Owning a business makes you a marketer. But it doesn’t mean it has to be difficult. So today we are going to show you how to manage your marketing initiatives by applying the principles of project management. This will make things so much easier.
What is Marketing Project Management?
[Theresa] Managing projects is a key skill to have if you’re a small business owner. However, when it comes to marketing your business, your approach is often siloed. In other words, you approach each marketing tactic you’re doing as unrelated to others.
For example, let’s say you blog, podcast, post to social media, network, and run ads. So, that’s five different tactics, let’s say.
What commonly happens is you treat each of these tactics as separate entities. This leads you to create a strategy for each one — so that would be five different strategies.
Then you may create processes to streamline your efforts for each one of those strategies. I don’t know about you, but that sounds overwhelming.
[Meghan] It does! When you approach your marketing this way, you end up dividing your time and attention across too many platforms. This leaves you with lots of items on the to-do list, but likely not enough real progress for the effort.
In other words, you end up with five different projects with five different objectives. The result is inconsistent effort, lack of results, and wasted time and energy.
[Theresa] But what if, instead, you approached your marketing as one, cohesive project? You start with an overarching goal for your marketing and then treat that goal as a project to manage.
Project management in the context of marketing refers to the application of principles, techniques, and tools of project management to plan, execute, monitor, control, and close your marketing initiatives.
[Meghan] Essentially, it involves organizing, managing, and tracking your marketing campaigns to ensure they are completed within a set timeframe and within your budget to meet your marketing objectives or goals.
Benefits of Project Management for Marketing
[Theresa] Right. However, your marketing goals and the strategies and tactics you use are just one part of the equation. The other part of marketing effectiveness is your ability to manage your time and effort efficiently.
Marketing project management helps
- streamline processes and communication
- coordinate multiple tasks or campaigns, and
- ensures that resources (like time, budget, and human resources) are used wisely
This ultimately will help you deliver a high-quality outcome, whether that’s a successful product launch, an effective ad campaign, a well-attended event, or other marketing endeavors.
[Meghan] Applying project management techniques to your marketing helps to ensure transparency and encourages collaboration. It also improves your marketing by promoting accountability and proactive problem-solving.
Marketing projects can be super complex! So, project management can make these projects easier to manage. It can help you and your team to:
- Handle multiple tasks seamlessly
- Communicate effectively
- Meet deadlines
- Ensure the alignment of your marketing goals with your overall business objectives
[Theresa] These benefits are significant. After all, your marketing plan is, for all intents and purposes, a project. When you start to treat it as one, you’ll be so much more productive and your marketing efforts will be more successful.
The Core Principles of Project Management
[Meghan] It’s a smart idea! So, let’s tie this back into where we started. You blog, podcast, post to social media, network, and run ads. And, you approach each of these as a separate tactic with its own strategy.
This creates a lot of work that you likely won’t keep up with. Therefore, you won’t get the results you want. However, if you apply the principles of project management to marketing, it all gets easier.
[Theresa] So much easier! But before we break this down for you, let’s make sure we’re all on the same page when it comes to project management.
Here are the essential elements that apply to managing a project:
- Setting goals (the objective)
- Planning (the strategy, timeline, and assigning tasks)
- Execution (implementation)
- Monitoring and controlling (ensuring the project is on track and making adjustments as needed)
- Debrief (wrapping up and analyzing the success of your project)
Each of these steps is necessary to ensure a successful outcome when managing any type of project. Your marketing is no exception.
Step-by-Step Process to Marketing Project Management
[Meghan] So true! Let’s get a little more specific and talk about what marketing project management should look like step-by-step.
1) Identify the Marketing Project
[Theresa] The first step to setting up successful marketing project management is to clearly define the scope and objectives of your marketing project. In other words, you need to set a goal. Ideally a SMARTER goal.
[Meghan] We did a deep dive on SMARTER goals back in episode 71, so we aren’t going to do that here. But, in brief, this type of goal is super specific, even more so than your more commonly used SMART goal.
You know we’re big on goals around here! We like ‘em! A well-defined goal is your North Star, especially in project management. It guides every decision you make throughout the project.
[Theresa] That’s right. Having one cohesive goal helps you look at the bigger picture so that you can figure out the plan. And it also flips the script to how you approach your marketing to begin with.
Let’s start with an example SMARTER goal:
We will add 5,000 new, relevant email list subscribers within six months through promoting our lead magnet.
Once you know the goal, then you can think about tactics like the five we mentioned earlier — that’s blogging, podcasting, social media marketing, networking, and running ads.
[Meghan] So, what Theresa is saying is that the goal determines the tactics and the strategy. This is far more productive than just blogging or doing social media for the sake of doing those things.
2) Develop a Project Plan
[Theresa] Exactly!. Now that the goal is clear, it’s time to lay out the how-to’s. Planning is where the rubber meets the road.
So your next step is to create a project plan. You’ll outline your strategy and break down each task needed to achieve the goal. It’s in this stage where you’ll also consider the timeline for each task, the resources you’ll need, and the budget you have.
[Meghan] So, in the case of our example goal, you might allocate resources for the following tactics:
- Creating high-quality blog posts and podcasts that promote the lead magnet
- Planning social media posts that focus on a problem that your lead magnet solves
- Sharing a link to the lead magnet at online networking events
- Setting aside a budget for running targeted ads
[Theresa] Also, make sure your plan is realistic and actionable by being detailed.
For instance, in your lead magnet promotion, you would also need to outline steps for things like
- What kind of content needs to be created (blog, vlog, podcast, social media, long form, short form, as well as the topics)
- Which social media platforms will be most effective for promotion (where is the audience)
- How much ad spend you’re allocating and where you’re spending it
- What tools and tech you need to set up
Each of these elements then becomes a sub-task within the broader project, complete with its own set of responsibilities and due dates.
