This is not going to be a post about whether or not ClickUp 3.0 is coming.. iykyn.
Are you tired of juggling multiple projects and deadlines as a copywriter or marketer? Same. It can feel like an uphill battle to stay organized amidst the chaos of brainstorming, content creation, team management, and client communication. If you’ve been toying with the idea of FINALLY getting a proper project management tool, or if you are looking to switch to ClickUp from Asana or another platform, this blog post is for you. Today, I’m going to explore how I actually use ClickUp as a copywriter and marketing agency to optimize my workflow and stay on track with all of your deadlines.
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As a fellow copywriter and marketer, I’ve experienced firsthand how ClickUp can change the game. This incredible tool has completely transformed the way I approach my work, making me more productive and efficient than ever before. Beyond just my own workflow, it also helps me work more collaboratively with my team. Now, let’s get into it!
What is ClickUp?
If you haven’t heard to buzz yet, ClickUp is a project management tool that allows you to organize tasks, projects, and teams in one central location. Doesn’t sound too exciting, right? Its features are fairly standard for a project management tool and include assigning tasks to team members, setting deadlines and reminders, and keeping all of your projects and assets organized. ClickUp provides various view options, such as list view, calendar view, and board view, which means we can choose the one that works best for us, depending on our tasks.
I’m going to share how I personally use ClickUp as a copywriter and marketing agency next, but here are just a few of the features ClickUp has that make it one of the best project management tools out there in 2023.
- Customizable dashboards: Instead of having a one-size-fits-all dashboard, ClickUp allows you to customize your dashboard to fit your specific needs and preferences.
- Multiple views: ClickUp gives you the ability to view your tasks and projects in a variety of ways, including list view, board view, calendar view, whiteboards, mind map view, and even Gantt chart view
- Native time tracking: With ClickUp’s built-in time tracking, you can easily keep track of how much time you’re spending on each task or project, making it easier to keep track of your team and stay on schedule to meet your deadlines.
- Automated workflows: With ClickUp’s automation features, you can create custom workflows that automatically trigger actions based on certain criteria, WITHOUT using a third party like Zapier.
That’s just a teaser – not let’s get into the details of how I use ClickUp as a copywriter and marketing agency.
How I use ClickUp as a copywriter and marketing agency to keep organized and stay on top of deadlines
This is probably one of the most “basic” ways to use ClickUp as a copywriter but it’s important nonetheless. For each of my clients, I have a task list that has deadlines attached. For example, for my Pinterest marketing clients, I have these (at minimum) these tasks:
- Create monthly analytics report (repeats monthly)
- Schedule idea pins (varies per account, typically repeats weekly)
- Date pins are scheduled until
- X Graphics to Create
- Next Blog Post Goes Live
- Review Pinterest Trends and Analyze Boards (monthly)
- Update keyword spreadsheet
Then, I can open a client’s “main” task, and assign any of the above tasks to someone on my team. I can also house all of the information they will need for the individual client in one place (ie. logos, brand colors, brand messaging, templates, etc).
ClickUp dashboards show everything at a glance
ClickUp Dashboards are one of my personal favorite features. With ClickUp, you can easily create a dashboard that gives you a high-level view of everything in your workspace, allowing you to access data in real time and understand popular metrics quickly. You can customize the dashboard to fit your needs, adding widgets such as task lists, project sprints, epics, team plans, and more.
While most of my time spent in ClickUp is spent looking on my own to do list, I also set up a main dashboard with a total task list so I can see what my team is working on at a glance
I’ve even embedded my Google Sheets “habit tracker” to track my habits without signing into Google Drive. I also change the dashboard periodically per season or whenever is needed if I feel like there is something I need to focus on.
ClickUp Docs are the Perfect Place to store SOP’s
One of the most helpful tools for managing a team is setting up Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). With ClickUp Docs, you can easily create an SOP library and tag team members to ensure that they know how to do things exactly the way you want. You can include detailed instructions, media attachments, and any other resources that your team might need to complete the task.
