Many businesses today are using content marketing to boost their business or brand. Companies use this powerful tactic to draw in, hold on to, and grow an audience by producing and disseminating pertinent articles, affiliate videos, podcasts, and other forms of media.
At the heart of content marketing is building awareness in the mind of existing and potential buyers. This way, people will think of your company first when they plan to avail of products or services in your niche. Content marketing is a powerful marketing strategy that can have exponential effects when used properly.
The Internet has become a battlefield of the most relevant and attention-grabbing content. Content has the potential to win or lose a prospective buyer or client. This is one of the reasons why companies are doubling their efforts and pouring out their resources into creating effective content marketing efforts.
97% of respondents in a survey by Semrush said that content was an important part of their marketing efforts. The content of your overall marketing message will affect the direction of your marketing efforts. It will also determine whether your target market will buy your product or service.
Benefits of Better Project Management in Content Marketing
So what makes for effective content marketing strategies? Many factors come into play. But one of the least talked about is proper project management. When we manage content marketing projects better, we’re able to execute ideas and start enjoying the results.
Basically, it’s not enough to have good content ideas. You need a good content brief as well as proper project management rigor to make these ideas a reality. Sticking to the schedule with a marketing calendar can also help you stay on track. Here are some of the benefits of using great project management systems in your content marketing.
Better resource management
Content marketing costs money. Without proper project management, we end up wasting that money. Moreover, you also end up wasting your team’s time and energy when you aren’t able to manage content ideation, creation, and deployment effectively.
The crutch in marketing isn’t looking for content but managing the resources for your content. Organizations waste 12% of their resources due to bad project management. Using project management for marketing for content planning can help your company handle your resources by not wasting them.
Higher project completion rates
One of the challenges in implementing content marketing efforts is closing or ending it. Sometimes content marketing campaigns are launched without the end in mind, thus not having the necessary follow through in order to finish the project completely. The best project management software for content marketing allows you to monitor the progress of your content marketing efforts and will lead to higher project completion rates.
Higher chances of marketing success
Sadly only 19% of companies believe that their content marketing efforts were extremely successful. The success of a content marketing effort could be creating positive brand awareness or influencing the buying behavior of a potential client. But sometimes, measuring this success without using a project management system for marketing is very challenging.
Using the best marketing management software and the best marketing project management tools increases your chances of having a successful content marketing strategy.
7 Tips for Managing Content Marketing Projects
So now that you know why good content marketing matters, let’s talk about how to get project management right in your content marketing efforts. Here are some tips for managing content projects better.
1) Assign a project manager to projects
The first question you should answer when running projects in a business is “who’s in charge?” When there’s no one to champion the project and oversee its lifespan, ideas can fall apart and fall on the back burner really often.
It helps immensely when you would have a project manager who would spearhead the campaign or the content marketing initiatives. Having a project manager allows you to focus on other important matters as well without neglecting your content marketing projects. A project manager will help you in terms of execution and making decisions.
2) Use a project management tool the team is comfortable with
Every team has a unique rhythm and chemistry. Some teams are highly administrative, and some teams are challenged with administrative tasks. This is the reason why it is important to choose the project management tool that best suits your team.
The best software for your team is the one that everyone is happy to use. That said, you must choose software with a great user experience. Project management tools don’t have to be complex to be worth your time. In fact, the simpler and easier it is for the team to use the better.
Ensure that these features are present in your project management tools:
- Project dashboard;
- Project assignment system;
- File sharing;
- Different views for your project management flow, such as kanban boards, tables, timelines, and content calendars;
- Automated notifications on due dates;
- Commenting board;
- Possibly a communications channel;
- And a project traffic light system.
3) Go for 100% compliance with a project management system
When you have already determined the best marketing management software, you should aim for complete compliance from your team. One of the mistakes in implementing a project management system is focusing only on the early phases of integration and not seeing it up until the end.
When only a fraction of the team is using a project management system, the other fraction will get lost in the mix. Moreover, they tend to drag down the ones that comply religiously. You can use the compliance training platform to make an integration process easier. Having 100% compliance helps your team get used to using the project management system until it becomes part of their work rhythm.
4) Don’t leave out after-sales
Good marketing doesn’t end when people make a sale. In fact, you should keep maintaining that relationship. Getting a new customer will cost up to 25 times more than keeping an existing one. So build customer lifetime value into your content marketing. That starts with managing projects with a continuous relationship in mind.
It might also help to have customer support software too and then integrate it into your project management system. That way, your customer service teams can note down any suggestions and feedback on marketing campaigns. You can also use a client portal to keep track of all customer communication. Additionally, you can build your own app to manage communication with customers more effectively.
Recommendation: check out Wix Answers reviews and see if that tool is a good customer support software for your business.
5) Set up regular update meetings
Regular meetings help you navigate and have oversight of the whole content marketing campaign or initiative. It helps you keep the main thing, the main thing. Consistency is key to having successful content marketing efforts, and regularity is key in making sure that they are executed effectively and efficiently. With the help of project management for marketing teams, you can monitor the progress of your content marketing efforts, thus increasing the completion and success rate.
6) Keep a content calendar
A content calendar is a tool marketing teams use to manage their content marketing strategies. Having a content calendar allows you to achieve the right pacing and increases the chance of delivering excellent marketing content.
A content calendar allows you to plan your content marketing efforts and adjust your strategies accordingly. The best project management for content marketing has this feature and will help you set the direction for your company’s content marketing initiatives.
7) Set evaluations after every project to find room for improvement
One of the parts of managing a project that people overlook is evaluating or closing a certain project or initiative. When a company skips over evaluation, they are prone to committing the same mistakes and tripping over the same pitfalls.
The more strategic and specific content is, the more effective it is in creating awareness and influencing buying behaviors. And using the best project management for content marketing helps marketing teams to develop a rhythm in creating the best content possible for marketing initiatives.
Project Management with Creativity Brings Growth
When it comes to producing effective marketing content, creative insights will definitely be of great help, but managing and improving your content marketing efforts would require tools for project management. Improving your content marketing department may not always mean hiring the most creative people from a content agency, though it will surely help. Sometimes, you only need to revisit the systems and processes of how your company manages your content marketing department.