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barriers-to-marketing-project-management-imageA-600w
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5 Common Barriers to Marketing Project Management & How to Overcome Them

Freeway seen through a fence barrier image.

Freeway seen through a fence barrier image.

As a marketer, you know how important projects are.

They’re your course to success. Your path to excellence. A plan of action.

You also know just how out of sorts projects can get. Without successful marketing project management, timelines may slide, quality may slip, standards may be missed, and the work experience may suffer.

So what causes marketing projects to stray off course?

Having managed many marketing projects for TopRank Marketing, I’ve come across my fair share of barriers and challenges and learned from my experience with them. Below, I’m sharing the most common barriers to marketing project management success and how to overcome them so you can, too. And to help illustrate my points, I tapped the help of Schitt’s Creek — a show I only just started and can’t get enough of. I hope you’ll excuse how late to the party I am on that show, it’s a gem.

Barrier #1 – Lack of Clarity

Clarity is easily the number one barrier to marketing project management success. Whether it’s unclear goals, responsibilities, direction, deadlines, standards, etc. a lack of clarity permeates even the best planned marketing projects. It breeds chaos, frustration, confusion, and disorganization, all problems or barriers in their own right.

So how does it happen?

Most often, a lack of clarity comes from a lack of communication. From being vague to contradictions to outright withholding information, communication blunders lead to unclear directives and actions. And when the team is unclear, the work often stops until more clarity is added.

via GIPHY

How to Overcome: Over communicate with your team. If it seems like a needless detail, include it anyways. Always include links to resources. Have regular briefings.

[bctt tweet=”“Over communicate with your team. If it seems like a needless detail, include it anyways. Always include links to resources. Have regular briefings.” — Anne Leuman @annieleuman” username=”toprank”]

Barrier #2 – Lack of Resources

Project resources are anything required to get the work done — they could be anything from people to tools to materials to equipment. As requirements for work, they’re a pivotal piece of any marketing project and you need an ample supply of both to keep projects on track and lead to a successful result.

For marketing projects, resources are most often tools and people. Your digital advertising strategist doesn’t have access to the right Google Analytics account? That’s a problem. One of your marketing copywriters is taking a two-week vacation right before a campaign launches? That’s a problem, too. Both examples are a lack of resources, and both examples require foresight to catch those instances before they happen so the project doesn’t suffer.

via GIPHY

How to Overcome: Plan ahead. Evaluate resources (people, tools, materials, time, etc.) for the entire project’s lifecycle. Look for gaps. Fill them proactively.

[bctt tweet=”“Plan ahead. Evaluate resources (people, tools, materials, time, etc.) for the entire project’s lifecycle. Look for gaps. Fill them proactively.” — Anne Leuman @annieleuman” username=”toprank”]

Barrier #3 – Lack of Time

There is another type of resource for a project — time. Projects require time to finish. And when you and your team are juggling several marketing projects at once, it becomes clear that time isn’t infinite.

Marketing projects also have deadlines, making time management crucial for any marketing project manager. Fast approaching deadlines reduce the maximum available time we have to complete a task or project. Overlapping projects with conflicting deadlines slash the amount of available time even greater. Keeping a close eye on your team’s available time, the time investment required, and time remaining on a project or task are all critical for success.

via GIPHY

How to Overcome: Assess the time investment for every task of your projects. Ensure your resources can match that time investment. Check for overlapping projects and deadlines. Pad your deadlines just in case.

[bctt tweet=”“Assess the time investment for every task of your projects. Ensure your resources can match that time investment. Check for overlapping projects and deadlines. Pad your deadlines just in case.” — Anne Leuman @annieleuman” username=”toprank”]

Barrier #4 – Lack of Change

Throughout a marketing project’s lifecycle, you’re learning what works and doesn’t work. From kick off to completion, you’re identifying the processes and workflows that need to change or stay for the next project to be a success. For example, you might find that your workflow for launching a new marketing campaign only has a one-step approval process — a two-step approval process would help ensure quality across each of the campaign’s components. To help initiate that change, you document the new process and role it out to the team. But that’s easier said than done.

Enter: resistance to change, our fourth barrier to marketing project management. As projects progress, whether they were a success, a failure, or a neutral result, it’s common for potential improvements for how we work to surface. The team, however, isn’t always receptive to that change. Behavior change is difficult, habits are hard to break. For your improvements to really stick and make a positive impact on your projects, you need your team’s buy-in and commitment to change.

via GIPHY

How to Overcome: Carefully document new workflows and processes. Earn team buy-in and commitment early. Review work for process adherence. Remind team members of their commitment when process adherence slips to encourage accountability.

[bctt tweet=”“Carefully document new workflows and processes. Earn team buy-in and commitment early. Review work for process adherence. Remind team members of their commitment when process adherence slips to encourage accountability.” — @annieleuman” username=”toprank”]

Barrier #5 – Lack of Planning

Our fifth and last barrier may very well be the most important to overcome since a lack of planning can easily lead to lack of clarity, resources, time, and change. As the saying goes, “A failure to plan is planning to fail.”

