Becoming a marketing project manager – what do you need to succeed

Even if you don’t have any project management qualifications, sooner or later if you are a marketer you may need to work as a marketing project manager and hone those all important PM skills. This might be because you get a promotion that takes you into a role where more leadership is required and need to manage projects rather than execute them. You may also find yourself leading an initiative where project management skills will stand you in good stead.

So whatever situation you find yourself in, here are some tips to help you succeed as a marketing project manager.

What does being a marketing project manager involve?

There are a few things that a marketing project manager does:

• They are tasked with guiding projects from beginning to end, they will determine scope, assign tasks, set deadlines, and generally be involved with every part of the execution of a project
• They ensure people have everything they need to get their job done, and when they don’t have everything, they sort it out for them.
• They help with communications between stakeholders – it is important to make sure that everyone has the information that they need and that everyone has the means to communicate with each other.

What skills do you need?

Managing a project is not as easy as you might think and there are some skills that you really do need if you are going to hold your own as a marketing project manager.

You will probably want to do what you can to plug any gaps that exist in your skillset, whether this is through further courses or even reading up on the subject. The skills can be broken down into two distinct groups:

The soft skills – Interpersonal communication, time management, negotiation and conflict management, subject matter expertise and leadership.

The technical skills – Task management, time planning, resource allocation, ability to set deadlines and the ability to use project management tools.

It is also worth remembering what is possibly the most important skill that a project manager has and that is great communication skills; the ability to talk to a range of different people and also to listen properly to what they have to say.

Of course, these skills alone are not enough to help anyone succeed in the field of project management, although obviously having these skills will certainly help. Whether you are new to project management or have moved from one side of the role to another experience will go a long way towards helping to create a project manager who is confident in their role and does it well.

The relevant qualifications provide a very good starting point and can often be studied by someone moving into the position who is studying whilst working in the role. It is important, as with so many other roles, for a good project manager to ensure that they keep abreast of new methods and ideas within the field – this is one of those roles where you never really stop learning.