Marketing teams have to be flexible in order to constantly adjust to new priorities, goals, tools, and audiences. But sometimes they get a little too used to the chaos, and start believing that creative work naturally feels out of control.
Project management doesn't need to mean restrictive processes, frustrating red tape, or creative death for your marketing team. In fact, project management principles can help establish a reliable, efficient system so everyone can actually focus on being creative.
Use these simple project management tips to get better payoff for your marketing team's hard work — and suffer fewer headaches along the way!
Take a good hard look at your marketing process and developing a marketing plan. Does every single step add value? If not, cut it and focus on what does. Then make sure everyone in the marketing department can follow a clear-cut process and use standard formats and outlines as templates to save time and cut common errors. (See also this video on marketing workflows.)
2. Track your time.
Aside from making billable and unbillable hours easier to track, knowing exactly how long typical tasks take makes it much easier to plan future projects and set accurate deadlines.
3. Balance your team’s workload.
You shouldn’t have a few key team members drowning in deadlines while others are twiddling their thumbs. Keep track of everyone’s assignments and redistribute tasks as necessary to avoid bottlenecks and stalled progress.
4. Make information & resources easily accessible.
Put conversations, resources, and work updates in a central location where they’re easy to find. Everyone can stay in the loop since discussions, decisions, and files are all kept where the entire team can find them.
5. Stay organized.
Project managers have mastered the art of juggling several projects at once, making sure resources are used wisely, deadlines are being met, and every project is running smoothly. Stop trying to manage all your work via email and spreadsheets. (There's a better way!) Take advantage of popular project management tools, like the Gantt chart, to manage all your campaigns in one place.
6. Record lessons learned.
Every project holds takeaways and lessons you can apply to future campaigns. Record and share them with your team to up your game with every new project.
Ready to Start Using a Better Marketing Management Strategy?
See how Wrike can help you coordinate team efforts, adjust to changing priorities, and keep every campaign organized and on track.
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Emily is a former Content Marketer of Wrike. She specializes in leadership, collaboration, and productivity. Her brain is stuffed with obscure grammar rules, an embarrassing amount of Star Wars trivia, and her grandmother’s pie recipes.
A Winning Video Marketing Strategy (A DroneCo Comic)
Welcome back to DroneCo, Wrike's weekly comic strip! We're following the madcap marketing department at a hot new drone delivery startup in Silicon Valley. Last week, Marketing Director Sujay awoke from his personal productivity paradise to discover an email catastrophe.
In this week’s episode, the gang preps for an impromptu video shoot. But CEO Dot has other plans for their marketing strategy types....
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Marketing
3 min read
Viral Marketing Strategies from Crazy Successful Campaigns
It's the holy grail of online marketing: the campaign that goes viral. Massive numbers of views, a staggering amount of social shares, and the kind of brand awareness money simply can't buy. But crafting a successful viral campaign is no easy feat; in fact, most experts say you can't really plan it with a marketing strategy definition at all — it either happens, or it doesn't, and luck is no small factor.
But that doesn't mean you can't craft your campaigns to increase your odds of viral success. The key is to tap into your audience’s "lizard brain."
“Stories that evoke very primal emotions tend to work best,” says Neetzan Zimmerman. He should know: during his time at Gawker, he generated an insane amount of traffic — more than all of his other colleagues combined. So which emotions do you target? How do you start? By getting to know your audience and understanding what makes them tick, first and foremost! Then, try these three proven viral strategies to help your next campaign spread like wildfire.
1. Make them laugh.
Why it works: Funny marketing videos downplay the hard sell and instead go for "surprise and delight." They make people say, “I have got to see that again!” This cranks up the view count, and makes people want to share a laugh with friends. Positive emotions like joy are much more likely to trigger an action like social sharing. (Check out our recent work humor video, "Beware the Managers from Hell!")
2. Make a bold statement.
Why it works: These campaigns go for the gut, tapping into powerful emotions. People connect to your message on a deeper, "Me too!" level and genuinely want to spread the word or share your cause.
3. Make their jaws drop.
Why it works: The awe factor. These are the videos that make people turn to their friends and say, "You gotta see this!" Everyone wants to be the first person to share something cool or amazing with their friends.
Warning! Don’t get so wrapped up in achieving viral status that you stray too far and your campaign ends up having nothing to do with your brand. If people remember your campaign but can’t remember what company or product it’s associated with, your efforts are wasted.
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Marketing
3 min read
Are Marketers Allergic to Project Management?
Not everyone on your team has to be a certified PMP to reap the benefits of project management for marketing. Even an understanding of just a few basic project management principles and processes can help your team be better organized, more efficient, and enjoy improved results. In short, basic project management means you can achieve more with less effort and stress.
But project management training can sound like a chore to your team, who may see it as just stuffy processes and restrictive rules — or simply more work than it's worth.
So where do you start? Which principles or processes will have the biggest positive impact with the least amount of effort and disruptive change? Start with these three project management tips to get the most bang for your buck:
1. Better Project Planning
As every project manager knows, getting all your ducks in an row before your project starts will save you an aspirin-bottle’s worth of headaches later on. Every effective plan starts with determining your goals, and that means sitting down with stakeholders to figure out exactly what their needs and expectations are. Only then can you define your deliverables and chart an efficient path towards producing them.
Read: 6 Steps to a Foolproof Project Plan
DroneCo's plans for the new HoverPup quadcopter — click to view full size
2. Better Processes
Inefficient or broken processes can mean missed deadlines, overshot budgets, and work that doesn’t meet requirements — in short, wasted efforts and project failure. Fix the root cause of your frustrations by adopting a few principles from Lean project management: simplifying your processes and cutting out waste. Do it right, and your team will be able to get things done faster and more efficiently than ever before.
Read: The 7 Wastes that Cripple Knowledge Workers (Video)
3. Better Solutions for Next Time
Nothing’s worse than the horrible déjà vu of recurring work frustrations. Keep the same old problems from popping up time and again by taking some time at the end of your project to reflect on what went well, what didn’t, and what you’ll change for next time. That way, each project makes your team better and stronger.
Read: Recording Project Management Lessons Learned: Tips & Templates
So no, marketers are not allergic to project management. It's nurture vs. nature - nothing a little basic PM training can't fix! See how Wrike can help you coordinate your team, adjust to changing priorities, and keep every campaign organized and on track.
Follow the DroneCo Comic for More Marketing Laughs!
Browse previous episodes of Welcome to DroneCo in the comic archive, then subscribe to the strip to get each new episode. Follow DroneCo on Twitter and keep up with the fun all week long!
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