It does happen, though. Sometimes marketing project managers aren’t afforded all of the information they need to thoroughly plan a project. Or, they plan for a best-case scenario and forget to cover their bases and create back-up plans. Be clear on your project requirements, plan around potential roadblocks, involve other stakeholders, and ensure your planning happens pre-kickoff.

via GIPHY

How to Overcome: Don’t kick off a project until you are fully informed and planned. Request information that may be lacking. Create a back-up plan, and a back-up plan for your back-up plan.

[bctt tweet=”“Don’t kick off a project until you are fully informed and planned. Request information that may be lacking. Create a back-up plan, and a back-up plan for your back-up plan.” — Anne Leuman @annieleuman” username=”toprank”]

The Bigger the Barrier, the Greater the Glory

“The greater the obstacle, the more glory in overcoming it.” – Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (AKA Molière)

Obstacles. Barriers. Challenges. Hangups. Whatever you want to call them, they’re a fact of life and of work. No matter the path you’re on, you’re going to come up against them. Managing marketing projects nearly guarantees you’ll come across the five barriers above, and possibly others, too. But while they may seem like impossible mountains to climb, the tips above should help you find a hidden bypass or shortcut to the peak, where the view is well worth the work. As Molière said, it’s glorious.

In need of more tips on how to create effective processes and juggle several marketing projects? Read our guide on effective project management for marketers.

The post 5 Common Barriers to Marketing Project Management & How to Overcome Them appeared first on B2B Marketing Blog – TopRank®.

15 Giugno 2021
All I Want: The stories behind Portuguese female artists
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All I Want: The stories behind Portuguese female artists

What’s the place of female artists? How much of their art is known, spoken or internationally recognized? There is still a long way to go to achieve gender equality, but making sure we open space to talk about the ones who already broke barriers is definitely the first step. “All I Want: Portuguese women artists from 1900 to 2020” is a feminist exhibit and a space of dialogue and affirmation. Even more, it is a collection to show the historical and artistic relevance of Portuguese female artists — and certainly an exhibit that we want everyone to have access to, even amid travel restrictions. That’s why we’re excited to have partnered with Google Arts & Culture to bring this exhibit to the world.

More than 240 artworks by 40 Portuguese artists, from 1900 to 2020, come together in a large exhibit that we are making available to an international audience thanks to technology. Artists like Aurélia de Sousa, Maria Helena Vieira da Silva, Rosa Ramalho or Sarah Affonso gain life through 14 different stories transposing the physical exhibit and 40 stories telling the biographies of each selected artist. 

All I Want questions where women are in art today, and reinforces the need to celebrate women artists from history. The exhibit highlights artists that deserve recognition, putting forgotten women back in the frame and exploring concepts, styles, colors, feminism and how the artists reflect their individuality. 

  • Self-portrait of artist Aurélia de Sousa

    Understand Aurélia de Sousa and her work as awoman at the turn of the 20th century.

  • A work of art by Helena Almeida, featuring a black-and-white portrait of a woman with her mouth open. The inside of the mouth is painted blue.

    The work of Helena Almeida essentially deconstructs the two-dimensional nature of painting.

  • An exhibit featuring white fabric hanging from the ceiling with chairs and other furniture painted on it in blue.

    Learn about the symbolic relationship between women and their living space.

  • An abstract painting featuring blue, pink, orange and green colors.

    Explore important artworks from a new perspective with augmented reality.

The stories are divided into topics that will take people through a journey that spans from understanding generations to considering the place of women in art history, as well as discussions about the body and literary production. The curators, Helena de Freitas and Bruno Marchand, worked to make sure this exhibit would not only fill a gap in the art world, but also explain why this disparity started in the first place.

All I Want is an initiative of the Ministry of Culture, in partnership with Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, presented on the occasion of the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the European Union 2021. After its period in Portugal, the physical exhibit will travel to France, but on Google Arts & Culture this project will be preserved and able to reach every corner. In my ideal world, every female artist would have  recognition and space for their art. For now, I am happy we are starting with these exceptional Portuguese women artists and I hope this inspires other institutions in the world.

15 Giugno 2021
corriere-semiconduttori
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I semiconduttori “spiegati” dal Corriere della sera

“I semiconduttori sono materiali posti tra un conduttore e un isolante su cui si installano circuiti integrati, composti da transistor, che permettono il funzionamento di un dispositivo elettronico e la sua capacità di memoria. Sono al centro di una miriade di prodotti tecnologici.”

Questa imbecillaggine carpiata multipla con avvitamento e supercazzola prematurata è stata pubblicata oggi dal Corriere della sera, secondo la segnalazione fatta su Twitter da @Teleblin. 

Per quelli che dicono “eh, ma la redazione online non è quella vera, che è quella che fa il giornale cartaceo”: la perla è apparsa sul Corriere cartaceo, non su quello online.

