Don’t forget to pay attention to how you communicate with yourself. This is why Catherine Mooney advises that “You talk to yourself with kindness more than you listen to yourself with harshness.” This type of self-care can bring many benefits.

“Because the more we treat ourselves with kindness, the more we flourish, the more we grow, the more energy we have. ” Catherine Mooney

7. Have a digital detox

As a digital marketer, you’re likely to be connected to your devices throughout the day. How often have you noticed people scrolling through their screen while they meet friends in cafes or lunch at their desk?

We live in a connected world, but do take the time to regularly disconnect from digital devices and immerse yourself in activities that foster mindfulness. These might include nature walks, hobbies, or simply unplugging for a while to rejuvenate your mental wellbeing.

Zack O’Rourke is a strong advocate for digital detoxes. On his podcast on mental wellness for social media pros, he stresses the need to have boundaries between when you’re online (working) and offline (not working). All it takes is one angry message from a client to ruin an otherwise blissful weekend away from the desk. Although social media never stops, you have to have times in the day and week when you can get away from your phone. 

By incorporating these mindfulness practices into your daily routine, you can unlock a range of benefits that will not only elevate your digital marketing performance but also enhance your overall well-being and satisfaction in both your professional and personal life.

Be prepared to approach this challenge with resilience and adaptability, understanding that your practice may evolve and fluctuate over time. It’s best to aim to integrate mindfulness into your daily routine in manageable and practical ways. 

So, what are you waiting for? Take a deep breath, clear your mind, and let mindfulness pave the way for a more fulfilling and successful digital marketing journey. 

Creating a mindful environment for your digital marketing team

Incorporating mindfulness into your professional life can be more effective and sustainable when supported by a nurturing environment. Try to cultivate a supportive ecosystem within your workplace, where mindfulness is encouraged and integrated into the organizational culture. This can foster a collective sense of wellbeing and camaraderie among employees. 

Establishing mindfulness initiatives, such as group meditation sessions, mindfulness workshops, and employee well-being programs, can create a supportive culture that encourages a holistic approach to work and life within the digital marketing domain.

Some companies have successfully integrated mindfulness into their organizational culture. The most celebrated example is Google’s ‘Search Inside Yourself’ program. Other high-profile companies embracing mindfulness in their workplaces include Nike, Sony, Facebook, Apple, and Intel.

Conclusion

By embracing mindfulness as a guiding light in your professional digital marketing journey, you have the opportunity to not just elevate your marketing strategies but also foster a more empathetic and ethical approach to your career and your interactions with colleagues. From enhancing your strategic thinking abilities to fostering authentic connections with your audience, mindfulness could ignite a ripple effect of positive transformation, not just within your professional sphere but in your personal life too.

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Related

• Podcast: Mindfulness in Marketing
• Podcast: Understanding your Audience with Rand Fishkin
• Digital Mindfulness: 8 Helpful Apps to Boost Productivity
• 10 Strategies To Manage Burnout
• What is Emotional Intelligence & How Can You Improve Yours?
• Podcast: How to be More Productive
• Podcast: Mental Wellness for Social Media Pros