Performance marketing has lots of moving parts. Many times an Advertiser will have hundreds maybe thousands of Publishers, new and expiring consumer promotions to keep track of, private offers, creative, technology developments and repairs, and on and on. The best way that I have found to keep track of everything is with a Work Plan. A Work Plan is an Excel Spreadsheet which tracks current, ongoing, and completed tasks in an easy-to-read format. In this article I will share with you how I have made up my work plan so maybe you can create one for yourself. Over time you will probably find what works best for you and modify it here and there. A screenshot of an example work plan is below. I have three sections listed: Current tasks, Ongoing, and Completed.

Within each section are six columns that I have found work best for my work plan. I have the partner I am dealing with in the leftmost column, the date the project started next, who I am working with on the project in the assigned to column, the due date, and finally an area for notes.

The Current section is a list of tasks that need to be completed with a set due date. Everything that I am currently working on is listed in this section. I keep all of this together at the top so that it is easiest to find since typically it is most important.

Further down in the work plan is another section called Ongoing. This is where I list tasks that I need to keep an eye one but have later expiration dates than what is in current or they do not expire. This is for tasks that may repeat on a weekly basis for example, or a tech project that we know will take weeks or months to launch.

Finally, I have the third section which is the Completed section. When a task has been completed from the current or ongoing part of the work plan I will move it into the completed section. I keep tasks in this section for two reasons. First, if I need to refer to that information later I will be able to easily find it. Second, I can show whomever needs it all of the great work that I have accomplished just by referencing this information.