MARKETING
Marketing Project Management: A Thorough Step-By-Step Guide
Over the past decade, the rise of digital platforms and content marketing has launched us (ready or not) into a new era — and project management has become critical to a marketing department’s success.
In fact, recent data from PMI reveals that companies with strong project management capabilities are far more likely to meet goals, stay within budget, and deliver content on time. They’re also far less likely to experience scope creep or project failure.
So we’re going to take a deep dive into marketing project management — what it is, what the stages are, and how you can get started right away.
Stages of marketing project management:
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Project definition
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Determining the best marketing channel(s)
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Creating strategies for each channel
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Budget planning
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Identifying deliverables
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Timeline creation
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Task delegation and scheduling
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Execution
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Quality assurance
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Delivery and evaluation
What is marketing project management?
Marketing project management is the process of guiding a marketing campaign from idea to finished product. It means organizing things in a way that maximizes both creativity and efficiency — enabling teams to consistently create content on time, on brand, and on budget.
Key stages of a marketing project management
In this section we’re going to go over the different stages in the marketing project management process, showing you how to take your team from idea to finished product like a pro.
1. Project definition
The first thing you need to manage when kicking off a new marketing project is the idea itself. Specifically, you need to transform it from something that’s glossy and vague into something specific and actionable.
Meet with your client and key stakeholders to determine the following:
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Project goal(s) – Why are you taking on this project in broad terms? Example: To increase online sales.
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Project objective(s) – What are some specific, measurable things you need to do to meet your goal? Example: Increase your conversion rate by 50% in 12 months.
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Project strategies – How exactly will you achieve your objectives? Example: Implement an email marketing campaign to drive traffic to your website.
As you can see, it’s important to define your project in both broad and specific terms, answering questions of why, what, and how. This provides your client and team with a purpose while also identifying key indicators that will define success.
2. Determining the best marketing channel(s)
Once you’ve defined the project, the next phase involves choosing the best marketing channels to meet your objectives. When doing so, it’s important to consider both the project’s audience and type of business.
If you’re working with a B2B brand, for example, LinkedIn is the place to be. Consider these statistics:
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LinkedIn drives 50% of all social traffic to B2B websites and blogs.
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80% of all social media B2B leads come from LinkedIn.
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Among executives, LinkedIn is the number one choice for professionally relevant content.
If you’re working with a B2C brand, on the other hand, marketing on LinkedIn doesn’t make much sense. Social platforms like Facebook and TikTok are going to be a better choice to reach B2C customers.
Beyond social media, here’s a summary of commonly used marketing channels that work for both B2B and B2C brands:
3. Creating strategies for each channel
Once you’ve chosen your channels, it’s time to create a strategy for each one. Ask yourself a few key questions to get this ball rolling:
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What type of content does your audience normally consume on each channel? Do they watch videos, for example? Read white papers?
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What does your audience need or want the content to do for them? In other words, what purpose should it serve?
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How often should you reach out to your audience on each channel? What is considered reasonable and not spammy?
Then, you can create specific strategies for each channel based on your responses. Here are a few examples:
Channel: Website
Type of content: Long-form blog articles
Purpose of content: Educational
Frequency: Once a week
Strategy: Create educational, long-form blog articles and publish to the website once a week. Distribute via SEO, paid ads, and organic social media.
Channel: Social media (TikTok)
Type of content: Short videos
Purpose of content: Entertainment
Frequency: Once a day
Strategy: Create short, entertaining videos for TikTok that can be posted daily
4. Budget planning
The next phase in marketing project management involves the budget. Oftentimes, the client or c-suite will give you a budget in the beginning and ask you to work within those parameters.
If this is the case, you’ll need to work backwards from the total allotment to create a specific budget. If you’re given $10,000 to work with, for example, then you have to look at the strategies you’ve developed and assign each piece its own line item in the budget.
When doing so, you may find that you need to trim down or eliminate certain parts of the project due to budget constraints. When this happens, it’s important to communicate with the client about any changes to the original objectives.
