Burnout in Digital Marketing: Recognizing the Signs and Reclaiming Balance

Burnout in digital marketing is more common than you think. Digital marketers are often pulled in multiple directions to create content schedules, manage ad campaigns, and have strategy and results calls with clients. This can lead to increased stress levels and, eventually, burnout. This guide will help you understand the signs of burnout and how to reclaim balance in your career and personal life.

What Is Burnout?

Before you can address burnout, you need to understand what it is. Burnout is a state of physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion that occurs when you’re feeling stressed or swamped for a prolonged period. It’s commonly linked to work stress but can also be caused by other life factors.

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, digital burnout has become more of a concern than ever. As social distancing became the norm, Americans went online for work, socialization, entertainment, and more. A 2024 study by the journal Technological Forecasting and Social Change found that the pandemic increased internet addiction, which in turn accelerated digital burnout—especially among older respondents. Specifically, the study concludes, “…the digital world has taken on a dual role, enabling connectivity, productivity, interactions, and access to information, goods, and services, while simultaneously contributing to digital exhaustion and stress.”

Now that the global emergency around COVID-19 is over and the illness is just another part of daily life, many workers have returned to the office in either a full-time or hybrid capacity. But many are still working remotely. Burnout is especially prevalent among these remote workers who may feel lonely, withdrawn, and unable to disconnect from their computers at the end of the work day.

Digital Burnout: A Growing Concern

In today’s constantly connected world, digital burnout is becoming more and more prevalent. According to The Digital Burnout Scale Development Study, digital burnout occurs when someone spends excessive time on digital devices. Often, people find themselves in permanent multitasking mode—working on one screen while monitoring their phone screen for important messages.

Phone addiction is also becoming more widespread, with some people checking their phones around 900 times and using around 60 apps every day—maxing out the number of applications in iphone storage. This reliance on a phone screen can cause stress, fatigue, desensitization, loss of interest, and physical and mental health problems.

In fact, the study found that information overload and multitasking can cause depression in women and cardiovascular diseases in men, and phone usage has become a significant source of conflict for families. It also concluded that digital burnout causes attention deficits, stress, depression, loneliness, confusion, and a lack of balance between the real world and the virtual world. People struggling with digital burnout often feel disturbed by the thought of losing or forgetting their phone, uneasy when they don’t have a connection, and anxious if they haven’t checked their email, messages, or social media for a while.

Why Burnout Happens in Digital Marketing

How does this relate to digital marketing? Digital marketers face the same struggles regarding phone addiction and digital burnout, but their profession also requires them to be online and tuned in for most of the day.

Digital marketers also face unique pressures like tight deadlines, constant client demands, juggling multiple platforms, and constantly changing digital landscapes. Companies like Google and Meta continuously change their algorithms and ad platforms, meaning digital marketers must work hard to keep up with the ever-evolving landscape. Additionally, they often deal with customer budget cuts, fewer coworkers to handle their team’s workload, and the pressure to deliver meaningful results month after month. With all this pressure, it’s no wonder burnout in digital marketing is so prevalent.

Common Challenges Faced by Remote Digital Marketers

As long as they have a computer and a Wi-Fi connection, digital marketers can often perform their jobs from anywhere. Therefore, many companies allow their digital marketing teams to work remotely or in a hybrid capacity rather than requiring them to be in the office five days a week. This leads to challenges like work-life balance struggles and declining mental health.

Work-Life Balance Struggles

Remote work offers flexibility but often blurs the lines between personal and professional time. Remote digital marketers might find themselves unconsciously working longer hours and taking on more tasks than they can handle.

Many (though not all) digital marketers feel like they are “always on,” which increases their stress levels. Clients expect fast responses, and ad campaigns require frequent monitoring to ensure they don’t exceed their budgets. Digital marketers may feel like they have to constantly check their email and monitor their campaigns, which can lead to a chronic sense of overwork and eventual burnout.

Digital Marketing and Mental Health

A digital marketer’s job is a mixture of ever-evolving tasks, from content creation and running advertising campaigns to analyzing data and presenting results and strategies to clients. Keeping up with everything can be challenging—especially if you’re working remotely and don’t have the structure and support of working in a traditional office environment.

The fact that it’s hard for digital marketers to switch off can affect their mental health. As The Digital Burnout Scale Development Study found, the inability to disconnect from devices like phones, tablets, and computers can increase stress, cause burnout, and even lead to depression and other mental health conditions.

The Impact of Burnout

Workplace burnout can cause exhaustion, decrease passion, and affect a worker’s motivation and effectiveness. Burnout has a widespread impact, both on workers and on their employers, and it’s essential to recognize the impact of burnout and how to prevent it before it sets in.

