MarketingProfs Know-How Exchange : What is the difference between Marketing and Project Management?

It seems to me at first thought that PM is more about operations of the business than defining markets and creating products, etc.

The definition in your linked page makes the case very clear:

A Project Manager executes the directives of the strategy, positioning and marketing plan created by the Marketer, “in order to meet the requirements of a particular project.” The Marketer MAKES the requirements of the program; the Project Manager MANAGES the operational, strategic and tactical recommendation rollout and execution.

Marketers think and strategize; Project Managers carry out their programs.

Hope this helps.

Best,

::JBtron

True.

But according to The Project Management Insitute (PMI.org):

"Project management is comprised of five processes – Initiating, Planning, Executing, Controlling, and Closing – as well as nine knowledge areas. These nine areas center on management expertise in Project Integration, Project Scope, Project Time, Project Cost, Project Quality, Project Human Resources, Project Communications, Project Risk Management and Project Procurement. "

Isn't marketing implied?

Hey Blaine:

I would respectfully have to differ with you here. I think great marketers can be great project managers, but project managers by definition do not have training in several vitally important aspects of maketing.

I say with some R/L experience - I once had a Project Manager on my staff who was ISO-7000 qualified (the top qualification at the time). She was FANTASTIC in making sure everything was on track (resources, budgets, critical paths, etc.). She was in no way qualified to be a marketer.

Here are the notable exceptions:

Strategy. Project Managers do not identify needs or gaps. They do not do SWOT analysis, or brainstorm opportunities. This is an entire skill set that requires a "10,000-foot" perspective.

Social Psychology/Buyer Behavoir. As marketers, we are either professionaly trained or have inherent ability in this area. We must be able to understand what motivates people individually and in groups. We must understand how certain buying behaviors cue others to buy. We must understand value and benefits messages and promotion motivation. All parts of the marketing skill set but not in project management.

Creative (your mention). This to me is not simply a flair - its the ability to write a creative strategy/brief and give direction to have something created that you cannot personally do. Great marketers (IMHO) inspire great creativity - and this is not a PM skillset.

Anyalytic Ability - Far from budgeting and tracking (which requires quantitative abilities), my interpretation of this area includes the ability to examine a number of metrics and indicators, hypothesize a cause/opportunity, and build a cogent presentation from the data and outside observations. Non-existant in a PM.

Leadership. Great marketers inspire, motivate, and lead. Great PM's can be leaders, but they are primarily trained to manage, direct, and report.

There are probably a few more insights, but I think this pretty much covers my feelings on the subject.

I hope this helps.

PS - Drop me a line when you are free - would love an update!

Project Manager is a generic term that applies to ALL business areas - building a bridge, implementing an ERP system, overseeing the scientific payload of a space probe, AND marketing campaigns. While marketing efforts may require project management, Project Managers (in almost every other field) rarely get involved with marketing.

Also, to say that Project Managers are not creative is an affront to hundreds of thousands of highly qualified people across all industries. I can tell you from years of personal experience in IT that a non-creative person would be a failure at project management within the IT world.

Thanks for sparking interesting debates, however!

Vevolution-

No offense is meant by my comments. On the other hand, you know what they say the road to Hell is paved with... LOL!

I agree with everyone's observations so far. I have seen PMs act as marketers and Marketers attempt to be PMs.

If I am questioning anyone's abilities, it is my own. Should marketers strive to possess the qualities of a good PM? (There's that ethical word again: "should").

Thanks for your posts!

Talk about abilities...my grammar is horrible today. Not enough coffee yet.

Its essential for marketers to be good PM's if they want to "move up the ladder" and be successful at higher levels. If, on the other hand, being a "foot soldier" is what they enjoy, then PM expertise is not required.

On a completely unrelated note, everytime I see the term marketer, I'm hit with two images. One starts with singing, "M-I-C, K-E-Y", while the other (and more dashing) starts with sword raising, and exclamation of "One for all, and all for one!"

