Project Management Plan How to Make One For Marketing (Template)

Project Management Plan How to Make One For Marketing (Template) Project management can be intimidating at first. As marketers, we are often more comfortable executing work, rather than managing how it gets done. If that sounds like you, youll need to  develop new skills to keep our teams and processes organized. Theres a lot to learn, too. Planning project phases, allocating resources, and overseeing workflows is challenging. Its worth the effort, though, and developing strong organizational and leadership skills is invaluable. Think about it like planning a trip.  You need to know where youre going before you start driving, right? Otherwise, youre liable to get lost and waste time.  The same applies to marketing campaigns, too. If your goal is the destination, then you need a guide on how to reach them. Thats where project management plans come in. Theyre your roadmap toward success,  helping teams visualize how to achieve success, from start to finish. Best of all, they dont have to be difficult to document. Follow this guide and learn: How to map marketing timelines from ideation to measurement. What makes checklists  so  valuable for keeping projects on track. The best way to develop processes that build consistency into your marketing operations. By the time youre done, youll be coordinating projects with the best of em. What is ? is the only way to organize all your marketing in one place. Its a family of agile marketing products that will help you stay focused, deliver projects on time, and make your team happy. See what it can do for your marketing team now. Table of Contents: Free Project Management Plan Template What is a Project Management Plan (Definition)? Validate Whether the Project Is Worth Executing Create a Simple Creative or Project Brief Understand the Three Elements of Successful Project Planning Identify the Scope of Your Project Execute Your Plan Document the Plan and Keep it Organized Start With Your Free Marketing Project Management Plan Template Project plans include a lot of details and moving parts. To keep everything documented and organized, snag this free template. Itll make putting advice into practice much easier. Plus, youll also get a free project management calendar and checklist template to help plan deadlines and track project progress.How to Make the Best Project Management Plan To Organize Marketing Workflows by @Ben_via... What is a Project Management Plan (and Why Should Marketers Care)? This post will work with the following definition: Project management plans are simple workflow timelines. They map out what is necessary to complete a project, including tasks, deadlines, and resource requirements. When they're properly implemented, marketing teams can plan their work, then work their plan. Time spent planning yields significant benefits. Consider these statistics: According to one study from PriceWaterhouseCoopers, only 2.5% of organizations complete 100% of their projects. A report from The Standish Group, 90% of companies use some sort of project retrospective process to assess performance. Aditi Consulting says three in five projects companies execute are not relevant to their business strategy.Why should marketing teams focus on #projectmanagement? Bc only 2.5% of companies complete 100% of...These findings can teach us a few things: Failure to plan is planning to fail. Without proper project management processes in places, things tend to not get done. Marketers need to prioritize the right projects. Lots of companies spend more time looking busy than delivering value. Marketers aren't excluded from this trap, either. Reviewing results is key to long-term success. When things go right, it's important to understand why they worked. This can help you build repeatable processes to duplicate positive results again and again.What are project management plans and how can they help marketers manage workflows? First, Validate Whether the Project Is Worth Executing It's easy to spend a lot of time looking busy. Lots of marketing teams mistake sheer activity as being  successful. To achieve real success, marketers must focus on big-picture things rather than small item tactics. That said, however, doing work that drives results is much more difficult.  Fundamentally, your tactics serve your goals to achieve results. This means any marketing strategy that  starts  by focusing on tactics  first  is doomed from the get-go. To determine if your project is even worth pursuing, answer these questions before moving forward: Is this project part of our overall marketing strategy?  If not, then what is its purpose? Will completing this work result in achieving our goals?  What will this project help accomplish? Would our time be better spent on something else? If the answers to questions one and two aren't clear, this third question is worth considering. Once you have the green light to proceed, continue onward. How can marketers know a project is worth pursuing? Start here. Create a Simple Creative or Project Brief It's easier to visualize success when everyone on your team knows the intended outcome and how they contribute. A simple project brief should include the following: A description of the project:   What does this project need to look like when it's done? The objective or goal:  Why is this project being completed? A rough estimate of how long it will take:  Do you have a rough estimate for how long this project will take? This doesn't necessarily need to be complicated. Creative briefs should be... well brief. Tip: While this section should come first in your plan, you may need to write it last. That's because you'll determine timelines in a later step. Next, Understand the Three Elements of Successful Project Planning Great projects always stem from a well-planned workflow and timeline. Workflows allow everyone to know what needs to be done and when – which makes everyone's (work) life a little easier. There are three essential elements every project plan should include: Project Phases: What does this project look like when mapped out from start to finish? Tasks and Steps: Team members will need checklists to ensure no steps are missed. It's also helpful to work in task approvals so projects can move forward seamlessly. Available Resources: Who will complete each step? How much budget will they receive? Will they need other assets?