Negative Impact on Productivity, Passion, and Creativity

Burnout can have a notable impact on a worker’s mental health—but it can also have a marked effect on their work performance. Long-term burnout doesn’t just affect productivity; it also causes individuals to lose their passion for the work they once loved. This is especially problematic in digital marketing, where success requires creativity and fresh ideas. When burnout sets in, it causes mental and emotional exhaustion that stifles creativity, making it harder to produce innovative content, marketing strategies, or solutions to a client’s most significant pain points.

According to Liviu Tanase, founder and CEO of ZeroBounce, “Burnout is prevalent in digital marketing, especially in startups where marketers are often spread thin and expected to wear multiple hats. The truth is they can do it all, but at the expense of their mental health.”

Over time, the consistent pressure and stress of workplace burnout can turn what was once a passion into a series of tasks to complete, leading to a lack of enthusiasm. To combat this, employers must find ways to keep their workers engaged. “To make sure our teams are creative and productive, we need to prioritize balance just as much as business KPIs,” says Tanase. “Preventing burnout starts with recognizing the early signs—and it’s not as hard as it seems. When we pay attention, we can spot the subtle warnings like lack of focus or exhaustion creeping into everyday tasks.”

Several signs suggest an employee has lost motivation. Employers might notice increased absenteeism, missed deadlines, irritability, and decreased work performance. “Addressing these signs right away by talking openly, resetting expectations, and encouraging time off can go a long way,” explains Tanase. “But ideally, we should prevent employees from ever reaching the point of burnout. That’s been a priority for us at ZeroBounce, where we have unlimited time off and stipends our team can use on wellness—whether it’s workout classes, gear, books, massages, anything that brings them joy. Digital marketing thrives on creativity, and creativity needs room to breathe.”

Why It’s More Important Than Ever to Address Mental Health in Digital Marketing

In digital marketing, it seems like there’s always more work to do than there are hours to do it. Employee turnover can cause hard workers to push themselves to their limits and risk burnout—which could cause them to leave in favor of a less stressful role. This can affect the company’s bottom line if clients start canceling services and going elsewhere for their digital marketing. That’s why employers and digital marketers need to focus on mental health in the workplace.

The Impact of Stress on Performance

Mental health is no longer just a personal concern but a business priority. Stress doesn’t just affect individual employees; it can also affect a business’s bottom line. Stress from burnout can cause decreased employee productivity, leading to ineffective campaigns, poor client satisfaction, and, in the worst case, loss of business or reputation.

That’s why employers and workers alike need to recognize burnout in its earliest stages so they can take proactive steps to overcome it. A digital marketer who is feeling burnt out can speak with their employer about it to see what they can do to help. Employers can also look for classic burnout signs in their workers, like decreased performance or increased absenteeism. Together, they can work toward mental well-being and enhance creativity, productivity, and job satisfaction.

The Need for a Culture Shift

Organizations and teams must foster a workplace culture where mental health is openly discussed and supported to combat the effects of burnout. In a healthy workplace environment, employees will feel empowered to communicate with their leaders when they need support without fear of judgment or consequences. This might require companies to invest in management training to help supervisors practice servant leadership, focusing on their teams’ growth and well-being to empower employees to perform at their best.

Companies may also find it beneficial to offer additional coaching support to their employees by implementing an eNPS (Employee Net Promoter Score) system to measure employee satisfaction and loyalty or by sending out surveys to optimize communication and help leaders gain deeper insight into their employees. Companies can also consider providing their employees with additional resources, like career tests, to help them better understand their motivations and career goals.

Practical Tips for Reclaiming Balance

It’s not the end of the world if you’re feeling burnt out and off-balance at work. Once you’ve recognized the signs of burnout, you can work to address the issue and regain the balance you’re missing.

Actionable Wellness Tips

These actionable mental health and wellness tips for marketers can help you reclaim balance and feel happier and less burnt-out at work.

Prioritize Self-Care

Self-care is essential for a healthy mind and body, but it can fall to the wayside when you feel burnt out with work or life. Here are some easy ways to practice self-care and improve your work-life balance.

• • Practice mindfulness. Burnout can make you dwell on the negative aspects of life, but mindfulness can help. It teaches you to be non-judgmental and accepting of thoughts and live in the moment rather than dwelling on emotions or thoughts that don’t serve you.

• Set boundaries. Draw a line between work and home life by turning off your computer at the end of the day and avoiding checking emails on weekends.

• Explore stress relief techniques for muscular pain. If your burnout is causing physical pain, there are several techniques you can try, including stretching, massage, dry needling, and keeping up with physical activity to stay loose.

