Marketing agencies have a ton to manage and keep organized on a daily basis with the many different services they offer and the different clients they work with. This is why project management in marketing is so crucial.
Project management is planning, organizing, and managing the effort to complete a successful project. Project management in marketing is so important because there are many different ways to run projects, and there are many different project types that need their own unique plans. Without project management in a marketing agency, it is impossible to stay on timeline, within a client’s budget, and keep both internal teams and clients happy with the end result.
If you are working with a marketing agency as a client, ask if they have project management to ensure that you are going to have a well-planned project, be involved and informed every step of the way, and be happy with your end result!
*Compensation Disclaimer: This article contains affiliate links to a project management software that New Moon Strategy recommends. Should you decide to purchase this software from our affiliate link, New Moon Strategy may receive financial compensation for referring you.
Overview of Project Management in Marketing
How does it all work? Project managers have a major internal role in a marketing agency, such as holding daily meetings with team members in order to manage daily tasks and expectations. This includes setting priorities for multiple projects that a team member may be working on and making sure everything stays within budget and on time. A project manager must have extensive marketing strategy knowledge to ensure that a project is being carried out as expected, and that it is planned accordingly. There are often many services offered in marketing, and a project manager must understand all services and project types and how to run them successfully.
A good project manager will possess some of these important skills:
- Strong Communication – Project Managers have to communicate at a stronger and more efficient level than other team members in order to properly represent the brand – both internally and with clients.
- Organization – A project manager will always have multiple projects happening at once. It is crucial to stay organized on each project’s scope, timeline, budget, and next steps.
- Time Management – Project managers need to be able to manage time effectively so that they are able to put time into each project they are overseeing. PM’s also need to spread their time out between internal team members and client communication.
- Leadership – Project managers set the project plan, which requires leadership and being able to explain the best approach to everyone involved in the project. Leadership also includes stepping in to help when necessary, and listening to both team members’ and clients’ concerns.
- Problem-Solving and Conflict Resolution – There will always be problems that arise within a project. Project managers need to be able to know how to solve problems such as a budgeting issue, or when something is going to take longer than was originally planned.
PM’s have to be exceptional organizational leaders that communicate extraordinarily well, stay impressively organized, and take the initiative in problem-solving. A good PM manages their time more efficiently than anyone else in the organization.
Client Communication
While project managers are managing the internal teams and the project plan, they also have to manage clients! A project manager has to make sure they understand client goals and manage expectations with the project. This includes making sure that a client understands what is agreed upon in the Scope Of Work, and if they want to change the project’s scope, the PM will create a plan to incorporate the requested changes while also keeping the client informed of any cost or timeline changes.
Project managers also provide timelines and project updates to the client and ensure that they keep the client on track as well when they provide things for review and feedback. In addition, a project manager has to work with the client to make sure the client delivers everything needed to complete the project, such as: questionnaires, design assets, Google Analytics access, etc. Most importantly, a project manager will need to be able to develop a great working relationship with the client! People skills are a must!
Project Planning
There are many different ways to plan out a project, but the best way to do it is by using project management software. This project management software allows for daily management of tasks to make sure everything is on time and on budget. PM software also helps with scheduling the resources needed to complete the work. It allows the project manager to build out timelines for projects by specifying every task in order and creating a project timeline that is shared with the client.
Every service offered will need to have a unique project plan created. No two projects and no two clients are identical! The best way to understand how to plan out a project is to be involved in the proposal creation before a project even becomes a project. Project managers get involved in the early stages to make sure the project is understood and to plan out what will be needed in order to accomplish it successfully.
Here at New Moon Strategy, we have used many different Project Management Softwares. After trying many different options, we have found ClickUp to be our absolute favorite tool. This platform truly makes project management for our multiple businesses (and clients) a breeze. They’re committed to constantly improving productivity and we’ve had nothing short of a great experience partnering with them!
If you’re interested in trying ClickUp, you can sign up for 20% off the Unlimited Plan or 20% off the Business Plan by visiting this link!: https://clickup.com/?fp_ref=kate49?promo=NEWMOON
Budgeting & Return-on-Investment
Another very important piece to project management in marketing is the management of budgets and ROI. To budget projects, project managers need to ensure that every project has hours assigned to it. These hours are then assigned to the individual tasks that make up the project as a whole. Next, they are assigned to the resource or team member(s) who are going to work on that task. Sometimes a task is under-budgeted, or losing the company money, and a project manager will need to be able to problem-solve and try to adjust the hours of other tasks so that the overall project still stays on budget.
Hours are analyzed on every project for continual improvement and at the end of the project the ROI is reviewed as well. A project manager is responsible for reviewing internal processes and project plans to see if there is any way to make improvements for the next project.
Final Thoughts
Are you working with a marketing agency that has project management? If not, you may not be getting the best return on your investment because the project cost and project timeline are not planned out. Projects that are run with project management are planned from start to finish, before the project is even signed, ensuring a successful end result and exceeding client’s expectations.
Make sure your business’s project is completed with a project management strategy in place. Project managers are valuable organizational assets that help ensure your project’s success!
New Moon Strategy uses extensive project management strategies with all of our projects – both internal and client-facing projects – so that we always exceed expectations. Contact us today to get started!