How to use project management methods in marketing

If there is one word that can be used to describe marketing, it is varied. Marketing is certainly a diverse field. What works for one client is not going to always work for another client, even if they both operate within the same business sector. Because of this, you need to give a lot of thought and consideration to the type of project management methodology you use. With that in mind, in this blog post, we are going to explore how to use project management methodologies in marketing in further depth so you can get a better understanding.

Agile

There is only one place to begin when it comes to project management methodologies, and this is with Agile. A lot of project managers acquire Agile project management accreditation to help them advance their skills and standing in the industry. It is a methodology that began in the realm of software development and it has slowly started to spread into the broader business world. Today, it is one of the most popular methodologies for project management. It utilises decentralised decision-making and iteration to boost processes and enhance flexibility.

Agile project management is beneficial when it comes to inbound marketing and online marketing. This is because these sorts of marketing campaigns run on a continual basis, which is suited to the iterative process of Agile. You will continually filter knowledge back into the advertising operations while enabling teams to be flexible when responding to any situation as it changes.

On the flip side, Agile may not be the most appropriate solution for seasonal marketing and event marketing. This is due to the fact that the emphasis is placed on incremental improvement over a period of time with Agile. This means that projects that have a short timespan or are based on one big “moment” do not usually do well. These sorts of marketing projects need everything to be perfect at the launch and they do not have any space built for improvement and testing.

Waterfall

You may also want to consider the Waterfall project management methodology for your next marketing project. With this methodology, a sequential procedure is used for the planning and execution of tasks, with one task flowing into the next, moving everything toward the completion of the project.

Waterfall project management works well with regard to bricks and mortar marketing, as well as alliance marketing. This is because it is highly effective in terms of planning for a marketing project to be delivered all-at-once, using project plans and Gantt charts so that precise objectives are achieved and geared toward specific and often distinct deliverables.

This project management methodology does not tend to lend itself well to social media advertising and personalised marketing. This is because the methodology has not been created to handle any sort of circumstances that can alter on an hourly or daily basis. When it comes to situations like this, on-the-fly decision-making and skills-based reactions will outperform long-term planning.

Scrum

Last but not least, you may want to consider using the Scrum methodology for your marketing project. This approach is focused on delivering high-priority deliverables within a specified timeframe. It is all about adopting personal responsibility and ensuring intense focus for a task to be completed.

This sort of project methodology works well for B2B marketing and product marketing. This is because these sorts of marketing projects need the most critical deliverables to be completed first. For both B2B and product marketing, the highest priority actions and assets are the most critical. The secondary actions and assets can be held back for later sprints.

The nature of this methodology means that it is not usually the best approach for high-level corporate marketing and direct marketing. When a team is certainly going to have time for everything to be completed or where all tasks run at the same time and have the same date of completion, Scrum loses the advantages that have been mentioned above.

Can you use a mixture of the different marketing methodologies that have been mentioned?

If you do not think that any of the marketing project management methodologies that have been discussed above are going to be right for you, you may want to consider going for a hybrid approach instead. For marketing companies that are either during a transition period or realise that a mixed approach is going to be better for their situation, a hybrid project management methodology makes the most sense.

This sort of project methodology is best suited to the likes of brand marketing and content marketing. By using a blend of iterative and set-piece processes, your team will be able to follow a hybrid approach that can generate your project’s cornerstone elements and then you can fine-tune them by using more Agile processes when needed.

Hybrid methodologies are popular because they enable you to tailor your project management approach based on your business, ensuring that you end up with something that is just right for you. However, this option can sometimes be an unwise choice, especially if you are building a new app or you are looking for the best project management methodology for test-driven marketing. This is not to say that a hybrid approach would be a failure. Nevertheless, you may find that simply sticking to one approach is going to make a lot more sense in scenarios like this. The reason for this is that it will lower confusion, as well as making your objectives clearer and much more straightforward to achieve.

Hopefully, this article has given you an insight into the different project management methodologies that can be used in marketing, including the pros and cons. We hope that this has helped you to get a better understanding of the options that are available to you and how you can use them to drive your marketing efforts forward. There are different APM, PMP, and PRINCE2 training courses that are available that can enable you to advance your project management knowledge in the various methodologies that have been mentioned above.