Creating Harmony: Project Management Success in Marketing

As repetitive as it can sound, the hybrid work model has become the new norm. The reason it’s talked about so much? From my experience, people love it. As a project manager at Grayson Sky, a boutique marketing agency in Philadelphia, I’ve had to tailor our approach to support hybrid work. Our team has improved our client delivery schedules by prioritizing project management methodologies and emphasizing a few core competencies: creating people-driven processes, practicing continuous learning and improvement, and making data-driven decisions.

People-Driven Process

One major consistent hurdle I’ve faced as an experienced project manager? Getting people on board with change. If I make a change, even if it’s the best decision for the organization, the change won’t work if my coworkers aren’t on board. How do I get my coworkers on board? I talk to them. While this may not be the magical solution you’re looking for, this solution works time and again.

I joined Grayson Sky in the fall of 2023 and shortly thereafter installed two new SAAS solutions to support the development of creative deliverables and to streamline our team’s communications. During the initial discovery and planning phases, I observed the team. How do they get notified of a new deliverable? How long does it generally take to complete different types of deliverables? What areas of the workflow do we experience a bottleneck?

By answering these questions (and many more), I was able to tailor a solution to our team’s needs–while still following project management best practices. Creativity and collaboration are paramount to the work that we do, and the creative process of each team member helps guide our team’s overall process. We have daily standups with our creative team, centralized communication tools like Slack and Jira, regular check-ins with leadership, and other open communication channels ensure that our marketing team stays connected and inspired, whether they’re working from the office, their kitchen, or even a coffee shop.

Continuous Learning and Improvement

By empowering our team members to continuously learn, we drive continuous improvement in our processes as well. Marketing projects often involve intricate workflows, from campaign ideation to execution. As things develop, we continually evaluate and refine our marketing processes. We’ll identify a weakness across our organization and work to get people trained in that area.

In order to foster growth and learning across the organization, each person on our team is open to constructive feedback–including our leadership team. Feedback loops are incorporated into our project management practices, and I appreciate how our leadership team welcomes ideas from anywhere. This collaborative learning approach has resulted in adaptive content creation pipelines, more specialized team skills, and enhanced collaboration among team members, both in the office and remotely.

Data-Driven Decisions

At Grayson Sky, and most marketing agencies, data rules decisions. And, yes, marketing data (e.g. engagements, clicks, conversions) is extremely important in our industry. But as a project manager, I need data to help me answer questions like:

1. How many deliverables can my team complete in a given time period?
2. If we have a new client starting next week, who has the bandwidth
3. to take this on? Where in our workflow do we experience
4. bottlenecks? Do we consistently make the same mistakes?

Utilizing project management platforms that integrate data analytics allows us to gauge the impact of marketing efforts, allocate resources effectively, and make informed decisions. Sprints, backlogs, and project schedules are integral to our process. Jira is our central communication tool and helps to provide visibility into project timelines and foster accountability among team members. Clear milestones, well-defined roles, and effective communication channels ensure that marketing campaigns stay on track, meeting both creative and strategic objectives.

Conclusion

Being a project manager in a boutique marketing agency demands a unique set of skills, particularly in the realm of hybrid work. Our agency has (mostly)--I say mostly because there is always room for improvement–navigated the challenges of a hybrid work environment by prioritizing people, continuously refining marketing processes, employing project management practices, and utilizing data for resource management. These principles will remain at the core of our approach, regardless of how this industry evolves, to ensure that our projects are not just successful but also innovative and impactful.

Mackenzie Tinker