Creative Partners for Marketing Solutions

For those of you that have no idea what a project manager does, I will give you a brief overview.

Project management is a vital function that affects every aspect of a project from discovery to deployment. The project requirements based on client specifications are the driving force for accurately designing a plan that will not only meet the client’s needs but utilize company resources in the most efficient way possible. It is necessary for a project manager to have a balance of cost of project, scope of work and schedule to ensure that a quality product is the end result.

Project management is a vital function that affects every aspect of a project from discovery to deployment.

Communication and collaboration at all levels of the organization is the only way to ensure the best solution has been chosen. Within our organization there are experts in their own field, the project manager is responsible for communicating the right information to each level.

Often, a certain level of creativity is needed in utilizing the budget and available resources in the best way possible to provide the client with the best solution. But sometimes when managing a web-based project, the best way to do something has already been done. So the dilemma is whether to use an existing wheel—such as Google analytics, maps or calendars—or totally recreate the wheel. Most people will buy the wheel and make it work, but in some cases recreating the wheel is the only way to guarantee an exact fit. This falls in line with utilizing your resources in the most efficient way possible. A good project manager will make these decisions and have facts to back that decision.

Commitment to a project is probably the number one requirement of a good project manager. Once a project has been approved and signed by the client, the project manager has to be totally committed to providing the end product based on the specifications. In some cases, the estimated budget ends up being less than the actual cost to do the project. Regardless, the project manager must make sure the project is completed to the specifications no matter what.

In the end, the quality of the completed product and the relationships created with the client are what count.

I once knew a guy who owned a video and film production house back in the ‘80s. Business was good; he was cranking out TV spots on a daily basis…literally. However, at the time there was also a newly emerging media – the Internet. This person always prided himself on having the foresight to see marketing trends and knew this Internet thing would be huge. In fact, he told me more than once that “traditional” media like television and billboards were heading down the path of the dinosaurs. “To be successful you must be able to quickly adapt.” And he did just that. He sold off his production facility, virtually overnight, and built a new studio dedicated to what he saw to be the only viable future in marketing: creating websites and banner ads. There was just one problem; the rest of the business world didn’t react so quickly. He was out of business within three years.

O.K., O.K., so the Internet boom eventually came to fruition. According to market research website eMarketer, the U.S. online ad spending is expected to grow pretty spectacularly from $29 billion this year to $46 billion in 2015. However, this Great Digital Age we’re now in appeared without killing off other forms of advertising. In fact, eMarketer also predicts that U.S. TV ad spending will account for over 39 percent of all major media dollars spent by advertisers in 2015!

So what we end up with is a gluttony of viable media options: Internet, social media, billboards, print, television, radio, direct mail, email, etc. “Great!,” we marketers cry. We can now fine-tune media plans and target any audience or groups with surgical precision. All these options are there for us to draw from, like arrows in a gigantic quiver. We can now align databases with audience preferences and create accurate, up-to-the-minute lists. ALL thanks to the wonderfully vast marketing mix at our disposal.

But wait just a media minute, mister. What if these options fall into the wrong hands… like unknowing clients’? Here’s a typical conversation about media choice these days:

Agency: So, why do you want to be on Facebook?

Client: Everybody’s doing it. It shows we’re at the forefront of our industry. Our message can potentially reach billions of people… on a personal level.

Agency: But you sell industrial limestone.

The bottom line: Just because the choice exists doesn’t mean it’s right.. And choosing the right media is more complex than ever before. That’s where the experience of a good marketing firm comes in handy. With practical knowhow, experience and a solid marketing plan, we can align your needs with the right media mix.

Of course another option might be to get rid of some of that media, maybe with a big sale…

But then we’d have to decide where to run the commercials: national spot TV, cable, in an eBlast campaign, website video, viral marketing on YouTube…

"Backup the backup of your backup."

A wise, old IT guru gave me two pieces of advice when I chose IT as my profession. First, 90% of networking issues will be DNS related so learn it. Second, backup the backup of your backup. Many years later these two pieces of advice still hold true. However, one has become cheaper and easier over the years—backups.

You would be surprised how often I get a late night phone call saying, “I was just checking my email and BAM! everything is gone on my computer,” or, “I just went to turn on my computer and it won’t start.” For me, that’s when the real fun starts. Usually the first question from the user is, “What is going to happen to all my pictures and all my music?” They don’t realize that all their financial info, homework etc. is at jeopardy too until I ask them what other type of data they have on their hard drive. That’s when the look of panic sets in. And when I ask if their data was backed up, 90% of the time I get the response, “What?!” followed by a pause, then the answer, “No.”

This is when it starts to get interesting. Without going into all the techie details, most of the time a malware or virus clean up will fix the problem and the user is good to go with lesson learned, hopefully! But unfortunately, there are too many times when the hard drive went south and the user is up a creek without a paddle.

Bottom line—every company should have a good backup and recovery plan. Granted, nothing is ever 100% but your IT staff should do their best to protect your valuable data. It costs a lot of time and money to recreate or restore lost data, if recovery is possible. The same holds true with your personal computer’s data. We spend hours taking pictures and video of events in our lives just to have it pile up on our computer’s hard drive until that old hard drive kicks the bucket.

These days there are plenty of cost effective ways to back your personal data. With all the cloud based storage now available, a quick Google search can help you find online storage offering various amounts of free storage space. Pick one that’s right for your needs. Also, an external hard drives is another good backup source. Terabyte external hard drives can be found for under $100 nowadays. I recommend putting data on non-erasable media. Get a spindle of DVD-R’s or a few Blu-ray discs and burn the data. You won’t be sorry.

For a little bit of time and a little of money you can protect your valuable data. You’ll sleep better. And so will I, knowing you won’t be calling me in the middle of the night.