When beginning a healthcare marketing project, leaders and planners often know what needs to be accomplished. That part is clear. But who will oversee it all and get it to the finish line? That role may be underestimated or overlooked for various reasons.
If your team is planning a new healthcare content marketing initiative, you might’ve thought about the downsides of designating one person as project manager (PM). Maybe you don’t feel comfortable asking an existing team member to take on the project management role. Or you may worry that the rest of the team may be less engaged, expecting the PM to do most of the work. Or maybe you’re concerned about the time and money to invest in a PM. You can’t be sure if the cost will be worth the benefit.
How can you determine if adding a PM could help you meet your project goals? Let’s look at when and why it’s worth considering the value of a project manager for your initiative.
In general, projects that benefit from having a project manager are those that:
Chaos can ensue in larger-scale projects without a clear leader. But even seemingly simple content marketing projects can benefit from having one person at the helm to monitor brand consistency. Brand consistency is the ever-important, but sometimes underappreciated task of ensuring your content adheres to your brand’s voice and style.
How important is brand consistency? Most marketing experts agree that it’s the key to building trust and loyalty among your target audience. They also agree that brand consistency needs to be monitored regularly. PMs are perfect for this task.
And if the cost of hiring a PM is a top issue, know that monitoring your brand consistency can increase your organization’s revenue by an estimated 23%.
Along with ensuring brand consistency, project managers bring value to content marketing in five other ways.
PMs get to know every inch of a project’s goals and scope before they go to work to build the perfect content team. Each project task is carefully considered. Previous experience and data are used to estimate how many team members are needed and who’ll be the best fit for each task.
After the team is built, PMs train each member on the project’s goals and the brand’s voice and style, providing samples, templates and other source materials. Once content creation is underway, they use their people management skills to direct every aspect of the project with finesse. This includes assigning tasks, coordinating subject matter expert (SME) interviews, managing deadlines, editing and proofreading for consistency, organizing team check-ins, providing encouragement to team members, anticipating barriers, and resolving conflicts.
All of this is important to the success of any content marketing project.
Want your project completed on time and within budget? Well then, you have to stay on track and organized.
PMs take charge of keeping everything organized, from assignments to deadlines to interviews. This is usually done through a combination of spreadsheets and calendars. PMs update the spreadsheets and calendars in real time as progress is made and refer to them daily to make sure everyone is on task. They also use them to generate weekly or monthly status reports.
Healthcare content marketing involves many stakeholders — many different people with different interests and concerns. If you don’t have a project leader who stays focused on the big picture, all these differences will eventually change a project’s course. In other words, your team will get lost among the trees, and your project will turn into something it was never intended to be.
Fortunately, PMs are good at seeing the trees and the forest. They value and consider each stakeholders’ view, implementing ideas when they know they’ll benefit the project’s goals and politely declining them when they’re out of scope.
Another win for a project’s timeline and budget.
Speaking of budget: PMs don’t just cross their fingers and hope to stay on budget. On the contrary, they keep up with the hours and budget through it all. This means no surprises toward the end of a project. Through a PM’s watchful eye, your team can quickly reassess and move on toward the goal.
In cases where teams bring in a new hire or a consultant to manage a project, PMs can provide a new perspective to a project. Though bringing in an outsider might sound counterintuitive to building brand consistency, skilled healthcare marketing PMs know how to quickly adapt to an organization’s brand and editorial style. Through their fresh perspective, they can work with a team to brainstorm new content ideas, provide tips for best practices, and make other recommendations based on their experience.
When done right, the responsibilities of a PM can ensure a project is finalized successfully. It’s like a well-oiled machine. Without the oil, the project machine won’t run smoothly.
Consider the value of a project manager as your team plans your next content marketing project. The right PM for the job can really make the difference between a project you’re proud of and one that disappoints.
Is your organization looking for a project management partner? WriterGirl can help. From coordinating your whole content team to sharing best practices and content ideas, our PMs do it all. Reach out to learn more about our project management services.
Natalie Weidler
The original version of this page was published at: https://www.writergirl.com/value-of-a-project-manager-in-healthcare-content-marketing/
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