Mark AdamsThe marketing profession is replete with projects. From executing a customer survey to planning a new product launch, marketers are frequently involved in a new venture.
Sooner or later, you’ll be required to dive into the project management process even if you’re not a project manager.
So let’s take a look at how to apply project management best practices to succeed at project management for marketing.
The term project management is widely employed, but the term ‘management’ is often tacked on or assumed to mean a project manager.
The goal of this document is not to define what a project manager does or doesn’t do. For all intent and purpose, I will describe the skills required to become a well-rounded project manager and build a cohesive team.
Definitions of project management are dependent on the industry’s standards. With the varying levels of experience and expertise, our scope of objectives is 180-degree different.
I have chosen to apply the following definition:
A project manages scope, resources, budget and activities by means of creating a roadmap and connecting these with what needs to be achieved.
In this scenario, the project manager should engage stakeholders, establish milestones, manage the project’s scope (become clear on what’s being delivered), manage the resources and budget, and project manage the activities associated with the project.
Taking the job of being a project manager seriously
There is nothing more vital to the success of your project than the right hire. The person who’ll take responsibility for everything that’s delivered to the end user must possess the following characteristics:
Visionary – people are hired for their vision in addition to their expertise. Assess your potential hires by asking them to define their vision. To avoid foisting someone’s vision on them, ensure you know their vision as well. This is not merely a trick your HR department uses to keep their jobs rather than finding an appropriate hire. You will need a new hire to build a sustainable and effective vision.
Curious – entrepreneurs often have a tendency to overuse the marketing lingo such as CMO. I’m sure you’ve heard some of your clients singing the praises of their marketing department. Your prospective hire must inquire about the project’s expected outcomes and the vision with clarity.
Driven by quality – the quality of the product or your service is of paramount importance. There are two ways to measure the quality associated with your product. One of which is the quality of attributes you have associated with your offering. The other is the quality of the services you’re delivering to your customers.
Empathetic toward the customer – to put it simply, you must motivate and entertain customers to remain loyal. An ignoramus will drive you mad and take your time away. A person with empathy toward your customers will understand and appreciate your role in dealing with negative feedback and complaints.
Communicator – some employees communicate well with others. Others don’t speak the same language. Finding a person who’ll proactively communicate with you without duplication and is able to address any issues in a convincing manner is crucial. You will require this employee to create a trusting relationship based on mutual respect with your organization.
Takes action – this employee will ensure that your organization is on the same page with regards to the status of your project. It can be tedious to listen to the same four words over and over again. The employee who takes action and organizes team members to make sure they are progressing with the project and what’s associated to it will help you.
There are many other popular model tools of project management, but we have accomplished our goals by applying the above mentioned characteristics.
What you need to define
What exactly do you need to define?
Paper Specification – Here, you need to provide a product or service description along with the requirements necessary to get the product delivered.
Budget and Financing Plan – This is where your organization compares its financial situation to the time and resources you’re committing to your project. It can be a painful process if the intent is to sell this to your boss and shareholders.
Project Management Plan – This outline defines your project management team as you need to link people, resources, and responsibilities.
Project Timeline – Here, you must prioritize your tasks and prioritize your projects to match them with the funds you have available.
Project Launch Plan – This outlines how you’ll run your project by segmenting what’s to be delivered.
Network diagram – This defines and segments the project team to coordinate their responsibilities. This outline explains what’s to be delivered, how the delivery will take place, and who’ll deliver these tasks.
Once you’ve gone through all of the above items, you’ll be ready to plan your marketing strategy for the project.
What should your marketing strategy for a project look like?
Consider the following when planning a marketing strategy for your marketing strategy for a project:
Free up your resources – make sure all resources are free enough to organize a project
Establish the strategic objectives – it is crucial to know what your project is supposed to deliver
Organize the project schedule – make sure you’ve planned the project’s actions and how they’ll be delivered
Establish the milestones – identify the milestones and assign each task
Calculate the budget – plan your budgets so that you don’t exceed your financial capacity
Solve all issues – make sure all issues have been resolved and assigned to one or more teams
Communicate – make sure all deliverables and interim deliverables get communicated to the relevant staff
Streamline your work – decide on a complex process and what tasks are more important. There’s no way to do everything and make everything perfect. Make sure you pay attention to whatever is worth doing and focus on the important bits.