3) Assemble Your Team
[Meghan] And speaking of responsibilities, let’s get to the next step in marketing project management — assembling your team. This step is about identifying who will do what.
Whether you have a team or you’re flying solo, you’ll likely need help with managing your marketing project.
[Theresa] Yes, delegation is crucial here. You can’t do it all, and you shouldn’t. If you have help, be sure to assign each responsibility to the right team member. For those of you who are teams of one, help could be in the form of freelancers, software tools, or even interns.
So, using our example goal again, you might be responsible for the strategy and content creation for your lead magnet promotion, while an outsourced social media manager could handle all the social postings, and so on.
[Meghan] Assembling a team can be as simple as deciding which tasks to automate, delegate, or outsource. So, once you’ve written down each task from your project plan, identify who or what can best accomplish it.
4) Execute the Project
[Theresa] With your plan and team in place, it’s time to roll up your sleeves and get into action. In other words, it’s time for the next phase of marketing project management — executing your project.
[Meghan] For our example, this means creating the blog posts and podcast episodes, setting up the social media postings, attending networking events, and running those ads.
[Theresa] Right! You’ll follow your plan but stay flexible. The truth is that not everything will go as you intended. Be prepared to troubleshoot issues or adapt your plan as you go along.
[Meghan] Flexibility is key. Sometimes you need to make adjustments to your marketing project along the way.
So, in the case of the lead magnet promotion plan, this might mean experimenting with different ad platforms. Or, it could mean changing up your messaging if you find that one strategy isn’t as effective as you’d hoped.
5) Monitor Progress
[Theresa] Of course, monitoring comes alongside execution to make sure you’re on the right track. That’s why monitoring progress is the next step to managing your marketing project.
As Peter Druker famously said, “You can’t manage what you can’t measure.” So, use key performance indicators (KPIs) to determine whether or not you’re on track to reach your goal.
In the case of our example, we may track the following KPIs to monitor our progress:
- Number of new subscribers per week
- Engagement rates on social posts
- Conversion rates from ads
[Meghan] Exactly! You wouldn’t drive a car without a dashboard. Likewise, you shouldn’t manage a project without metrics.
The metrics tell you if you need to pivot or make some adjustments to your strategies or tactics. They guide you and keep you on the most efficient path to your objective.
[Theresa] They also provide a means to celebrate the little wins along the way, keeping you and your team motivated.
[Meghan] Yes. Always make time to celebrate those wins! And, I think we’ve made it to the last step in marketing project management!
6) Review and Learn
[Theresa] We have! The final step is to review the outcomes and learn from the experience. It’s often referred to as a debrief. This step is crucial because what you learn here will help you run future marketing projects more efficiently and effectively.
Once the project is completed, it’s time to evaluate by asking yourself (and your team) questions like:
- Did you achieve your objective?
- What strategies were most effective?
- What bottlenecks did you encounter and
- How can you mitigate them in the future?
[Meghan] In our example, this would mean evaluating whether you achieved the 5,000 new subscriber goal and identifying which strategies contributed most to this success or failure.
You may ask questions like:
- What worked best? Was it the blogging, the podcasts, or the ads?
- Did the ads convert well?
- Which social media platforms had the most conversions?
- What didn’t work?
The debrief offers valuable insights for your future marketing projects.
[Theresa] Absolutely!, A project is as much about learning as it is about achieving objectives. The insights you gain from each project will be invaluable.
Keeping Perfection Out of Your Marketing Project Management
[Meghan] Okay, so look. We get it. Managing your marketing projects can seem daunting, especially if you’re used to juggling everything on your own. You may feel that you need to get everything perfectly aligned before you start a project.
But, let’s get real for a moment: Perfection is the enemy of progress. It’s okay to start messy and learn as you go. There’s nothing wrong with taking small, consistent steps forward.
[Theresa] Yes. There’s no “perfect” in project management—or in business for that matter. What matters is movement. Forward momentum, even if it’s just a baby step, is infinitely better than standing still in the quest for perfection.
You have to think of each stumble or hiccup not as a failure but as a lesson that brings you closer to your goals. With marketing project management, you’re not just posting a blog here or an Instagram Reel there. You’re crafting a streamlined, cohesive plan.
And guess what? It’s perfectly okay to adjust that plan as you learn what works for your unique business.
Empowering Your Small Business through Effective Marketing Project Management
[Meghan] I second that! There’s power in simply beginning.
If you’re hesitating to take that first step, remember that your small business—like you—is a work in progress that grows through experience and adaptation. You and your business are unique as is your journey. That’s why marketing project management is not a one-size-fits-all template. Think of it as a framework that you can tailor to suit your specific needs and objectives.
[Theresa] Let’s not underestimate the power that comes from effective project management. It frees up your time, focuses your energy, and amplifies your efforts. Even if you’re a team of one or a small tribe, there’s nothing stopping you from taking what you’ve learned here today and applying it right away.
[Meghan] If you’re still feeling overwhelmed, remember you don’t have to do it all at once. Take one aspect of your marketing—say, your social media strategy—and try applying project management principles to just that. Once you’ve got the hang of it, expand to other areas.
[Theresa] You have the tools and the knowledge. Now all you need is to take that first step. By embracing marketing project management, you’re not just ticking boxes but setting the stage for meaningful, sustainable growth. You’re acknowledging that your time, resources, and goals are valuable enough to be managed with intention and skill.
[Meghan] So, roll up those sleeves and dive in. The path to effective marketing and a thriving business is built one step at a time. You’ve got this!
[Theresa] Amen to that, Meghan. Take that step today. Your future self will thank you.
Want to know when a new episode and blog post launch each week? Click the FOLLOW US button below to get notified via the Follow.it app!
