How Can I Battle Burnout in My Role?

Anonymous

August 24,2022 at 4:36PM UTC

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How Can I Battle Burnout in My Role?

Hi Fairygodboss Community!

I have been in my marketing role almost a year. Compared to the my last few employers, it is measurably better--better pay, nicer team members, and more stability (at least it seems so at the moment). We are a large manufacturing company with a huge portfolio of products.

While no job is ever perfect, I am feeling frustrated. Perhaps burned out is the correct word. My role entails a lot. In addition to being responsible for marketing ops and setting our overall strategy, I am responsible for:

Copywriting - we don't have an in-house writer, or a freelance option either. This includes writing for all our sales literature, case studies, most of the website, social media, email blasts/eNewsletters, etc.
Email marketing - we don't have a dedicated email marketing resource--plus we use Pardot, which has a terrible email automation tool
Customer communications - price increases, surveys, etc.
Overseeing cobranded marketing with some of our key distribution partners
Video strategy - planning and coordinating any video work we do (which is not much, though I wish it could be more)
Special projects, such as launching a new product line's marketing efforts, or leading a persona/buyer journey project
Tradeshow coordination - I do this in conjunction with another team member, but I am the feet on the ground for the marketing team if that's needed at an event
PR efforts - Coordinating with our outside agency and internal subject matter experts on articles, interviews, etc.
Product marketing needs - I meet regularly across all six of our product lines to help ensure our literature and website are updated to reflect the product accurately
Internal communications - I curate and edit content for an internal employee newsletter, and other one-off communications as needed
Sales support - I create email templates, one-pagers, and help ensure campaign tracking in salesforce. I also educate sales regularly on what marketing tools are available and how to find it
Occasional website updates - we have a team dedicated to the more technical aspects of our website, but I am expected to go into the system for some of the simpler items
Reporting monthly on all activities (a given anywhere, but still takes time)

I do not have any direct reports, or additional team members responsible for the above, save for the tradeshow items. I work with a graphic designer, but her work spans multiple companies, and she is overloaded too I think.

I am struggling because it feels like I am not able to dedicate the attention deserved by all the items outlined above. I am worried I am being perceived as not able to get meaningful work done.

Change moves really slowly as well. Around the time I started last year, we were going to add a dedicated resource for marketing automation, but couldn't find the right person. I've also asked a few times if we could work with a freelance technical writer with no success.

Is this just how it is everywhere? How does everyone cope?

I don't want to jump ship necessarily either. However, I do work mostly remotely, and that gets incredibly lonely at times. We work to be collaborative as a team, but I still feel pretty siloed. Sometimes I think about going back to the company I was with for many years that I left just before the pandemic (before the less than ideal employers I experienced between then and now).

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Barb HansenAugust 24,2022 at 7:46PM UTC
I have been in your shoes (the sole contributor across many different job roles of what should be a whole team), and here are some things that helped and some things that I wish I had done differently.
1.-You are only one person who can only work 8 to 10 hours a day (whatever your schedule is)
You are only one person, and just because you are being asked to do the work of 4 people doesn't mean you can do all of that work.
And just because you can do the work of 4 people doesn't mean that you should actually do all of that work.
Helpful tip: Run your work day from your calendar. If a project takes 2 hours to complete, block that time off your calendar. When your daily or weekly calendar fills up (which it will quickly), ask your manager what tasks can be pushed out to next week (and then schedule those tasks on your calendar for next week).
We tend to build lists or create a never-ending list of tasks, and we continuously take on more work (or at least I did) without seeing the time impact of those tasks. Once I started viewing my tasks in a calendar (or Gannt chart) form, I felt like I had more power to refuse tasks because I had no time left in the day or week and start asking about what needed to be done because I am only one person.
2-Create your hierarchy (if your boss says to do everything)
It's excellent for some rando (that's me) on the web to tell you to ask your manager for clarification when we all know that most inexperienced (or just bad) managers will say, "everything needs to be done now; just do it all, my hair is on fire, argh!!!"
Helpful Tip: Create your hierarchy for what tasks need to be done first. Trade Shows and Events have hard deadlines, so those have to come first, and product marketing may need to wait.
If your manager doesn't give you help in prioritizing your work, then do your own prioritization. Send your manager (always send via email, so there is a paper trail) your list of prioritized work items - what you are doing today (or this week) and what items need to be pushed off.
I would also include mitigation options like "if we hire an external contractor for $45 an hour, I will be able to manage both my internal tasks and manage that contractor to get items 1, 5, 6, and 7 done by X date"
3-Do not diminish your value
I found that when I started to feel burnout (or extreme overwork or whatever you want to call it), I started to diminish my value. My internal lizard voice started to say, "If I was better at my job, I could get everything done" then I started to work longer hours, which started a vicious and destructive cycle.
Helpful Tip: You can't work your way out of a bad "overwork or burnout" work situation. You are not a failure if you decide that your unique talents are better cultivated at another company, and it's okay to move on from a situation that's not working for you.
Good luck!
AnonymousAugust 25,2022 at 9:26PM UTC
I appreciate the time you took to share this well-thought-out and helpful response. This is excellent, actionable advice and a good way to approach my next steps. Thank you!
AnonymousAugust 25,2022 at 12:38AM UTC
I'm in strategy and am a copywriter as well. Seems like most marketing positions are like this now, they don't want to spend money on sole copywriters.
AnonymousAugust 25,2022 at 9:28PM UTC
Yes, I am seeing it happen to many marketers. I don't mind writing, and I even enjoy it. There's just so much that needs content, it would be enough for more than one writer to cover.
JJAugust 25,2022 at 8:22PM UTC
I have marketing experience and that is a lot for one person. You need to start advocating for another team member.
AnonymousAugust 25,2022 at 9:29PM UTC
I agree. I am going to keep trying.
JJAugust 27,2022 at 3:24PM UTC
Good job! One idea is to start measuring all of your hours, work product, productivity, and outputs (time and money) and then compare that to improved outcomes that would be achieved with more time and money (as in hiring another person.)