Excellent project management skills are an important success factor for your online marketing project. The shift from a product-oriented to a consistently customer-oriented perspective is changing approaches and methods. Interdisciplinary teams, including the involvement of external service providers and the customer, place high demands on project managers from a professional and human perspective. The focus is on holistic and user-oriented problem solutions. Experienced project managers use future-oriented methods to lead your online marketing project to success - while adhering to budget, performance and time targets.
Agile project management as a success factor
Whether web and app development, relaunch, eBusiness solution or SEO project - well thought-out planning at the start is important to ensure that projects do not run the risk of failing. This includes comprehensive communication with the client in order to clarify expectations, required resources and project goals on both sides and set them down in writing. Clarifying the framework conditions is important in order not to lose focus in dynamic working environments and to be able to flexibly adapt any changes that arise during the course of the project to the strategic goals of the project.
Agile project management is essential in order to successfully overcome the various challenges. In times of heterogeneous teams with members from different departments and the involvement of external stakeholders, an agile approach is an important basis for efficient collaboration. Agile methods in project management are characterized by close coordination between the individual team members. Continuous exchange and the ability to react with maximum flexibility are important success factors.
Within agile project management, there are various methods that ensure that online marketing projects are implemented efficiently and with high quality. Many are based on the overarching project management method Scrum, which provides a comprehensive framework and defines roles for individual team members.
Method 1 - Inclusion of current marketing activities
Every online marketing project is closely related to the company's internal and external environment. An overview of current marketing activities creates the necessary conditions for locating a new online marketing project in the context of current projects and exploiting synergy effects. To do this, it is important to bring everyone involved together. Knowledge of the strengths, weaknesses and successes of the individual marketing activities provides important information on the strategic approach for the new online marketing project. The findings can be used to identify potential team members and - not immediately obvious - project goals. The discussion consistently focuses on the individual target groups for which an online marketing project is initiated. New ideas are welcome - similar to a scrum planning meeting.
Method 2 - Use of professional project management software
Professional project management software offers continuous support in project implementation. All team members know what needs to be done, why and how. Tools specially developed for teams allow them to work from anywhere and at any time. Outsourcing certain process steps - such as design and programming - is part of everyday life in many online marketing projects. With the help of project management software, it is possible to create project plans, coordinate tasks and deadlines and manage the workload of individual members. Automated processes help teams to save time in completing routine tasks. Annoying emails become largely superfluous.
Method 3 - Regular stand-up meetings
Short meetings via a video platform - e.g. Skype - ensure a continuous flow of information that goes beyond pure software support. They provide important information on the current project status. The duration should not exceed 15 minutes. How often meetings are held depends on the project phase and the required intensity of communication. The minimum is once a week. If an online marketing project is in a phase that requires many decisions to be made, it makes sense to hold meetings every one to two days. The following questions are clarified at each meeting:
- What has been completed since the last meeting?
- What tasks need to be completed before the next meeting?
- What are the risks, problems and potential difficulties?
If an open communication culture prevails, stand-up meetings make a significant contribution to the success of the project. To avoid distractions, maintain the time limit of 15 minutes and the informal character, it makes sense to hold the meeting standing up. The idea follows Daily Scrum Meetings.
Method 4 - Sprints for fixed time intervals
Sprints are central elements in agile project management. A proven duration for online marketing projects is 14 days. They enable the individual team members to carry out all the work required to achieve a goal. Each sprint phase consists of sprint planning, the execution of tasks and a review. Monitoring the results of the sprint gives a client comprehensive control options at important milestones. The client has the opportunity to influence the progress of the project at these points and - if necessary - to make strategic adjustments. For the team members, sprints have the advantage that there are clear deadlines. Sprints increase motivation. Stand-up meetings are an integral part of sprints and serve to exchange information during this comparatively quiet project phase.
Method 5 - Daily time tracking
Daily time tracking is an important basis for certain fee models and enables teams to learn from projects. Based on experience, they can better estimate the time required. Keeping an overview of time and budget and making them realistic ensures satisfaction within teams and on the customer side. Nothing is worse than surprises towards the end of a project - due to a lack of transparency - and online marketing projects not being completed on time. Time is the most important resource within a project. Managing this successfully enables teams to have a buffer available in order to be able to react spontaneously and confidently to changes in targets. Based on time tracking, optimization potential can be identified and subsequent projects can be designed more efficiently.
At the beginning of every online marketing project is good planning. We are happy to help you find the optimal solutions for your project and successfully implement your requirements.
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