Stephanie Donelson

Marketers are no strangers to projects, deadlines, and analysis but sometimes we need to take a step back and look at our project management process to make sure it’s working the way we need it to.

With today’s fast-paced digital marketing landscape, we have to be adept at getting projects done quickly, without sacrificing quality. 

A strong project management process in the marketing department can help divide the work evenly, boost productivity, keep projects on schedule, and deliver timely, relevant content and marketing assets. 

It can also help marketers prove their worth and why the work their department does matters to the company. 

If you’re looking to revise your project management process in your team, check out these seven steps. 

Best practices for marketing project management

1. Have one place for project submissions

Whether you use Google Forms, Trello, or another project management tool, everyone should be submitting projects to one central location.

No more one-off emails or conversations at your desk.

Train your coworkers on the system they’ll need to use and how to fill out a project request form.

At my company, we have several project request forms, like one for case studies, one for infographics, one for videos, and so on. This helps the person submitting the project find the right type of form and get all the details they need.

Your project forms should collect information like:

• Point of contact for this project
• What is the goal of this project?
• Asset type
• Description of project
• Who’s the audience?
• Who are the stakeholders or who has final approval?
• What’s the due date?
• Expected deliverables
• Budget

If you need it, have a kick-off call or meeting to discuss the project in more depth and make sure everyone is clear on what will be created and what success will look like for the whole team. 

2. Prioritize projects

Once projects start coming in, have a plan on how you or your team will prioritize and assign them. 

Most marketers go with the biggest projects or projects with the most impact on the business as the highest priority. Or, you could use the traditional three-point scale:

• Low priority: Nice to haves
• Medium priority: Need to be completed but not urgently
• High priority: High impact projects with good ROI

Take into account the level of effort needed to complete the project, as well as the resources available to work on the project. 

Some projects can be turned around quickly while others are more complex and require more time and resources. Level of effort should be calculated into your priority list as well.

3. Schedule the project

Slate the project into your workload, create milestones, and determine deadlines for different parts of the project. Make sure to run these due dates by the team to make sure they’re realistic and can be met to keep the project moving forward.

4. Develop action items

Create a list of all the tasks that need to be completed, no matter how granular they may seem.

For example, say a project for a new ebook comes in. Your task list could include:

• Keyword research
• Title options
• Research
• Copywriting
• Custom graphics
• Layout and design
• Proofreading
• Editing for SEO
• Publishing the ebook to the website
• Landing page development
• Landing page SEO
• Email drip campaign development
• Launch email drip campaign
• Social media graphics
• Scheduling social media posts
• Creating ads on Google Ads
• Repurposing chapters as blogs, infographics, or videos

5. Assign work

Now it’s time to assign out the work to your content creators, graphic designers, SEO specialists, web designers, email marketers, and social media specialists. Some work will have to be completed before next steps can happen, while some content can be done in tandem like copywriting the ebook and creating a landing page and email drip campaign.

Make sure each team member agrees to the scope of work and knows all the due dates for each piece.

6. Track and adjust as necessary 

I love using project management tools like Trello or Slope to track projects, get feedback, and keep everything in one central location. 

You should avoid email to manage communication on the project as some people might not be included on the chain or others might miss the email entirely. Use your tools to your advantage by tagging the right people and checking off to-dos as you move through the project. I love kanban boards and Trello as you can track notes, task lists, due dates, and so much more to keep projects on task and on schedule. 

If the project’s milestones aren’t being met when they should be, sit down with the team members who are missing deadlines to see what’s going on and what needs to be adjusted to meet upcoming deadlines or move the project out. 

Be sure to leave in buffer room in the feedback and editing stages of the project!

5 tips to to motivate team members during every project

• Clearly communicate roles, responsibilities, and expectations
• Provide support where necessary and handle problems as they come up
• Respect your teammates and how they do their job
• Provide honest feedback quickly
• Communicate regularly 

7. Close the project

Once the project is complete, have a debrief to talk about:

• What went well?
• What went wrong?
• What can be improved next time?

Be open to critical feedback to improve the project management process and identify where bottlenecks occur and what can be done next time to remove that obstacle. 

Be sure to celebrate your team’s success and thank them for their great contributions to the project.

You’ll also want to check in the project after it’s completed to make sure it’s meeting its goals and pre-determined success metrics. 

What tips do you have for improving project management in marketing? Share your ideas in the comments below or on Twitter!