Posted by While starting a new marketing project, the first thing you’d have to think about is, who would be in charge? Perhaps you’re thinking about giving a member of your existing marketing team the responsibility? Or you presume the current Head of Marketing can do the job.
The best answer however is to hire a project manager.
Project managers can manage and oversee every element of a project. They ensure that everything runs smoothly and that every target is met.
Hiring a good project manager comes with a host of benefits. This article explores some of them and looks at how a project manager can transform your marketing department.
What is a Project Manager?
A project manager is in charge of the day-to-day running of a project. They are responsible for the planning, delivery, and monitoring of each individual project element.
Ensuring everything is delivered on time and within the established budget is another important trait of a Project manager.
A good project manager will coordinate the project team, giving them the confidence to complete tasks to the highest quality. Project managers oversee all areas of a project, predicting and dealing with any unexpected hurdle. They take care of communicating with senior staff and shareholders to manage expectations and keep communication lines open.
So what are the benefits of hiring a good project manager?
1. Organization
Having a project manager heading up your project team can help to transform the organization of the whole project. A project manager can organize both members of the wider team as well as tasks and materials to ensure everything runs as smoothly as possible. A project manager can assign tasks to certain members of the team, set timeframes for completion, request status reports, and ensure that all relevant documents and data are kept up to date.
Being organized is essential if you want your project to be a success and project managers will know the status of every single element of a project, meaning they are always able to keep track of and update on the project at any given time.
Most project managers will also make use of various project management systems to ensure the project and all related tasks and team members are kept as organized as possible. This helps to ensure that anything related to the project is kept in the same place and is easily accessible to anyone who requires it.
2. Communication
Communication is key to every area of business but not least when it comes to running a project. Project managers ensure that lines of communication are always open. They ensure it’s both between members of the project team and between themselves and the wider business.
Those working on a project need to be regularly updated with progress and updates. They should feel empowered to speak with their colleagues and peers as the project develops. A project manager will ensure that nobody is forgotten about and each member of the team has all the information they need to complete their job.
In 2021 project managers are able to make use of software for project management such as monday.com or ClickUp to make communication even smoother. This allows members of the project team to access updates and documents at any time from any place, particularly useful for teams with remote workers.
Project managers also ensure that communication between the project and the wider business is upheld. Often there may be senior management, directors, and shareholders who all need to be kept updated and informed about the progress of a project and a project manager is able to prioritize this communication in order to keep everyone happy.
3. Experience
Project managers bring with them a wealth of knowledge and experience that they can put to good use in your project. They are able to draw on past successes and failures in order to inform the project strategy to achieve the very best results.
When hiring a project manager it’s important to look at their experience and have a clear understanding of exactly what knowledge and skills you require them to have. Whether you’re looking for assistance with an SEO project, a brief social media campaign, or a long-term content marketing strategy, it’s important that you find a project manager that is specialized in that specific marketing area.
A good project manager will also already have a clear understanding of how to manage a project, which tools work best, how to manage staff, and the ability to stick to deadlines and budgets meaning there will be no need to undertake training before beginning the project which can be costly and time-consuming.
4. Budgeting
Delivering a project within budget can be a tricky task. Unforeseen circumstances, price increases, or an unexpected addition to the project can all add to what is often an already tight budget. A good project manager, therefore, is able to keep a close eye on project spends and make executive decisions to help cut costs and deliver the end project within budget.
Often project managers have built up a backlog of tips and tricks for keeping projects well within the parameters set out in the original budget. This means those with the best experience will know where to cut corners to save money and where to invest.
It’s not always possible of course to keep a project within the agreed budget but with eyes on everyone and everything related to the project, a project manager is able to ensure that everything is working in parallel with the original plans and should be able to foresee additional costs and plan accordingly.
If you can prove your track record of delivering projects within budget with the help of a project manager then this will often help to secure further budget for future projects for often overstretched and underfunded marketing departments.
5. Time Management
Much like sticking to a budget, delivering a project on time isn’t always easy. That’s where a good project manager comes in.
A project manager can oversee every element of the project and set manageable deadlines for each team member and task. This management then allows them to predict when the project will be complete and manage expectations accordingly.
Often the pressure to meet strict deadlines can hamper the quality of the work produced. A project manager can ensure that deadlines are realistic and if necessary, extended, to ensure the output is still of the highest standards.
Hiring a project manager for your marketing project also allows for outsourcing and pooling of resources where necessary. With so much intel on the team and project a project manager is able to see where resources can be pooled to save time and money as well as assessing which tasks it may be more beneficial and cost-effective to outsource. Outsourcing project tasks can help to ensure everything is completed on time and to the standard expected.
Project managers are often a role that people are tempted to cut. After all, surely an existing team member can manage the project, right? Wrong. A project manager is an essential part of any project team and ensures that team members have the freedom to complete tasks to standard and on time without being sidetracked by project administration.
A project manager helps to make everyone’s lives easier and saves you the hassle of delayed activity and overspend.