Question

Topic: Other

Project Management For Marketing

Posted by terry_savage on 2/7/2013 at 7:47 PM ET 125 Points
I want to review books and sources on Project Management for Marketing which aren't solely concerned with online activities.

Most sources refer to either PMBOK or PRINCE2. Whilst most of the the principles and all of the tools are relevant the timescales and processes aren't appropriate to marketing.

There's literature about online projects such as web design or SEO. Again these sources have some value but are too focussed for a broader application within the marketing discipline.

Any thoughts?
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by Moriarty on 2/8/2013 at 8:07 AM Accepted
    There is a very real problem in marketing: it is too fluid for most managers. They either flounder or give up. Marketing is not industrial production - where systems and results are easily measured. Web design has easily defined boundaries - and it doesn't take much imagination to define them.

    Which is our problem.

    Marketing takes a great deal of imagination, and this is usually where managers give up. That is one reason why marketing departments have the reputation for being woolly. That is actually the reality - marketing *is* woolly. It needs to be - and this is why the imagination is so important.

    You can begin to see that squeezing something as amorphous as marketing into the strictures of analytical project management is never going to be easy. That doesn't mean it's impossible, you just need a lot of imagination to distinguish boundaries that are far less obvious.

    I hope this helps. I am sure that the more corporate-minded marketers around here can lead you to examples. For myself, projects of this kind are too inflexible.
  • Posted by terry_savage on 2/8/2013 at 9:52 AM Author
    Hi Moriarty,
    thank you for your contribution although I think that the essence of your comment is rather dated. I've been a direct marketer for close on 40 years and have used many of the tools of project marketing with considerable success. The need for measured management has become increasingly important as the internet has developed where web design, SEO, ROI, ROIC and the like have forced cross-departmental liaison.
    I agree that creativity is a vital aspect of marketing's role and, increasingly, so too is the analytical professionalism that PM can bring.
    Regards,
    Terry
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