Communicate and monitor – communicate and monitor all deliverables, progress, and status of the project
Break down deliverables – make sure each deliverable is agreed upon with a group of persons and removed from the overall project at the end of the product launch
Execute all deliverables – make sure all deliverables are executed by the team
Plan for the next project – make sure you’ve planned for all future projects and training
In our entire proceeding, we’ve discussed how to plan a project. Let’s focus our attention on the marketing aspect that is typically executed by marketing departments.
Marketing Strategy For A Project:
Let’s assume you’re launching a new product or service for the first time to the market. What specifically will be goals for your marketing strategy for a project?
Focus on objectives – it is crucial to have clear and logical goals for your marketing strategy for the project. It can be summed up in these objectives:
Increase the share of your market – this means you want to increase your market share in the marketplace.
Attract new customers – you want new customers to buy your offering
Grow the company – this might be associated with growing the company’s revenue.
The key to planning for a marketing strategy for the project is to focus on the program objectives and determine what’s worth doing. It’s like a road map for achieving the ultimate goal. The marketing strategy for the project or campaign must be executed with precision.
Guidelines for delivering the marketing strategy for a project is broken down to the following:
Merchandising – you’re going to provide the product or service. Make sure each individual person or team member is focused on the main objective of launch.
Distribution– you’re going to be the person that’s distributing your product or service. This is the marketing team’s responsibility to utilize the resources available and provide the best delivery of the product it needed to market right.
Public Relations – this is the way to publicize your project.
Sales – this is one of the most important marketing strategies for a project. It has to provide genuine quality to potential customers.
Marketing – to get clients and customers to buy, you have to demonstrate your offering and skills effectively.
This is how straight-forward and straightforward it is. The problem comes in when things go wrong.
What happens when things don’t go as planned?
If you are going to plan a marketing strategy for the project, you need to focus on the four following steps.
Audit how to plan your marketing campaign – this is a thorough audit to determine how things went wrong in the last project.
Acknowledge your mistakes – this is acknowledging your mistakes as well as the reasons why you didn’t achieve the results you were determined to gain.
Avoid making the same mistakes again – don’t copy other companies or people who experienced a similar situation as you.
Construct a plan to prevent a similar situation from happening again.
If the project doesn’t go through as planned, it’s important to take steps to prevent similar problems. It’s the most tedious thing you can do, but it’s worth it.
If the project is to be used for the purpose of market testing, it is also important to carry out a semi-monthly marketing measurement plan.
What hurdles are there in market testing?
What are some of the hurdles to overcome in the market testing process? Focus on the following:
Research on your target audience – you need to know what your target market is and what they’re looking for to buy your product or service.
A number of tasks to be completed – you need to know the potential number of tasks to be completed to determine the financial return on investment.
Regular track progress – it is important to track the progress of the project and how well it’s going to deliver the results required.
Resources needed – you need the right resources in place to deliver the product as specified in the marketing strategy for the project.
Marketing budget – make sure the budget will deliver the projected results to the market.
Marketing time frame – you’ll need to focus on the marketing strategy for the project to determine the time frame.
Strategic objectives – it is important to set the right time frame to execute the marketing strategy for the project.
How to develop a marketing strategy for a project
Plan your own marketing strategy for a project is indeed challenging.
This might not seem workable, but you need to understand your market, identify your target audience, execute your marketing plan, and build a culture that puts people first. After which, you should ensure your marketing strategy is moving forward in the right manner.
You’ll need to understand your market, your target audience, and your product or service and how they relate. Next, you’ll need to determine the tasks you’ll need to complete the campaign.
Finally, you’ll need to identify your budget and how your marketing budget will deliver the projected goal.
Once you’ve finalized your budget and determined how it’s going to deliver your projected results, you can move forward with the project you’ve planned.
Have a well-developed plan and flawless execution make or break the project. Make sure you’ve identified and eliminated all risks associated with the project.
While you’re planning your next project, make sure you’re collaborating with the rest of the company to make the marketing strategy for the project a success.
This might sound a bit foreign to you at first, but it’s going to help you set your priorities in order, call in additional resources, and to make sure that the project is executed with precision. You need to ensure that the marketing team and the stakeholders have an understanding of your setting.
If you plan for the project in this way, you won’t have to experience any set-backs or unexpected problems. You will definitely have a bright future for your business.
You have acquired a lot of useful information on marketing strategy for project. If you think that you are about to start your project or you are currently developing a project, consider reviewing your marketing strategy for the forthcoming project.
After reading this article and practicing the ideas from this article into action, you’ll soon be an expert on this subject.
After you have a solid marketing strategy for the project in hand, your next step will be to design a brilliant marketing campaign for the forthcoming project.
