Many people don’t fully understand the importance of planning ahead. They progress through a series of steps in a sequential manner and when all the steps are done, the project is done. Often, they realize at some point along the way that there isn’t enough time to get it done. Then they either miss the original deadline, throw money at the problem, or cut corners and compromise quality to deliver on time.

Some deadlines like the start of the tradeshow or the date when a publisher prints and mails a trade magazine are beyond our control. These deadlines cannot be extended. So, our only choices are to cut corners or throw money at the problem. The first corners cut are typically those that assure the highest quality work, like additional proofreading and fact-checking. Throwing money at the problem can involve getting additional resources involved and paying exorbitant rush charges for shipping, printing, and so on.

Careful and responsible project management can help marketers achieve a high-quality result while meeting deadlines and budget requirements. A simple system of timing requirements, communicated to everyone involved, makes a world of difference. Having a good grasp on this gives project managers control over the process and a high confidence level in the results.

The first step in managing a project responsibly is to list all the steps involved. Think the project through from the end result. If the end result is 25,000 printed brochures in the literature fulfillment center ready to be shipped, then start with that and work backwards. The brochures need to be shipped from the printer to the fulfillment center. Before that they are printed. Before that, they are approved to print after being reviewed by those with the authority to approve the final. These final steps happen after stakeholders review the second draft, first draft, etc. And ultimately it all starts with someone kicking off the project in some form: calling the agency in for a meeting, preparing a strategy brief, or having some other type of initiation activity. You can get as granular or broad as you’re comfortable with and add as much detail as needed to manage the project and the project team towards a high-quality result.

Try to keep the time frame of reference consistent through the steps. That is, if you have an end date for “review first draft” that naturally includes providing comments on that draft. You don’t need to list a step for “provide comments.” If you think this level of instruction will be helpful to your team, combine that step into “Review first draft and provide comments.”

Once you have all the steps lined up, apply your best guess to how long each takes. Later, you’ll be able to adjust for actual practice as you track and analyze the results from individual projects. Build in a reasonable amount of time for each step, keeping in mind that people are unavailable sometimes and everyone is always busy. Once you have all the steps and the time it takes for each, add it up and you have the time it will take to complete that project, or that type of project.

If you typically rely on your experience in managing projects to estimate project timing requirements, you might find your estimates or rules of thumb need to be adjusted to allow more time. You might discover through this process that you need more time to do a good job.

Also, keep it as simple as possible. Have a few “generic templates” that all follow some standard project workflow or sequence. Then apply the templates to a wide variety of projects as needed. This helps when communicating the system to your stakeholders. If you can simplify it to just one or a few generic workflow tools and use them each time, it would be even better. Add or remove steps if you find the planning documents to be too complicated or too simple for your project team.

How does this system help in practicing marketing and marketing communications on a daily basis?

Many project stakeholders don’t believe the time involved in completing a marketing project the right way. Why should they? They don’t live it day to day. They have other things on their minds. They may think the timing requirements are overestimated and that extra time is built-in to make the project manager’s jobs easier. They push or ignore timelines and deadlines and don’t take them seriously.

In this case it helps to explain each step involved, what’s going to be done, and when. If your timeline for the development of a new ad is going to take 10 weeks, and you now only have 7 weeks, you can go through the individual steps with your team and adjust.  For example, you may need a faster turn-around of draft reviews, or you might need to reduce the number of reviewers.

Keep production windows and required start dates in front of everyone and top-of-mind. Make sure they know the timing requirements for each type of project. Remind them frequently in a way that keeps everyone thinking far enough out into the future. For example, if you know a new product introduction is on the horizon, but a launch date has not been identified, make sure they know how long it will take to prepare. If it’s June, and you require two months to prepare for a launch, make sure they don’t expect a July product launch.

The written agreement also gives you a tool to manage stakeholders. When your team is considering a new project and they want you to identify the date you can have it done, you have a useful tool to quickly give them an answer that you can back up.

Use the system to track projects. List the timing and dates and then monitor progress. Mark down the planned dates and the dates it actually happened. You can use it later to evaluate the project. (You might need to explain why the original deadline was missed). You can also evaluate a number of projects and adjust your system accordingly once you have some data. If you have the tracking dates from a number of projects, and they all show that it took consistently 10 business days to review the first draft, you’ll have more credibility when you build 10 business days for first draft review into the schedule.

The name of the game is having a clear grasp on exactly what it takes, and how long it takes, to complete a project. Then, you can better manage your team towards a good quality result.

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Many of us are using presentation tools like Microsoft PowerPoint and Google Slides on a regular basis. It’s fairly easy to add some text bullets and photos in these programs. After all, we’ve been using these tools for some time now. However, the programs have evolved over the years and now enable some very creative and interesting approaches to sharing information visually.

The following example slide designs present some common types of business content in ways that just might keep your audience engaged and interested.  (Or at least awake.)

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The brochure format, saved as a PDF document, is commonly used online to provide additional information on websites, and as email attachments sent from businesses to their customers. There’s something very familiar about flipping through pages of a document from front to back, even when viewing a computer or mobile screen.

The brochure experience can be successfully delivered in digital format too though the use of “flip book” types of media made especially to function like a printed brochure, only they’re accessed solely online.

Additional marketing value can be realized by using online brochures, guides, white papers, and other page-turner documents to obtain website visitor’s contact information. For example, the following Guide to Senior Care Resources was promoted on a web page. Web page visitors who wanted to download this valuable resource were required to enter their email address before accessing the downloadable version.

In conclusion, printed brochures are certainly not extinct. They still provide value in many ways to the online business world of today.

If you need help getting started on any type of printed or digital brochures for your business, Let’s Talk

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Not sure where, when, or how to start advertising your business? Let’s Talk

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The Income Authority logo visually indicates financial success.

This logo for Allways Home Care, a company that provides a range of services, visually represents the most important aspect of those services- the caregivers. The people providing the services and supporting the well-being of the elderly clients are the most important aspect of the business.

Standing Out In Crowded Markets

A company’s competitors should be considered when designing a logo. Many companies in the same industry may choose the same iconic visuals to use in their company logos. And that’s allright, as long as the visuals are made to look unique and different.

The Allways Home Care logo shown above was introduced in a highly-competitive home care market where most companies used visual elements like roofs and houses to relate to the in-home services that are provided. The people shapes in the Allways Home Care logo, and the rounded corners of the shapes, stand out from the competition and make the company name memorable.

Careful and Purposeful Color Choices

Be careful when choosing colors for a logo. A different color than the competition will set a company apart, but color choices in and of themselves convey important information. Colors create automatic,  innate feelings and responses with people. For example, blue and white are very clean colors that many medical companies use to convey sterilization and safety.

The Swan Surgical purple color was chosen to differentiate a start-up medical practice from the local competitive practices, while also representing a more regal or “royalty” feel to support the idea of Dr. Swan’s impressive credentials and board certifications vs. the other local surgeons.

The blue and orange colors for the Allways Home Care logo shown above were chosen to create a feeling of a new and different offering in a very crowded market.

For more information on logo design, brand identity, or to get a strategic logo started for your business, Let’s Talk

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