I recently bit the bullet, changed carriers and got an iphone – with the promise to myself that I would never turn into one of the many iphone zombies that are removed from the social situations going on around them in real life.  I am determined not to become a slave to the device.  (Check back with me on that one.)

When I set up my email on my iphone, it was rather simple and intuitive, as is the case with many Apple products. One issue that became immediately apparent to me was the way that I had my desktop email folders set up and how organizing your email for the iphone is a must if you want to use the device efficiently.  I have been using, what I now realize, a silly, convoluted system of sorting my emails into folders based on Outlook rules – in an effort to maintain control over my inbox.

After a discussion with a former colleague, I thought through a way to deal with organizing your email – “The Empty Inbox Method” – and I can attest to it working (at least for the last week it has). I’m not saying that I’ve discovered something revolutionary or even anything new – I’m just so happy to have an empty email inbox and less stress in my electronic communications.

This is the basic system:

The First Step to Organizing Your Email -  Completely empty your email inbox

Set aside some time to respond to any important messages in your inbox that have been lingering unanswered below your viewing pane.  Then, move everything in your inbox into a new “archive” folder – this will house your read/responded emails from now on.

You now have an empty email inbox. To keep it this way, when you receive a new message – do something with it. I know this sounds too simple, but really, I’ve had an empty email inbox at the end of each day for over a week now.  Basically, with each new email that you receive, take one of the following actions:

ARCHIVE THE EMAIL MESSAGE
Most of my emails require no response or action…CC:s, FYIs and automatic notifications.  Skim through them, then immediately move them into your archive folder.

RESPOND TO THE EMAIL MESSAGE
If the email message calls for an easy answer, send it- then move the email message into your archive folder.

FORWARD THE EMAIL MESSAGE
If the message is better handled by someone else – send it off to that person, then move it to the archive folder.

HOLD THE EMAIL MESSAGE FOR LATER
This is the one exception to an immediate empty email inbox.  Some e-mail messages need longer follow ups than you have time for or you just don’t have all of the answers at that point.  You can leave this in your inbox – it actually beats the default “flagging” option which I always do but rarely follow up on.

Avoid letting too many of these email messages stay in your inbox. Set aside some time at the end of each day to respond to as many of these as possible – with the goal of an empty email inbox.

If you try this method…or a variation of it – I’d love to hear from you on your method for organizing your email.

As I’ve mentioned in recent posts, I’ve been working with a budding retail advertising agency in Los Angeles. My primary assignment has been to help build out a solid interactive offering to append to their current radio and TV broadcast media buying offering.

My involvement with Wingman Media has produced some dramatic results for their clients, many who have grown from a single brick-and-mortar location to major players in their industries. Both personally and professionally, I’m having a field day given the opportunity to take these clients to the next level by integrating interactive marketing programs to complement their offline activities.

One of Wingman Media’s clients, Boston Medical Group, was quoted in a recent press release and gave a gleaming impression of the new interactive team that I assembled at Wingman Media:

“The Wingman Media interactive team helped to improve efficiencies and decrease our cost per lead over the last six months,” Chris Reis, Marketing Director for the Altamonte Springs, Fla.-based Boston Men’s Health Center, the management company for Boston Medical Group, says. “Even in this tough economic environment, they have delivered a unified strategy to our online presence that has us positioned for a great 2009.”

Aside from their bottom line, the interactive marketing team at Wingman Media focused their interactive initiatives on unifying Boston Medical Groups’ on- and offline messaging. One tactic that we executed to create this continuity is a blog, authored by Boston Medical Group’s Andrew – their spokesman and radio personality. Andrew is blogging and developing his engagement with fans and potential patients through several social media platforms, including his twitter.

More to come from my ventures as an interactive marketing consultant with Wingman Media…