Steven Ashford - Practical Approach to Digital Marketing

My Tools For The Job

written on July 1, 2020

I'm constantly exploring new tools and technologies in the interest of improving my productivity and decreasing stress. Here's a list of the tools I use, why I like them, and the alternatives I've tried.

Task Management

Agencies often have multiple teams on a single client with different task management needs which makes unifying under one tool next to impossible. Instead of trying to find a "one size fits all" solution, I value tools that work quickly and aren't bogged down by unnecessary functionality.

Asana

Most of my media teams use Asana for day-to-day task assignment and tracking. Asana has a number of powerful features for project management but you're not forced to use them if you just want a simple list. Our process for Asana is relatively simple:

Adding these four details usually takes about a minute once you've learned the interface and a few basic shortcuts. Once a team member is assigned as the owner of a task, they are alerted via email. There are also integrations for Slack and other apps.

Other Software I've Used

Note Taking & Content Organization

A solid note taking system has been an elusive experience for me since college. Battles with formatting, troubles with attachments, cross-device utility, and intuitive organization exist in some software but not in others. Investing time into learning a platform only to realize it doesn't quite meet your needs is frustrating.

Notion

I wanted software that would adapt to the task at hand. Need to jot down a quick note? Here's a blank page. Want to save links? Try our browser extension. Want to organize a project or draw out a plan? You can choose between a board, table, cards, etc.

You can even publish a read-only Notion page and share the link. This is great for process documentation, company handbooks, or public project trackers.

Other Software I've Used

Chrome Extensions

As a digital advertiser, I spend a large majority of my day in the browser on ad platforms and client sites. Setting up tracking, QAing implementation, and general quality of life improvements are made possible by the following extensions:

Development and Automation

My personal goal is to learn Python for use in automation and data analysis. So much of the job of a digital advertiser is tied to understanding data, reacting to changes quickly, and reporting to client stakeholders. Here are the tools I currently use. I expect this list to grow with my skillset over time:

Questions? If you want to contact me, you can reach me via one of the following communication channels: