So now you have your mobile office supplies and you’ve backed up your files by hosting them online.  What’s next?  Next you need to organize your tasks so that you never miss a beat at the expense of a client.  It’s time to select an online calendar and online office assistant.

Online/Virtual Calendars

There are several services offering online or virtual calendars.  However, I chose to highlight the two most commonly used ones, Google Calendar and iCal. 

Google Calendar is a free online calendar service that allows you to keep track of your tasks and set reminders.  It also allows you to share entire calendars or just select events on a calendar with others.  This is a service that I personally rely on when coordinating schedules between clients.  What I like most is that I can sync it with my Outlook calendar.  And since I sync my Outlook calendar with my treo, it saves me a lot of time.  I can add an event online for a client and before I can move to something else, it has sent an email notification to my client about the new event on the calendar with a link for their review.  It also copies me on the email so I can be certain that they received the update.

iCal provides the same services as Google Calendar for Mac users.  It also allows you to keep track of schedules, appointments, birthdays, to-do lists and other important events as with Google Calendar.  Since I do not own a Mac, I really can’t weigh in on this as much as I would like to.  However, several of my colleagues swear by it.

Online task Assistance

Now that you’ve set up your calendar and granted access to your clients, why stop now, as your clients are pleasantly impressed with your use of new technology to make their campaign run more effectively.  The next step is to enlist an online task manager and/or email assistant.  As with the online calendars, there are more than a handful of services that offer free assistance or test drives.  I’m going to highlight four:  Dial 2 Do, Jott, Remember The Milk and I Want Sandy.

Dial 2 Do (http://www.dial2do.com) is a phone service that lets you accomplish tasks just by phoning a number and saying what you want done.  When you call the number, it will ask you several questions like “Do what?, and  “To who?.” Then the service will figure out how to best carry out the task by recognizing what you’ve said.  You can dictate an email and it will transcribe the email and send it to your desired recipient.  It will also send you reminders via twitter, text, or email.  You can even post directly to a feed.   Thanks to a test drive offered by a fellow Young PR Pro, Denise Dorman, I was lucky enough to personally experience how this product is truly a business savior for the busy independent publicist.

Jott ( http://www.jott.com/jott/jott-links.html) works in a similar way and can be integrated with Google Calendar, 30 Boxes, Blogger, Typepad, Jaiku, Live Journal, Twitter,  Tumblr, Yahoo Groups, Zillow, Remember the Milk, Amazon, and Wordpress.

Remember the Milk (www.rememberthemilk.com) is yet another service comparable to the previous two services.  It also has a map location component that you can use when planning your event or task location.  This service also works with Google Calendar, Twitter, Blackberry, Gmail and iPhone.

I Want Sandy (www.iwantsandy.com) is an email only similar product.  You upload your email contacts, then Sandy assigns you an email address.  Whenever you want to remember something, you email Sandy (at the email address they send you), and tell it what you would like to remember.  If you have a dentist appointment, email Sandy to remind you of your dentist appointment on Friday at 1 pm ET.  Sandy will begin sending you reminders via email, text, twitter, or whatever method you prefer.  It will also add the appointment to your Google calendar.  Sandy also can build a contact list for you via email.  Simply email Sandy the contact information and it will collect and file the information in a database.

Today there are too many affordable (if not free) solutions to help the small PR agency or independent publicist stay on task while managing the expectations of their clients.  Aside from manual media database updates, filing, press kit assembly and servicing, which all can be delegated to an intern, there really isn’t a lot of room for excuses of being understaffed.  So if you are apprehensive about incorporating these new media and technology solutions into your business operation, my advice is to get over it.  You can’t possibly encourage your client to step in to the Web 2.0 era by using twitter, blogs and social networks if you are harboring personal technology insecurities.

Here are two quotes about the new era that we live in that should ease some of your anxiety and hopefully make you smile.

“The Internet: where men are men, women are men, and children are FBI agents.”

“Some things Man was never meant to know. For everything else, there’s Google.”

Updated-8/20/08:  One of the Professionals that I follow almost obsessively just posted some tips along the same line, please add Chris Brogans’ suggestions to your list as well.  Click here, http://www.chrisbrogan.com/how-to-do-more-with-less-time/. 

 Jonnice Slaughter is a Public Relations, Marketing and Advertising consultant and Principal at ChatterBox Publicity, LLC, a full-service boutique headquartered in Atlanta.  Her clients represent entertainment, fashion, night life, restaurant, fitness, technology, sports, music, faith-based, media, financial and event planning industries.  Her newest endeavor, P.R.I.M.P: PR Is My Passion, a professional network whose mission is to cater to the busy freelance publicist or small PR Agency is slated to launch during the fourth quarter, 2008.  Follow her on twitter at http://www.twitter.com/chatterboxpr.<–>

Article Tags: Business Operations | Business Travel | Mobile Office | PR Tools

Filed under: Client Relations, Interactive PR, Public Relations