Other times, a client or executive will ask you to come up with a budget that would allow you to meet the defined objectives. In this case, you’ll work the other way around, tallying up the cost of each individual strategy until you have a complete budget and then pitching it for approval.
5. Identifying deliverables
Once you have an approved budget, it’s time to get down to the nitty gritty — identifying specific deliverables.
As a marketer, you’re probably familiar with this term, but for any newbies out there, a deliverable refers to any output or product created as part of a marketing campaign. This includes things like blog articles, email funnels, video scripts, social media posts, and more.
You can identify specific deliverables for a project by breaking down your strategies into individual pieces. One of the strategies above, for example, was to create educational, long-form blog articles and publish to the website once a week.
If this was approved in the budget for 3 months, your deliverables would include 12 long-form blog articles. The other strategy was to create short, entertaining videos for TikTok that can be posted daily.
If this was approved in the budget for one month, your deliverables would include 30 TikTok videos.
6. Timeline creation
Ok, so now you know exactly what type of content needs to be created to achieve the project’s goals and objectives. The next phase involves creating a timeline — an organizational tool that helps you and your team see the overall schedule for your marketing plan.
Many marketers find this to be one of the hardest parts of marketing project management because there are so many different moving parts in any given campaign, each one dependent on the other. Scheduling it all is a challenge for even the most organized of people.
Madeline A. Veltri, Project Director at iXL Corporation gives this advice: “Don’t just make ‘To Do’ lists. Good project scheduling considers all tasks, their durations, and their dependencies. Dependencies are particularly important (…) because so much of the work of cross-functional teams is interdependent. Good project schedules are also resource-constrained (consider the availability of human resources and schedule accordingly).”
Because of these complexities, many marketers use project management software to put together the timeline — keeping everyone on the same page and streamlining an otherwise cumbersome task.
7. Task delegation and scheduling
Once you’ve worked out the overall timeline, you’ll need to delegate specific tasks to specific people and assign deadlines.
Some marketing departments have large in-house teams that handle the work of content creation and editing while others outsource it to agencies or freelancers.
Whichever bucket your organization falls into, the nuts and bolts of delegation remain the same: break each deliverable down into specific tasks and assign to appropriate. A blog article, for example, might look like this:
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Keyword research – assign to content strategist
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Develop the topic and outline – assign to content strategist
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Write the article – assign to content writer
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Add images or graphics – assign to creative director
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Edit the article – assign to content editor
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Approve the article – assign to content strategist
As with creating the timeline, this is a stage that’s ripe for using project management software. A good PMS (like Welcome 😉 ) will allow you to assign tasks to people and set deadlines, keeping everyone on the same page.
8. Execution
Now that all the planning and organizing is done, it’s time to get down to work and execute your strategy. Writers should be writing, creatives should be creating, and managers should be managing.
During this phase, communication needs to be very strategic. This is not the time for long pie-in-the-sky meetings or never-ending email chains. Your team needs the time and space to create.
They also need a straightforward way to collaborate with each other, since many tasks are intertwined. And managers need a way to monitor progress that doesn’t interfere with creativity. Enter: project management software (again, lol).
A good PMS will facilitate the flow of information during the execution process, keep users from multiple departments aligned, and track progress on every task.
9. Quality assurance
Once your deliverables are created, the final stage is quality assurance. When it comes to marketing campaigns, this means making sure all of the content that’s heading out the door is on-brand and aligned with the project’s goals, objectives, and strategies.
Most organizations do this by having a content strategist or someone in a similar role give their stamp of approval before content moves on to production or publication.
If you’re using project management software, you can set up workflows that automatically route content for approval — making sure nothing slips through the cracks.
10. Delivery and evaluation
At last! Your content is finished and it’s time to send it off to your client or publish it via your chosen distribution channels. Then you wait for the metrics to come in so you can evaluate performance in terms of the objectives you set back in the beginning.
Sometimes it’s tempting to skip the evaluation step, especially in busy marketing departments where there’s always another project waiting in the pipeline. But it’s critical to take the time to do it.
Evaluating the campaign’s performance based on actual data will give your team valuable insight for the next project.
