Let’s be honest, marketing pros aren’t the best when it comes to developing processes, controlling those processes, or accounting for what it actually costs to perform the work they have won or assigned. Marketing pros know more about the solution to a problem than they do about the road to get them there. For instance, you may know exactly what needs to occur to resolve an engagement problem or drive organic growth, but what do you need to do to get to that end destination, what order do those steps need to occur, could you reallocate some resources or streamline some things to get there faster?
A Project Manager Professional (PMP) can give you an answer and help guide even the best marketing agency to even greater heights. PMPs are often thought of as only being useful in construction, product or software development; however, there are many benefits for marketing agencies to employ these valuable players. PMPs require years of experience, are held to the highest standards of professionalism, are communications experts, and help resolve issues that you probably haven’t even thought of yet. However, In spite of all the organizational benefits, it is surprisingly difficult to find a Denver marketing agency that employs project management professionals.
As stated previously, PMPs require years of experience and formal education before they are even eligible to take the test required for the PMP credential. Additionally, much like other practising professionals, such as Lawyers and Doctors, PMPs must keep up on their training and experience and log hours through the Project Management Institute (www.pmi.org).
This education and experience is not specific to one industry or another but is particularly invaluable for the marketing industry. Because of this continued education, Project Managers are typically very well versed in traditional project management software, such as MS Project, as well as the relatively new cloud-based project management and collaboration tools such as Wrike or Trello. Additionally, PMPs are required to stay ahead of the curve with project control methods through formal training, webinars, or even distributing groundbreaking methods with other PMPs
Project Managers are also communication experts; they must identify and utilize the preferred communication mediums and styles of multiple clients, stakeholders, and sub-contractors in order to meet their project obligations. Whether it’s weekly meetings, daily emails, texts or phone calls, PMs must be able to utilize all these standards, and sometimes simultaneously. PMs know how to standardize documentation in organized file folders and structures, and have been trained to use project charters to know how, when, and where information needs to flow. Above all, Project managers must perform their duties and maintain professionalism at all times; this is part of the requirements for earning and maintaining their PMP credential.
In addition to standardization within documentation protocols and structures, PMPs also standardize and streamline processes to control cost, project schedules, risks, resource management, and quality of deliverables. Ever felt like you have too much going on, with not enough time or manpower to complete the required tasks? This is a project management professional’s bread and butter. PMPs can create work breakdown structures to cover all of your marketing scope items, assign resources, forecast costs, develop realistic schedules, mitigate risks, and give you a real-time detailed view of where an individual project is currently at in the process. Because of these standard processes, a marketing agency will experience reduced costs, increased profits, happier clients, and a much better understanding of overall organizational prioritization and resource planning.
Talk Out Loud employs a project manager to help in the success of our digital marketing agency, and for the success of our clients.
