Keeping a tight schedule is generally considered to be a good thing. We associate people who schedule their lives well in advance with being in control and organized. It’s certainly the case that having a full and well-planned schedule can help to make sure that you stay on task and not miss out on important meetings. But it’s also true that being too scheduled can have a negative impact on your ability to get things done.

Generally speaking, if you have schedule a meeting for a set length of time, it will go that length of time even if it doesn’t need to take that long. People want to feel like they blocked out a set amount of time for a reason and they will find ways to use the time — even if the use of time isn’t productive. This can lead to endless meetings where you are accomplishing a lot less than you should be with your time.

One way to solve this is to keep your meetings short — perhaps a half-hour in length. This gives enough time to discuss what needs to be discussed without inviting meetings to run on incessantly. If something needs more than 30 minutes, plan ahead and schedule multiple meetings. This will force you to address the problems in bite-sized chunks, which can be helpful in tackling complex issues.

You should also schedule time for yourself in between meetings to do something like take a walk outside of go get a coffee down the street. You might say to yourself that you are going to “find time” between meetings to take a break but it’s easy to let that time slip away. If you put breaks on your calendar, you are more likely to take them.

Scheduling phone calls the same way that you schedule meetings is a great way to avoid losing time to idle chit-chat. Unless it’s something urgent that needs to be dealt with immediately, you will almost always be able to schedule a call for later in the day. This gives you time to research the issue and be informed before having a conversation and it also sets parameters for how long the call should go.

The key to any successful relationship is communication and this is true when it comes to the relationship between a freelancer and who contracts with them for their services. When a person knows what to expect from their freelancer, they have the right basis for evaluating their success. It also gives a freelancer clear parameters to operate under since they know what their client is expected to receive.

This is especially true when it comes to the world of online content marketing. When you work with a freelancer or an outside content marketing service like eVisible, it’s critical that you set your goals before the project starts and communicate regularly with the outside freelancer or firm to make sure that objectives are being met. Expecting that they “know what they are doing” and are taking care of everything perfectly on their own is typically an invitation for headaches down the road.

When you are interviewing potential agencies or freelancers to help you with your content marketing, make sure that they are being realistic in presenting the services they provide. You don’t want to hire someone only to realize that they can’t deliver what you thought they would at the start of your relationship. Ask tough questions and don’t always be limited by talking about “best case scenarios” — find out what they think are the obstacles to the success of a content marketing campaign and what they plan to do if these roadblocks occur while they are working for you.

Ultimately, freelancers and content marketing agencies thrive when they are able to end projects with satisfied customers. This comes from setting expectations that are realistic but will also meet the marketing needs of their clients. In order to do this, it’s important for clients to be very clear about what they want to accomplish with their content marketing. Just saying that you want “better content” isn’t enough — you need to know what goals you want to use the content to achieve and have a way to communicate this clearly with the freelancer or agency.

When most people think about how public relations tactics can help their SEO campaigns, the first thing that comes to mind is to write press release. While it’s true that well-crafted, keyword-rich and interactive news releases crafted by press release writing services can help your SEO and your marketing efforts, press releases are far from the only public relations tactics that can boost your search engine rankings.

Some of these tactics involve establishing your company as an authoritative brand within the space; others involve marketing efforts that also benefit others. All of these tactics can help you generate publicity and help with your SEO:

Make Charitable Contributions: Being a good corporate citizen serves several purposes. A donation to a worthy charity helps people in need and can be a tool for your own promotion. Work with the charity to promote your donation. You can get creative and come up with a charity angle that is unique and will attract media attention.

Hold Unique Contests: Running a contest like a scholarship essay competition or product giveaway serve several purposes. They can generate social media links to serve as social signals; they can provide drive brand awareness; and they can provide reasons for media stories that will also boost your SEO. Making the contests unique and interesting — such as a food eating contest — helps.

Be a Guest Contributor: Pitch the executives at your company as “guest contributors” to local, national and industry media outlets and blogs. If customers read intriguing content with their names attached to it, they will think of them — and your brand — as thought leaders in the field. You can use ghostwriters for the content if needed and attach a name later.

Serve as Guest Talent: Many industries have TV or radio shows specific to their market. Get your executives to appear on these shows. It will help your brand and create links from the shows’ websites that will boost your SEO.

Speak at Industry Events: Getting your executives in front of convention attendees is a great tool for increasing visibility and creating links. You can host your own event as well.