How to get started with marketing project management software
If the thought of managing all of those stages makes your head spin, you’re not alone. That’s why so many organizations use project management software. Here’s how you can get started:
1. Define your needs
The first thing to do when considering a new software solution is to define your needs. This means taking a good hard look at your current processes. Where are your bottlenecks? What causes the most headaches? How are you communicating with your team?
Take the experience of SFI Health, for example. Their global content team was supporting affiliate and distributor markets all over the globe, each one with its own unique product portfolio and market restrictions.
They needed a solution that would streamline their efforts and make it easier for different stakeholders to produce on-brand content.
So they implemented a new marketing project management system (using Welcome’s software) and doubled their content output year over year. They were also able to unify their brand experience by creating a single content library for regional markets to leverage approved assets.
Cassandra Brill, Global Head of Digital at SFI Health, puts it this way: “We’re getting a huge volume of content out the door, and that wouldn’t be possible without the Welcome platform. Our projects are moving through and getting completed much quicker, and we’ve even been able to repurpose existing content — the wheel is turning a lot quicker than before.”
2. Consider your existing MarTech stack
Once you’ve clearly defined your needs, the first place to look for solutions is your existing MarTech stack. After all, marketing stacks are notoriously underleveraged and you may be surprised to find you already have a tool with project management features.
If that’s the case, compare the tool’s features with your list of needs. If it can tackle all of them, it’s certainly an option worth exploring. Be careful not to sacrifice long-term efficiency, however, for the sake of short-term convenience.
For example, if your existing tool isn’t specific to marketing project management, it probably won’t have all the features that an industry-specific tool would offer.
3. Evaluate software options
Now that you’ve identified whether you have any options in your existing stack, it’s time to take a look at other solutions on the market. As we mentioned, project management platforms that are specific to marketing are likely to offer the most in terms of efficiency.
Welcome‘s content marketing platform, for example, is designed specifically to enable large marketing teams to create faster, repeatable processes. Here are a few things you can do with our project management platform:
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Keep a pulse on what’s going out across every internal and external channel. Our powerful-yet-flexible calendars allow you to easily visualize what’s going out, to whom, and when.
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Centralize the way your team plans every campaign. Plan the effort, craft the communication strategy, and ensure everyone can help amplify the story using tools like shared campaign briefs, project workspaces, and collaborative content editors.
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Create and proof content of all formats with our built-in editor. This allows you to author an original piece and upload content directly. That way, your team can create, proof, and version work — all in one place.
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Leverage real-time search data and recommendations that help inform your content strategy, optimize content so that it ranks well for search, and ensure it resonates with your audience.
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Invite internal and external contributors to create, review, and approve content. Whether you work with a staff of writers or an external agency, you can easily empower your team with the tools they need to collaboratively perfect every brand story.
4. Integrate with existing solutions
Once you’ve chosen your software, the next step is to hook it into all of your existing solutions, and vice versa. This makes everything work seamlessly and removes friction from the creative process.
If you’re collaborating on everything inside your project management platform, for example, you don’t want to have to hop outside of it once it comes time to distribute content.
That’s why Welcome acts as a centralized platform that integrates with the marketing tools you need most, from Marketo to WordPress to Jira and everything in between.
Marketing project management FAQs
Still have a few burning questions about marketing project management? Here are some answers to frequently asked questions:
What is the role of a project manager in marketing?
The project manager in marketing is the one responsible for guiding a campaign from idea to finished product. They oversee all the stages we talked about earlier, from defining the project to creating the timeline to evaluating results.
What skills do you need to be a marketing coordinator or project manager?
Any coordinator or project manager needs to be highly skilled in the areas of communication and organization, and marketing is no different.
You need to communicate with team members, executive leadership, clients, vendors, agencies, and freelancers. And you need to keep everyone on the same page throughout the various stages of the project, always aiming for the same goal.
You also need to have some expertise specific to marketing in order to understand the projects you’re managing. This can include everything from blogging to website design to product launches.
How do you become a project manager in marketing?
To become a project manager in marketing, you need to have a combination of education and experience. Most companies, for example, require at least a bachelor’s degree in marketing, communication, business, or management.