By ensuring that all team members have easy access to your SOPs in ClickUp, your team can easily refer back to them whenever they need to, without ever leaving the app. This not only saves time but also ensures that you have a centralized database of your processes that you can easily modify or update whenever necessary.
Automating repetitive tasks
While Zapier and other similar tools are great, there’s something infinitely more satisfying about using native automation instead.
With ClickUp automations, you can create custom workflows that automatically trigger actions based on certain criteria. This can save you and your team countless hours of work that would have been spent on manually moving tasks between lists or assigning tags. Now, you can sit back and let ClickUp take care of the details for you.
For example, when I write a blog post and click “complete”, ClickUp can automatically create and assign a new task for my graphic designer to create pins for it!
Use custom statuses to see where projects are sitting at a glance
As creatives, copywriters, and marketing agencies, we are VISUAL people. With custom statuses, you can create tailored stages for your tasks that match your workflow and track the progress of each item on your to-do list in a more eye-catching way than your typical corporate project management too. For example, for this blog post, it started under a task called “future blog ideas”, write now it’s sitting in “writing” and by the time you are reading this, the status will say “published”.
I use it for new leads and client projects too, with statuses like “onboarding”, “in progress”, “hold/waiting”, “delivered”, and “offboarding” – to give you a few examples!
Directly emailing from Clickup
There are a couple of reasons I love sending emails directly from ClickUp.
First, it keeps me out of my inbox and saves the time I would spend switching between apps (and let’s be honest, getting distracted by whatever has shown up in my email today).
Second, my team can see what I sent. So if I send an email to a client explaining a new strategy or game plan, everyone that needs to be included can see it, without relying on BCC’s or hoping they remember the next time they open up that client’s task.
Having a “team hub” where I keep branding collateral, affiliate links, etc.
I have a “Team Hub” project where I keep random things that I want my team to have access to like:
- my branding photos/stock images to use for my business
- my brand guide with fonts, colors, and brand messaging guide
- this quarter’s “big” projects
- affiliate info + links
- our SOP manual
- marketing metrics for TKR
- and fun things like birthdays, OOO dates, and work anniversaries
Time tracking directly on projects
I used to “use” Toggl but honestly, I kept forgetting to use Toggl. I love how ClickUp lets me (and my team) log time directly on each task so we can have a better understanding of where our time is spent. I completely and wholeheartedly trust my team, but this helps me make sure I’m charging appropriately for services.
Keep track of analytics for social media and marketing efforts for TKR
While I’m currently tracking my client’s analytics in their own Google Sheets, I wouldn’t be surprised if that changes one day! I use ClickUp as a copywriter to track my own marketing analytics and have lists to measure my top KPI’s for the following platforms:
- Google Search Consolge
- Google Analytics
- Active Campaign/Email Marketing
While I am a big believe that looking at data is important, you’ll notice I’m not tracking places that aren’t my focus right now (like Tiktok and LinkedIn). However, as soon as I start putting more effort into those platforms, you can rest assured they will be added. We personally update these monthly.
How to Use ClickUp as a Copywriter and Marketing Agency
Was this a helpful peek behind-the-scenes? I tried to make sure this blog post gave a little insight to how I personally use ClickUp as a copywriter and marketing agency, instead of just listing off features so that it would be a little more helpful. Other ways I’ve seen people use ClickUp as a copywriter and marketing agency that I am interested in but haven’t implemented yet are:
- Creating custom dashboards to collaborate with individual clients
- Using Custom Statuses + ClickUp Forms as a CRM (I personally use Dubsado for that right now!)
- Using more views like organizational charts, timelines, mind maps, whiteboards, and creating graphs and stuff so it’s a more visually appealing experience
- ClickUp AI! I did sign up for their new AI tools plan, but I haven’t experimented yet. If you’ve followed me for a while, you know my favorite AI tool is Jasper.
Do you have questions about using ClickUp as a copywriter and marketing agency? Productivity and Tech tools are something I am not an expert in but LOVE to talk about. Send me a DM on Instagram if I can help or you want to brainstorm with me!
