CONTENT Marketing Ideas

Improve Your Marketing Project Management

November 4, 2019 | Digital Marketing

Some of the greatest and most creative marketers have never received any training in project management. But any marketer who oversees a campaign or another initiative is managing a project. And, the better you get at the art and science of project management, the more efficient and effective your work will be. So, how can you improve your marketing project management?

Set Clear Goals

Before starting on any project, it is essential to understand what you are hoping to accomplish. This may seem rather obvious, but many projects fail due to a lack of clarity regarding their intended outcome. Set goals for your project that are specific, measurable, realistic, and time-bound. Be sure that everyone involved in the project has a clear understanding and access to these goals.

Define Your Project

It is helpful to put some guardrails around your project before it begins. In project management, this is often referred to as the project scope. What will you include in this project and, what will you not include? You can, of course, make adjustments as you go, but this definition will help everyone stay clear about what you are and are not doing.

Assess Resources and Needs

Before you go any further, ask yourself, "What are we going to need to complete this project?" No matter how simple or complex the work is, you will need some amount of time, budget, talent, and tools. Are they available? If not, what needs to happen to make them available? Or, consider if it is time to revisit the goals and definition of the project to see if adjustments are necessary.

Create a Schedule

By definition, a project has a start date and an end date. Once you have those, you can examine the entire project, create a schedule, and set benchmarks to gauge your progress. Without these benchmarks, it will be impossible to know whether your project is staying on track.

Define and Assign Tasks

The more complex a project is in terms of steps and people involved, the more critical it is to document the required task involved. These tasks can be integrated with the overall schedule and benchmarks and assigned to the responsible parties. This way, everyone knows what they are responsible for and understands the deadline for completion.

Execute

Many of us like to jump right into a project and start working. However, with the planning work above accomplished, you can begin to execute with a lot more confidence in the final outcome. Remember, the plans can always be adjusted along the way if necessary.

Monitor

The goals, definition, resource lists, schedule, you have created and written will make monitoring your project simple. You will no longer need to wonder how the project is going. Instead, you can check it against the project plan to judge your progress and look for any problems.

Close

One of the essential parts of any project and one that is often skipped is the closing. That is unfortunate since this phase offers the most opportunity for learning and growth. Take the time to review how the project went and how it aligned with the original plan. Write down at least two things you learned from this project that will help you better plan the next one.

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