A master’s degree in project management is sometimes preferred and can help you stand out in a crowded field. You can also beef up your educational background with certifications.
The Project Management Professional (PMP) is the most popular project management certification, run by the Project Management Institute. Other certifications include:
In addition to the education requirements, you also need to have a certain level of experience in the field. Most companies typically prefer between two and five years of experience as a marketing manager, depending on the specific role.
Conclusion
Hopefully you’re feeling more confident about tackling project management within your organization. Here’s a quick recap of the stages so you can get right to work:
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Project definition
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Determining the best marketing channel(s)
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Creating strategies for each channel
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Budget planning and project scope
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Identifying deliverables
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Timeline creation
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Task delegation and scheduling
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Execution
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Quality assurance
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Delivery and evaluation
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MARKETING
Will Google Buy HubSpot? | Content Marketing Institute
Google + HubSpot. Is it a thing?
This week, a flurry of news came down about Google’s consideration of purchasing HubSpot.
The prospect dismayed some. It delighted others.
But is it likely? Is it even possible? What would it mean for marketers? What does the consideration even mean for marketers?
Well, we asked CMI’s chief strategy advisor, Robert Rose, for his take. Watch this video or read on:
Why Alphabet may want HubSpot
Alphabet, the parent company of Google, apparently is contemplating the acquisition of inbound marketing giant HubSpot.
The potential price could be in the range of $30 billion to $40 billion. That would make Alphabet’s largest acquisition by far. The current deal holding that title happened in 2011 when it acquired Motorola Mobility for more than $12 billion. It later sold it to Lenovo for less than $3 billion.
If the HubSpot deal happens, it would not be in character with what the classic evil villain has been doing for the past 20 years.
At first glance, you might think the deal would make no sense. Why would Google want to spend three times as much as it’s ever spent to get into the inbound marketing — the CRM and marketing automation business?
At a second glance, it makes a ton of sense.
I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I and others at CMI spend a lot of time discussing privacy, owned media, and the deprecation of the third-party cookie. I just talked about it two weeks ago. It’s really happening.
All that oxygen being sucked out of the ad tech space presents a compelling case that Alphabet should diversify from third-party data and classic surveillance-based marketing.
Yes, this potential acquisition is about data. HubSpot would give Alphabet the keys to the kingdom of 205,000 business customers — and their customers’ data that almost certainly numbers in the tens of millions. Alphabet would also gain access to the content, marketing, and sales information those customers consumed.
Conversely, the deal would provide an immediate tip of the spear for HubSpot clients to create more targeted programs in the Alphabet ecosystem and upload their data to drive even more personalized experiences on their own properties and connect them to the Google Workspace infrastructure.
When you add in the idea of Gemini, you can start to see how Google might monetize its generative AI tool beyond figuring out how to use it on ads on search results pages.
What acquisition could mean for HubSpot customers
I may be stretching here but imagine this world. As a Hubspoogle customer, you can access an interface that prioritizes your owned media data (e.g., your website, your e-commerce catalog, blog) when Google’s Gemini answers a question).
Recent reports also say Google may put up a paywall around the new premium features of its artificial intelligence-powered Search Generative Experience. Imagine this as the new gating for marketing. In other words, users can subscribe to Google’s AI for free, but Hubspoogle customers can access that data and use it to create targeted offers.
The acquisition of HubSpot would immediately make Google Workspace a more robust competitor to Microsoft 365 Office for small- and medium-sized businesses as they would receive the ADDED capability of inbound marketing.
But in the world of rented land where Google is the landlord, the government will take notice of the acquisition. But — and it’s a big but, I cannot lie (yes, I just did that). The big but is whether this acquisition dance can happen without going afoul of regulatory issues.
Some analysts say it should be no problem. Others say, “Yeah, it wouldn’t go.” Either way, would anybody touch it in an election year? That’s a whole other story.
What marketers should realize
So, what’s my takeaway?
It’s a remote chance that Google will jump on this hard, but stranger things have happened. It would be an exciting disruption in the market.
