What do you do if your B2B marketing strategy involves managing multiple projects?

In my experience, managing multiple projects simultaneously becomes challenging, especially when some are extremely urgent. Therefore, I prioritize two main objectives and include one urgent task if it aligns with the primary objective. Otherwise, there are two options: adjust the objectives or incorporate them into next year's Trade Marketing Plan.

Progressing further to a CMO or a founder role will increase the number of projects and teams and the complexity of assignments. Skill up continuously and prioritize rigorously. Weekly sprints, Gantt charts with priorities, scorecards with KPIs, focused delegation help.

Make sure all projects support your corporate goals. This helps prioritise activities and prevents project scope creep. Plan projects: For each project, define goals, deadlines, outcomes, and resource allocation. Visualising project flow is easier with Gantt charts or Kanban boards. Focus on rigorous prioritisation. It's crucial to identify the different relevance and impact of projects. Use the Eisenhower Matrix to prioritise tasks by urgency and priority. Give high-impact, time-sensitive projects first attention. Setting Clear Expectations: Inform team members and stakeholders of project goals. Use project management software like Asana or Trello.

Every B2B marketing strategy that I’ve ever created has multiple tasks involved and prioritization is key to make sure the right tasks are worked on and completed at the right time. After discovering what tasks need to be done, prioritize them based on urgency, importance, relevance to the overall strategy, and alignment to company and team goals.

As a general rule, 20% of projects are going to be responsible for 80% of the results in terms of impact of revenue. Identifying the 20% is the most underrated first step that needs to happen first.

Juggling multiple B2B marketing projects? The trick is smart delegation. Take a good look at your team’s strengths and dish out tasks that align. It’s not just about getting things done; it’s about tapping into each member’s potential. Give them the clear guidance they need, then step back and let them own it. This way, you’re not just spreading the workload—you’re fostering innovation and boosting team morale. Remember, the right person for the right task makes all the difference.

Part of delegating wisely involves truly understanding the current processes of all areas and ensuring they share common objectives, as part of the training and leadership process. Being aware of each member's opportunity areas related to the project is key for planning how, as a leader, to delegate either 100% or encourage them to take on tasks themselves, based on time constraints.

No one is an island and even if you are a team of 1 (which I have been in the past), you still must rely on other department members or an agency to help complete these tasks. Knowing and determining what to offload to someone else is a key pet in the strategic process. Make sure you trust your team, but also set them up for success with clear goals, expectations, and whatever tools they need to complete those delegated tasks.

As long as we are utilizing tools to track sell-in, sell-out, category value, consumer insights, and brand performance, we will have the key information to create a new business plan with clients, oversee it, correct it, and analyze it in real-time. However, in my experience, as a leader, understanding the profiles of other leaders is crucial to involve them and obtain the necessary authorization to deliver the yearly B2B Trade Marketing Plan on time.

There are so many tools to choose from that marketers really need to understand their strategies and current tools to make sure they get the right new tools for their needs. Also, they need to know their audience and select tools that will best support their customers and fulfill their needs for the strategies they are implementing. It is a challenging process, but an important one to be successful in achieving the goals of the project.

And keep those tools to the bare minumim. At marketing we tend to go chase the next shiny object (aka tool) that will make our lives easier. False. Create a system in pen and paper, or docs and sheets. Make it work. Build habits. And then, scale it with tools and more sophisticated environments. Remember, the more stuff you add, the more potential "leaks" at home.

From my experience tools are used at 35-40% of their capacity, and the reason is that all the time we are trying to use everything from that tool, and that is wrong. Implement a marketing strategy tool step by step, and show your team how it will improve their outcome, and how it will make their work flawless, then for sure they will adopt it is use it to maximum capacity.

