As cool as it would be to open a magic room and have an exciting new product waiting for you, reality just doesn’t work that way. Developing a successful product takes effective planning, research, lots of work, probably some arguments, and learning from your inevitable wrong turns. And, just like your agency doesn’t jump into projects without a plan, you can’t develop new products without a process (well, you can, but it won’t be pretty).
You’ve probably heard, “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.” And while that’s great advice across the board, it rings especially true in marketing. There’s no such thing as a one-size-fits-all solution in marketing. What works for one of your agency’s clients might not work for the next.
As an agency, you’re in the business of creating success for your clients. And while you already have a proven roadmap you use as a starting point for new clients, there’s no single path that delivers strong results 100% of the time. One key element in planning and executing a successful marketing campaign is selecting the right marketing strategy.
Let’s face it: IT projects are notoriously complex. So is managing them. With shifting client requirements, unknown endpoints, finicky development languages, and the constantly evolving nature of technology itself, information technology projects face more potential hurdles and pitfalls than their analog counterparts. To overcome these challenges, IT project managers have specialized training and often more experience.
Do you find yourself searching through mounds of folders for the file you need? Can you not remember which platform it was on, what you named it, where you stored it, or all three? If so, you’re taking time away from the more pressing, higher-priority activities on your plate. This issue isn’t just a “you” problem — organizations everywhere are going through the same thing.
Program managers and project managers might sound like very similar jobs. They have similar job titles, work with similar concepts, and speak a similar workplace language. They even have similar academic and professional backgrounds (though there’s a difference in depth). But make no mistake, these two roles are as crucial as they are distinct — and those distinctions are worth understanding.
Does your sales team need project management? You may have wondered this before (or maybe it hasn’t come up). Either way, there’s a strong argument for managing sales projects just like you would any other agency deliverables. If you want to set your sales department up for big success, using traditional project management principles may be the strategy you’re looking for.
Every project is a little bit different, each with its own unique set of objectives and desired outputs. Each may also see your agency working with several different departments and points of contact as you develop the final deliverable. It’s working with those different parties that makes project integration management necessary. Without this type of management, it can be difficult to ensure that all teams communicate well and that processes flow as they should be.
For an agency, winning over new clients is only part of the journey. Once you have them, how can you make sure you keep them? (Or even more ideally, maximize those contracts’ value?) Some might think the answer is simple: Just provide excellent service, right? Not quite — although that is a critical piece of the puzzle. So, what works best?
Project managers shoulder lots of responsibility. Keeping the team productive, addressing problems, creating solutions, and fostering collaboration are all items that land on their plate. So is process management. If processes are ill-managed, the entire project pays the price. Communication can break down, accountability can decrease, errors can increase, and milestones can go unmet. If this scenario gives you indigestion, you’re not alone.