The sure bet is this. The acquisition conversation — as if you needed more data points — says getting good at owned media to attract and build audiences and using that first-party data to provide better communication and collaboration with your customers are a must.
It’s just a matter of time until Google makes a move. They might just be testing the waters now, but they will move here. But no matter what they do, if you have your customer data house in order, you’ll be primed for success.
HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT:
Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute
MARKETING
5 Psychological Tactics to Write Better Emails
Welcome to Creator Columns, where we bring expert HubSpot Creator voices to the Blogs that inspire and help you grow better.
I’ve tested 100s of psychological tactics on my email subscribers. In this blog, I reveal the five tactics that actually work.
You’ll learn about the email tactic that got one marketer a job at the White House.
You’ll learn how I doubled my 5 star reviews with one email, and why one strange email from Barack Obama broke all records for donations.
5 Psychological Tactics to Write Better Emails
Imagine writing an email that’s so effective it lands you a job at the White House.
Well, that’s what happened to Maya Shankar, a PhD cognitive neuroscientist. In 2014, the Department of Veterans Affairs asked her to help increase signups in their veteran benefit scheme.
Maya had a plan. She was well aware of a cognitive bias that affects us all—the endowment effect. This bias suggests that people value items higher if they own them. So, she changed the subject line in the Veterans’ enrollment email.
Previously it read:
- Veterans, you’re eligible for the benefit program. Sign up today.
She tweaked one word, changing it to:
- Veterans, you’ve earned the benefits program. Sign up today.
This tiny tweak had a big impact. The amount of veterans enrolling in the program went up by 9%. And Maya landed a job working at the White House
Inspired by these psychological tweaks to emails, I started to run my own tests.
Alongside my podcast Nudge, I’ve run 100s of email tests on my 1,000s of newsletter subscribers.
Here are the five best tactics I’ve uncovered.
1. Show readers what they’re missing.
Nobel prize winning behavioral scientists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky uncovered a principle called loss aversion.
Loss aversion means that losses feel more painful than equivalent gains. In real-world terms, losing $10 feels worse than how gaining $10 feels good. And I wondered if this simple nudge could help increase the number of my podcast listeners.
For my test, I tweaked the subject line of the email announcing an episode. The control read:
“Listen to this one”
In the loss aversion variant it read:
“Don’t miss this one”
It is very subtle loss aversion. Rather than asking someone to listen, I’m saying they shouldn’t miss out. And it worked. It increased the open rate by 13.3% and the click rate by 12.5%. Plus, it was a small change that cost me nothing at all.
2. People follow the crowd.
In general, humans like to follow the masses. When picking a dish, we’ll often opt for the most popular. When choosing a movie to watch, we tend to pick the box office hit. It’s a well-known psychological bias called social proof.
I’ve always wondered if it works for emails. So, I set up an A/B experiment with two subject lines. Both promoted my show, but one contained social proof.
The control read: New Nudge: Why Brands Should Flaunt Their Flaws
The social proof variant read: New Nudge: Why Brands Should Flaunt Their Flaws (100,000 Downloads)
I hoped that by highlighting the episode’s high number of downloads, I’d encourage more people to listen. Fortunately, it worked.
The open rate went from 22% to 28% for the social proof version, and the click rate, (the number of people actually listening to the episode), doubled.
3. Praise loyal subscribers.
The consistency principle suggests that people are likely to stick to behaviours they’ve previously taken. A retired taxi driver won’t swap his car for a bike. A hairdresser won’t change to a cheap shampoo. We like to stay consistent with our past behaviors.
I decided to test this in an email.
For my test, I attempted to encourage my subscribers to leave a review for my podcast. I sent emails to 400 subscribers who had been following the show for a year.
The control read: “Could you leave a review for Nudge?”
The consistency variant read: “You’ve been following Nudge for 12 months, could you leave a review?”
My hypothesis was simple. If I remind people that they’ve consistently supported the show they’ll be more likely to leave a review.
It worked.
The open rate on the consistency version of the email was 7% higher.
But more importantly, the click rate, (the number of people who actually left a review), was almost 2x higher for the consistency version. Merely telling people they’d been a fan for a while doubled my reviews.
