How to project manage the creation of an advertisement

“Good advertising does not just circulate information. It penetrates the public mind with desires and belief.” William Bernbach

Advertisements can evoke all sorts of emotions in us – but who are the people behind these advertisements that “penetrate our minds with desires and belief?” Advertising project managers coordinate and help their teams to develop, create, and deliver campaigns and advertisements for agencies and businesses.

True project managers develop projects and plans, direct, manage and monitor project execution. However, how exactly do they project manage the creation of an advertisement?

Their first step to creating an advertisement is usually to plan and ensure the advertisement aligns with their client’s creative strategy. They need to consider the messaging they want to get across and the outcomes it will produce. Doing a SWOT analysis of the product and company is an effective way to do this.

Creating an advert

How to Perform a SWOT Analysis

• Determine what your objective is. Determine what your key project or strategy is that you’re going to analyse. Put it as the heading of your page.
• Create a grid. Draw a sizeable square. Divide it into four squares which are smaller.
• Name each box:
• Label the top left box as “Strengths” ,
• Label the top right box as “Weaknesses” ,
• Label the bottom left box as “Opportunities”, and
• Label the bottom right box as Threats”

Distinguish these titles from the rest of the text using either colour or font size.

• Add in the strengths and weaknesses row, add factors that affect the project in the applicable boxes. Elements of a SWOT analysis may be qualitative and anecdotal in addition to quantitative and empirical. List factors in a bullet form.
• Draw conclusions. Analyse the completed SWOT diagram. If the positive outcomes outweigh the negative ones it may be a good idea to carry out the goal that you’ve written down. If they do not, you may need to make adjustments. If you do not, the plan should simply be abandoned.

Once they’ve done the analysis, project managers should set up the main objectives, research the market, the competition. In addition, they should identify the target audience.

A project manager must also develop processes for everything from gathering data, delegating tasks and managing the delivery of advertisements.

Matthieu Mingasson from Code and Theory says, “When we start a project, we always craft the process that will generate the best results, based on the category, client organization, workflows, and technology. You need to design the process before you design the product.”

After the processes are in place, the project manager must select the appropriate channels for the advertisement before brainstorming fresh ideas and putting the design process in motion.

Project managers will go through the following step-by-step process when determining the best channel for an advertisement to be disseminated on:

1. Determine The Goal Of Your Campaign
2. Try Old-Fashioned Referrals
3. Opt For A More Subtle Approach
4. Decide Based On Target Audience
5. Go “Over The Top”
6. Focus On Facebook

Most advertisement campaigns would not fair very well without project management as it helps keep advertisements relevant and exciting while meeting customers’ needs and getting customers to buy!

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