Don't overcook KPIs and measures of success. Decide on two things: 1. your target result + when you want to achieve it, and 2. how you'll measure progress via activities and achievements. Example: Goal - double newsletter sign ups in 6 months. Measures - publish 4 newsletters, 1 sign up promotion per month (activities) and gain 25 new subscribers per week, 100 per month (achievements). Do a review every Friday. Less is more. It will give your team clarity, lessen their reporting burden, and provide more time to focus on execution.

I cannot stress on scorecards enough. Great scorecards are foundational dashboards. If you can't build out a Tableau or Looker report daily, start with a scorecard filling in weekly (ideally daily) KPIs. The next level is dashboards - and notifications or alerts in case of a significant delta.

In managing multiple projects, clarity is your best friend. Regular team check-ins are a must to touch base on progress, tackle any hurdles, and plan ahead. Create a space where everyone feels comfortable sharing thoughts and raising issues—it’s a game-changer for heading off problems early. This approach doesn’t just solve issues; it builds a team that truly works together, with everyone dialed into the strategy and knowing exactly how they contribute. Clear, open communication is the glue that holds everything together.

Clear communication is key to achieving strategic success. Making sure the team is clear on the objectives, ensuring that they know the purpose of their assigned tasks, following up with regular check-ins, and receiving communication from them throughout the project will make for a more successful strategy.

All strategies should have built in them room for adjustment. Even when we know “everything”, we really don’t and something can come up during the project or campaign that shows us the need to adjust the plan. Test, observe, and be willing to adapt to what you find during the project so you can be successful.

If you've develop a strategy, I don't think you want to be too flexible with it. Yes, evolve it QoQ but try to stick to the plan until you can prove some learnings and valid reasons to change. Tactically speaking, 100% be flexible. Be nimble and fail cheap. But the strategy should be at a level that needs time to consolidate, ciment and prove you right... or not.

When your B2B marketing strategy involves managing multiple projects, staying focused & organized is key. Allocate the necessary time & effort to each project, ensuring that none is neglected. Develop a clear plan for all projects, outlining their objectives, timelines, & milestones. This structured approach helps in tracking progress & identifying potential overlaps or conflicts early on. Utilize project management tools to keep everything in check & facilitate communication among team members. Regularly review each project's progress against its milestones, adjusting strategies as needed to meet objectives. By being well-organized & maintaining a focused approach, you can effectively manage multiple projects, driving them towards success.

Building a strong team to take care of multiple areas of multiple projects is critical. Then using a good PM tool like Zoho, Basecamp, etc...is a great way to keep track of your multiple B2B clients. Dedicated SMEs catering to different projects will keep the needle moving. On top of that, CSAT Manager for a monthly feedback is also important to ensure the customer sentiment is +ve.

Remember how fun it was to play Tetris? This is marketing project management. Except, each block is a project. And somehow you need to find a way to fit them together for your available resources (time and budget). Some key ways to do this: ?? Build and maintain a marketing strategy that shows how marketing campaigns/projects roll up to broader KPIs ?? Get internal buy in on what should be prioritized and why (this should align with broader corporate goals) ?? Build a marketing calendar to outline key deliverables, who owns them, review cycles, and final deadline (Excel or use a tool like Asana) ?? Host regular check ins with the team and other stakeholders to identify where priorities have shifted and/or deadlines have changed

Establish realistic deadlines for each project and communicate them clearly to all team members. Avoid overloading team members with unrealistic timelines and allow for some buffer time to account for unexpected delays. Keep stakeholders informed about the progress of the projects and manage their expectations effectively. Provide regular updates on key milestones, achievements, and any changes that may impact the project timeline or scope. Recognize and celebrate project milestones and achievements to boost team morale and motivation. Acknowledge the hard work and dedication of team members to foster a positive and rewarding work environment.

Say no to work. Ruthlessly prioritize and take stuff out of your team's plate more often than note. Leave room for creativity and expansion, but most importantly, to make your GTM campaigns worth talking about. In short, do less, but better. There's too much marketing out there to keep getting adding trash to people's inboxes and feeds.