How Can Project Management Help With Content Marketing Struggles

Producing superb content is a challenging task, and it requires a lot of time and energy. But, sometimes content managers and writers lack both, and they still need to keep the process of generating and publishing relevant posts going.

Moreover, the workflow has to be fast and agile. Another issue that characterizes content creation lies in the fact that it’s above all a creative process, and cramming creativity into a streamlined routine can be difficult.

Luckily, project management software can help with all these challenges and help your team come up with some top-notch content and do it without procrastination.

Aligning Different Teams

The need for different teams to work together and be on the same page applies to any creative agency, and things are no different when it comes to content marketing services.

One of the most frequent issues lies in the fact that designers usually demand to see the content before they can start working on the outline of the design. On the other hand, writers complain that they can’t structure their content before they have at least a vague idea about how it will be visually represented.

An experienced project manager knows how to deal with such situations, and although designers are the ones who should get the ball rolling and sketch a visual concept, writers should also do their part and come up with a content framework.

The bottom line is that both departments should work simultaneously and shoulder to shoulder and communicate on a regular basis so that the whole project team is informed in a timely manner.

Setting Goals

Content marketing gets 3 times more leads than paid search per every dollar spent. The power of this strategy is immense, and yet many marketers complain that they don’t get the results they hoped for.

The main culprit behind these disappointing outcomes is their failure to set reasonable goals and plan ahead. But there are many other challenges which sneak up on content strategists and content writers so that they easily find themselves in a situation that their readers are no longer satisfied with their content.

This doesn’t have to mean that the quality of their blog posts dropped; instead of that, the reason for this might lie in the fact that their readership’s interests have changed, which means that their content strategy lacks flexibility and capability to adapt to these new circumstances.

To cut the long story short, the quality which any well-thought-out content strategy has to have is agility. So, what you should do is

• Create your responsive content strategy;
• Plan and track the process of content creation;
• Review your content strategy.

Content Strategy Creation

This is a complex part of the process as it’s basically laying the foundations of the content you will be producing. Understanding your audience and defining your marketing personas will help you get in touch with what their interests and pain points are, thus allowing you to create the content they will relate to on a profound level.

After you’ve set a direction, it’s time to do some brainstorming, think of relevant content ideas, and explore them further. Finally, you should decide on how much content you can produce and how often you can publish it.

It’s true that “the more, the merrier” applies in this case as the companies which publish more than 16 blog posts a month generate 4.5 times more leads than those which publish less than 4 posts, but you should know your limitations.

It’s better to publish fewer high-quality blog posts than to insist on an unrealistic schedule.

Planning and Tracking Your Content Creation

This step is critical for the success of your whole strategy and needs to be carefully tracked both in terms of how organized the workflow is as well as in terms of how successful your efforts are.

A project management tool can come in handy and help your team visualize the whole process together with the deadlines. Using this kind of software will prevent bottlenecks and every member of the team will have an insight into what needs to be done and by when.

Monitoring the results of your content is equally important, so make sure that you keep track of all the relevant content marketing KPIs. If you don’t know where to start, this detailed blog post by Four Dots will provide you with all the necessary information.

Reviewing Your Content Strategy

After you complete every cycle of the process, review your strategy based on how your audience responded and establish whether you need to change or fine-tune certain steps along the way.

If some metrics are unsatisfactory, don’t push the same strategy and wait for the things to improve because they won’t. All the changes and tweaks need to be implemented in the next cycle so that you can compare the results and see what work and what still needs to be polished.

This brings us back to the point we made at the beginning of this text – your and your team’s ability to adjust to new and unexpected circumstances as they come along is the basis of content project management.

Useful Productivity Software Features

There are numerous ways to take advantage of project management software and we’ll mention some of them. For example, nowadays many companies have remote teams, so such software can help them collaborate in real time as if they were sitting together in the same office.

Also, knowing how much time every member of your team spends on a particular task can help you invoice your customers accurately. Since we have mentioned the time factor, it’s worth noting that sometimes people get stuck with a task and a reliable project management tool allows you to keep track on how the work is progressing and whether a member of your team needs help with something.

This way you can easily overcome delays and improve the productivity of your team. In order to eliminate conflicting vacation schedules, use the option for forecasting leaves and plan your projects and tasks accordingly.

Project management can do wonders for solving challenging issues of content marketing.