• Seek professional support like therapy. A therapist can help you learn coping techniques for managing stress, which can be helpful when you’re overwhelmed at work.
• Stretch and move regularly. Sitting at a desk all day is unhealthy. Schedule a break every hour to get up from your desk, move around the house, and stretch.
• Use ergonomic tools. An ergonomic chair, variable desk, and arm supports can make your time at your desk more comfortable and decrease physical discomfort.
• Maintain a balanced diet. When you’re stressed and burnt out, you might be more tempted to reach for unhealthy items like fast food or salty snacks, but those can make you feel lethargic. Aim for a balanced diet with lean protein, whole grains, and fresh produce.

Find Your Work-Life Balance With These Strategies

Finding the proper work-life balance can seem impossible if you feel like work is life. Luckily, several techniques can help.

• Adopting structured routines. Just like you would keep a structured routine if you worked in an office, you must create a remote work routine to avoid burnout. Start work at the same time each day, take regularly scheduled breaks, and log off at the same time every afternoon.
• Automate where possible. Plenty of tools can help you automate your work so you can focus your attention where needed. Use tools like CRMs, SaaS, content planners, or Google Analytics to streamline tasks and reduce manual work.
• Prioritizing and delegating tasks. List out your tasks and prioritize them by importance. Consider which tasks you can delegate to a teammate so you can focus on the priorities.
• Scheduling non-negotiable personal time. Find something you love to do to relax, like read, hike, or crochet, and schedule time to do those activities in your calendar. Treat them as an essential meeting.
• Manage your stress. Meditate, do yoga, or try deep-breathing exercises to manage stress both at work and in your personal life.
• Disconnect after hours. Unplug from work by avoiding emails and social media during off-hours to recharge your mental batteries.

Embrace Travel and New Experiences to Broaden Your Perspective

Traveling to new places and experiencing new things can broaden your perspectives and help you problem-solve more effectively. Here’s what embracing travel and new experiences can give you.

• A global perspective. Experiencing other cultures and markets can help you think globally when strategizing digital marketing campaigns, whether understanding international trends or consumer behavior.
• Adaptability and problem-solving skills. Travel often comes with its own challenges, whether it’s navigating new places or learning how to work in different environments. These experiences foster adaptability and creative problem-solving—invaluable skills in digital marketing.
• Increased creativity. A change in environment often helps break mental blocks, sparking creativity that can be translated back into work.

The Benefits of Disconnecting When Working in Digital Marketing

In digital marketing, your job revolves around being online and keeping up-to-date on trends. That can make it hard to disconnect once your work day is over. But disconnecting from technology has numerous benefits, such as the following.

Mental Break

Unplugging from technology gives you a mental break and can prevent you from feeling overwhelmed, whether you disconnect for an hour, a day, or a week. When you’re constantly connected, you’re bombarded with a constant barrage of notifications, emails, and messages that grab your attention. Logging off lets your mind clear and recalibrate so you can be fresh and alert for your next day of work.

Restoring Creativity and Inspiration

Taking a break from technology helps clear your head. When you’re glued to your phone, hours can pass without you realizing it. By unplugging, you can dedicate more time to creative pursuits, which can lead to better decision-making at work and improved strategies in your digital marketing campaign. You never know where you’ll find the inspiration for your next successful campaign, but it probably won’t be in your social media newsfeed.

Preserving Your Physical Health

Mental burnout can manifest in physical ways. When your mental health declines, so does your risk of developing physical health problems. Studies suggest mental disorders like depression may alter a person’s immune response, making them more likely to fall ill with viral and bacterial infections like the flu, COVID-19, and the common cold. Depression is also linked to physical ailments like diabetes, heart disease, and stroke, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Disconnecting from technology benefits not only your mental health but also your physical well-being.

Take Some Time to Disconnect to Avoid the Burdens of Burnout

Burnout in digital marketing doesn’t just affect individuals; it can also make or break businesses. That’s why both employers and employees must identify and assess the importance of preventing burnout. Consider disconnecting fully from work when you’re off the clock or traveling, and embrace the benefits of time away from screens and deadlines. Taking breaks is not only healthy; it’s a key to sustained creativity and productivity.

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Jen Engevik

Jen Engevik is a seasoned content strategist and senior copywriter passionate about crafting unforgettable brand narratives and high-converting content. With extensive experience working with top-tier brands like Apple, TD Ameritrade, 20th Century Fox, Fabletics, Warby Parker, Thrive Market, Great, Binance, and more, she excels in driving growth through innovative storytelling and data-driven content strategies.