How do these sound:

"Market Engineer", "Marking Representative", "Marketing Specialist", "Senior Market Strategist", "Market Analyst", "Marketing Director", "VP of Marketing", "Marketing Consultant", or "Market Tech."?

It's funny I thought the same thing. I kept thinking "Mouseketer" when I first heard the term! Then I started using it to describe "people who work in marketing".

You hit my point exactly. Why can't we, as "Senior Marketing Techs", organize and implement our own tactics according to our own plans? Is is so we can move on to the next strategy and let the "foot soldiers" hack it up?

Having that been said, why would a good "Market Representative" need a PM person other than to fulfill a complete lack of ability to carry out his/her plan?

This digs deeper...if you can design the plan, why can't you carry it out in a competent manner? Delagation? Lack of interest?

Does every "Marketing Director" simply design strategies, analytics, tactics and plans, then pass them on to someone with little or no marketing abililty? Why can't professionals who posses the skills to be successful in marketing be responsible enough to carry them out? Instead, we hire PMs to make sure it gets done. Kinda sounds flakey.

I understand all too well about delegation and outsourcing so you can focus on what you do best, but to a non-marketing person? I don't know.

If you look under the skin of a good, large sized advertising agency, you will see a complete mix of many different kinds of people working in tandem to get things done on time, and on budget.

The heart of an agency is 'the traffic department'. Think project manager on steroids. This is the person who allocated resources to projects, and ensures that slack time is kept to a minimum.

This means the creative people have the space to dream, while the client service people have the reassurance that their briefs will be completed on time.

I think it is important to be given dedicated time to dream, to think deeply about the creative elements of a campaign. If you have to think about who needs to get paid, when material has to go to the printer, and which clients have not paid their bills - you cannot imerse yourself in the communication problem. Hence the need for dedicated traffic managers.

I think it is also a function of the cost of each resources time. Good strategic thinkers are harder to find than good foot soldiers. They therefor are more expensive by the hour. You do not waste these resources by getting them involved in the day to day operations of the clients business.

Simple economics, really.

Jim Deveau hit it on the head. It's all about perspective.

Tomorrow I will listen to my finance professor talk about stand-alone risk versus market risk. He'll say that it's a big deal when a firm considers whether to purchase a $10 million piece of equipment. But this project is relatively unimportant to the firm as an individual case. What matters is how this project contributes to the firm's overall position within the market.

This idea applies to the discussion concerning project management and marketing. A marketer is looking at the market - consumers, trends, etc. A project manager has a narrow view. Close the task at hand and speed on down the road. A marketer has to stop at the fork in the road, look at the alternatives, and decide on the best path.

Thanks to all who contributed to this post!

I think the line between the two professions has been suficiently drawn.

As a Project Manager, I have to say that although the above responses were made by intelligent people, they were narrow minded and pretty damn arrogant. On a daily basis, I engage in deep brainstorming processes and create fully integrated marketing strategies, not to mention ad design, logistics, and project management. The way I see it, I have to be involved in every aspect of a project, including marketing strategy. It is called integrated marketing communications, a concept most large agencies are ignorant of. Thus, the lack of efficiency and poor execution in all but the best large agencies. Instead of everyone stepping off their pedestool to create the best end result in the most timely manner, egos and politics dominate even the most so-called creative agencies. Marketers and project managers and every other part of the machine should be working together, in unison. They should all have a complete understanding of the project at hand. And who decided that a project manager can't be creative? Egotistical ignorance that will show itself in the long run.

As a young person in this business, I understand the value of listening to those in higher positions than mine. If they were smart, they would embrace new and young recruits and value thier opinions as i do theirs, instead of casting them to the dungeon to work on filling Excel sheets, wasting talent. Luckily I have found an employer that has valued my input and allowed me to grow.

Our company offers a marketing project management tool, so I think we can offer some unique insight on this topic.

Project management is a discipline that is required to effectively execute marketing initiatives. There is often a dedicated role for this discipline, but project management is also a skill set that is required by individual members of the team.