Marketing Managers have a multitude of tasks and responsibilities in their daily routines, but one of the most important and difficult things for them to master is providing opportunities for collaboration and making sure everyone is put in a position to be successful.  Most content marketing managers are not trained in project management, making it hard for them to reap the benefits of a successfully managed team.  The 2019 In-House Creative Management Report helps tell the story of this issue with a few eye-opening pieces of data:

• Only 45% of creative and marketing professionals report that morale on their team is high
• 72% of creatives say that getting the information necessary to get started on the project is the biggest administrative task that consumes their time
• 22% revealed that collaboration between creative and marketing teams is ineffective

It’s safe to say that teamwork between creatives and marketers could be further optimized, and there is plenty of room for improvement.  Here are a few ways to improve content marketing project management:

Start with Creative Briefs
The process begins with the creative brief that explains expectations and deliverables for those involved with the project.  Start with an insufficient creative brief, and your entire vision may become lost in the confusion of failed collaboration.

Keep Communication Lines Open
Communication is a huge part of working together, and many of the project’s key ideas may be misinterpreted or thrown out without open communication within the organization.

Find the Right Tools and Partners
It can be a lot to ask of a project manager to keep larger teams in line all by themselves.  Luckily there are collaboration tools to help assist you with organization.

Standardize your Review and Approval Processes
Make it easier on yourself and your organization by having all of your ducks in a row when it comes to review and approval.  This can become a very long and tumultuous process when unorganized, so be sure to have a standardized process in place so no time is wasted on numerous handoffs, reviews, and more.

All in all, collaboration is a huge aspect of projects today in many organizations and should be treated as such.  Try to gain a deeper understanding of your peers and processes and utilize the abundant amount of resources that can help with project management.  This will save your organization an unprecedented amount of time- And time is money!

The 2020 In-House Creative Management Survey is now open and we want to hear from you! Take the survey here.

This content was originally presented in the article “How to Get It Done: Project Management Tips for Content Marketing Managers” by TopRank Marketing.  You can view the full article here:

How to Get It Done: Project Management Tips for Content Marketing Managers