4. Showcase scarcity.
We prefer scarce resources. Taylor Swift gigs sell out in seconds not just because she’s popular, but because her tickets are hard to come by.
Swifties aren’t the first to experience this. Back in 1975, three researchers proved how powerful scarcity is. For the study, the researchers occupied a cafe. On alternating weeks they’d make one small change in the cafe.
On some weeks they’d ensure the cookie jar was full.
On other weeks they’d ensure the cookie jar only contained two cookies (never more or less).
In other words, sometimes the cookies looked abundantly available. Sometimes they looked like they were almost out.
This changed behaviour. Customers who saw the two cookie jar bought 43% more cookies than those who saw the full jar.
It sounds too good to be true, so I tested it for myself.
I sent an email to 260 subscribers offering free access to my Science of Marketing course for one day only.
In the control, the subject line read: “Free access to the Science of Marketing course”
For the scarcity variant it read: “Only Today: Get free access to the Science of Marketing Course | Only one enrol per person.”
130 people received the first email, 130 received the second. And the result was almost as good as the cookie finding. The scarcity version had a 15.1% higher open rate.
5. Spark curiosity.
All of the email tips I’ve shared have only been tested on my relatively small audience. So, I thought I’d end with a tip that was tested on the masses.
Back in 2012, Barack Obama and his campaign team sent hundreds of emails to raise funds for his campaign.
Of the $690 million he raised, most came from direct email appeals. But there was one email, according to ABC news, that was far more effective than the rest. And it was an odd one.
The email that drew in the most cash, had a strange subject line. It simply said “Hey.”
The actual email asked the reader to donate, sharing all the expected reasons, but the subject line was different.
It sparked curiosity, it got people wondering, is Obama saying Hey just to me?
Readers were curious and couldn’t help but open the email. According to ABC it was “the most effective pitch of all.”
Because more people opened, it raised more money than any other email. The bias Obama used here is the curiosity gap. We’re more likely to act on something when our curiosity is piqued.
Loss aversion, social proof, consistency, scarcity and curiosity—all these nudges have helped me improve my emails. And I reckon they’ll work for you.
It’s not guaranteed of course. Many might fail. But running some simple a/b tests for your emails is cost free, so why not try it out?
This blog is part of Phill Agnew’s Marketing Cheat Sheet series where he reveals the scientifically proven tips to help you improve your marketing. To learn more, listen to his podcast Nudge, a proud member of the Hubspot Podcast Network.
MARKETING
The power of program management in martech
As a supporter of the program perspective for initiatives, I recognize the value of managing related projects, products and activities as a unified entity.
While one-off projects have their place, they often involve numerous moving parts and in my experience, using a project-based approach can lead to crucial elements being overlooked. This is particularly true when building a martech stack or developing content, for example, where a program-based approach can ensure that all aspects are considered and properly integrated.
For many CMOs and marketing organizations, programs are becoming powerful tools for aligning diverse initiatives and driving strategic objectives. Let’s explore the essential role of programs in product management, project management and marketing operations, bridging technical details with business priorities.
Programs in product management
Product management is a fascinating domain where programs operate as a strategic framework, coordinating related products or product lines to meet specific business objectives.
Product managers are responsible for defining a product or product line’s strategy, roadmap and features. They work closely with program managers, who ensure alignment with market demands, customer needs and the company’s overall vision by managing offerings at a program level.
Program managers optimize the product portfolio, make strategic decisions about resource allocation and ensure that each product contributes to the program’s goals. One key aspect of program management in product management is identifying synergies between products.
Program managers can drive innovation and efficiency across the portfolio by leveraging shared technologies, customer insights, or market trends. This approach enables organizations to respond quickly to changing market conditions, seize emerging opportunities and maintain a competitive advantage. Product managers, in turn, use these insights to shape the direction of individual products.
Moreover, programs in product management facilitate cross-functional collaboration and knowledge sharing. Program managers foster a holistic understanding of customer needs and market dynamics by bringing together teams from various departments, such as engineering, marketing and sales.