Secondo @1carloalberto, il testo del Corriere potrebbe essere una copiatura cinofallica di questa pagina di Ispionline.it, che dice guarda caso “Un semiconduttore è un materiale posto tra un conduttore e un isolante su cui si installano circuiti integrati, composti da transistor, che permettono il funzionamento di un dispositivo elettronico e la sua capacità di memoria”. Mi sfugge la logica di copiare una descrizione di semiconduttori da un sito di un istituto per gli studi di politica internazionale invece che da un testo di elettronica, ma il Corriere per ora tace sull’origine della cretinata che ha pubblicato e quindi non si sa se questa sia la fonte effettiva o chi abbia scritto il pezzo per il giornale.

Questo ciarpame è il modo in cui i giornali, quelli che si atteggiano a baluardo contro le fake news, pretendono di insegnare i fatti scientifici ai lettori. Poi non stupiamoci se siamo circondati da idioti anti-5G, terrapiattisti e antivaccinisti.

Scritto da Paolo Attivissimo per il blog Il Disinformatico. Ripubblicabile liberamente se viene inclusa questa dicitura (dettagli). Sono ben accette le donazioni Paypal.
15 Giugno 2021
A partire da oggi Google Wifi costa meno.
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A partire da oggi Google Wifi costa meno.

E in più, 5 consigli per migliorare il Wi-Fi di casa

Negli ultimi tempi le nostre case sono diventate più movimentate che mai: lavoriamo, seguiamo lezioni e didattica a distanza, ci intratteniamo con film e videogiochi, facciamo addirittura esercizio fisico in salotto. Ma siamo diventati anche molto più esigenti in quanto a rete Wi-Fi, che, quando non funziona, è fonte di incredibile frustrazione. 
Per fare in modo che sempre più persone godano della copertura Wi-Fi di cui hanno bisogno, abbiamo ridotto il prezzo di Google Wifi. A partire da oggi, la confezione da 3 unità, che copre abitazioni più grandi di 255 metri quadri, costa 199,99 €. La confezione singola costa 99,99 € e offre copertura fino a 85 metri quadri per punto di accesso. È compatibile con Nest Wifi, che dal canto suo include tutti i vantaggi del modello originale e lo migliora grazie a un potente router e un punto di accesso Wi-Fi con l’Assistente Google, il tutto gestibile direttamente dall’app Google Home. 
Indipendentemente dalla configurazione che scegliete, abbiamo chiesto al responsabile di prodotto per la connettività di Google Nest, Pushkar Sharma, alcuni consigli per ottenere il massimo dal vostro Wi-Fi di casa. 

Assicuratevi che il router sia aggiornato 

Se il vostro router ha più di 3 o 4 anni, verificate che supporti i segnali Wi-Fi a 5 GHz. Alcuni router più vecchi supportano solo i segnali a 2,4 GHz e questo può rallentare i dispositivi. Li potremmo paragonare a un’automobile che non è abbastanza veloce per viaggiare su una superstrada. Aggiornate il router con un sistema che abbia almeno lo standard 802.11ac, in modo da poter usare anche le frequenze a 5 GHz, che sono come le autostrade del Wi-Fi (con più corsie e limiti di velocità maggiori). 

Proteggete sempre la rete con una password 

Installare una “rete aperta” senza password potrebbe anche sembrare comodo, perché non è necessario ricordare una password complicata. Ma se lo fate, chiunque passi vicino a casa vostra potrebbe sfruttare il vostro Wi-Fi per entrare nella vostra rete e compromettere i dispositivi connessi e i dati accedendo alle unità disco o rallentando la stessa rete. Scegliete una password efficace, che potete ricordare facilmente ma che sia difficile da indovinare per chiunque altro. 

Create una rete Wi-Fi separata per gli ospiti 

Se avete bambini o siete soliti ricevere ospiti, è probabile che abbiate condiviso la password molte volte. Configurando una rete “ospite” potete creare una seconda rete Wi-Fi in casa a disposizione esclusivamente di chi viene a trovarvi, mentre i vostri dispositivi resteranno privati e al sicuro. 

Assegnate la larghezza di banda in base a dove ne avete bisogno 

Abbiamo assistito a un notevole aumento di persone che vanno online per lavorare, studiare, fare acquisti o giocare. Questo significa che le reti dei provider di servizi Internet sono sempre più congestionate, provocando rallentamenti generali della rete e buffering nelle videochiamate. Il problema può peggiorare ulteriormente se molti dispositivi e servizi richiedono larghezza di banda nello stesso momento. 
Molti router moderni oggi consentono di verificare quanta larghezza di banda viene utilizzata dai vari dispositivi e servizi, identificando quelli che richiedono più risorse. In Google Nest vi diamo anche la possibilità di assegnare la priorità a un determinato dispositivo e persino di ottimizzare automaticamente delle attività specifiche, come le videoconferenze o i videogiochi, per aiutarvi a ottenere la migliore esperienza possibile minimizzando gli eventuali problemi della rete. 
Google Wifi è disponibile a partire da oggi su Google Store e online su Mediaworld e Unieuro. 

Scritto da: Il Team Google in Italia
15 Giugno 2021