Product managers also play a crucial role in this collaborative approach, ensuring that all stakeholders work towards common goals, ultimately leading to more successful product launches and enhanced customer satisfaction.
Dig deeper: Understanding different product roles in marketing technology acquisition
Programs in project management
In project management, programs provide a structured approach for managing related projects as a unified entity, supporting broader strategic objectives. Project managers are responsible for planning, executing and closing individual projects within a program. They focus on specific deliverables, timelines and budgets.
On the other hand, program managers oversee these projects’ coordination, dependencies and outcomes, ensuring they collectively deliver the desired benefits and align with the organization’s strategic goals.
A typical example of a program in project management is a martech stack optimization initiative. Such a program may involve integrating marketing technology tools and platforms, implementing customer data management systems and training employees on the updated technologies. Project managers would be responsible for the day-to-day management of each project.
In contrast, the program manager ensures a cohesive approach, minimizes disruptions and realizes the full potential of the martech investments to improve marketing efficiency, personalization and ROI.
The benefits of program management in project management are numerous. Program managers help organizations prioritize initiatives that deliver the greatest value by aligning projects with strategic objectives. They also identify and mitigate risks that span multiple projects, ensuring that issues in one area don’t derail the entire program. Project managers, in turn, benefit from this oversight and guidance, as they can focus on successfully executing their projects.
Additionally, program management enables efficient resource allocation, as skills and expertise can be shared across projects, reducing duplication of effort and maximizing value. Project managers can leverage these resources and collaborate with other project teams to achieve their objectives more effectively.
Dig deeper: Combining martech projects: 5 questions to ask
Programs in marketing operations
In marketing operations, programs play a vital role in integrating and managing various marketing activities to achieve overarching goals. Marketing programs encompass multiple initiatives, such as advertising, content marketing, social media and event planning. Organizations ensure consistent messaging, strategic alignment, and measurable results by managing these activities as a cohesive program.
In marketing operations, various roles, such as MOps managers, campaign managers, content managers, digital marketing managers and analytics managers, collaborate to develop and execute comprehensive marketing plans that support the organization’s business objectives.
These professionals work closely with cross-functional teams, including creative, analytics and sales, to ensure that all marketing efforts are coordinated and optimized for maximum impact. This involves setting clear goals, defining key performance indicators (KPIs) and continuously monitoring and adjusting strategies based on data-driven insights.
One of the primary benefits of a programmatic approach in marketing operations is maintaining a consistent brand voice and message across all channels. By establishing guidelines and standards for content creation, visual design and customer interactions, marketing teams ensure that the brand’s identity remains cohesive and recognizable. This consistency builds customer trust, reinforces brand loyalty and drives business growth.
Programs in marketing operations enable organizations to take a holistic approach to customer engagement. By analyzing customer data and feedback across various touchpoints, marketing professionals can identify opportunities for improvement and develop targeted strategies to enhance the customer experience. This customer-centric approach leads to increased satisfaction, higher retention rates and more effective marketing investments.
Dig deeper: Mastering the art of goal setting in marketing operations
Embracing the power of programs for long-term success
We’ve explored how programs enable marketing organizations to drive strategic success and create lasting impact by aligning diverse initiatives across product management, project management and marketing operations.
- Product management programs facilitate cross-functional collaboration and ensure alignment with market demands.
- In project management, they provide a structured approach for managing related projects and mitigating risks.
- In marketing operations, programs enable consistent messaging and a customer-centric approach to engagement.
Program managers play a vital role in maintaining strategic alignment, continuously assessing progress and adapting to changes in the business environment. Keeping programs aligned with long-term objectives maximizes ROI and drives sustainable growth.
Organizations that invest in developing strong program management capabilities will be better positioned to optimize resources, foster innovation and achieve their long-term goals.
As a CMO or marketing leader, it is important to recognize the strategic value of programs and champion their adoption across your organization. By aligning efforts across various domains, you can unlock the full potential of your initiatives and drive meaningful results. Try it, you’ll like it.
Fuel for your marketing strategy.
Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily MarTech. Staff authors are listed here.
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