Long-term projects can be tricky to manage. With such a long lead time, you and your team may underestimate the amount of work required or push off tasks in favor of more pressing needs. Before you know it, you’re nearing the deadline with little work done.
If not planned correctly, these projects can easily spiral out of control. To help you prepare, a panel of Forbes Agency Council members shared strategies for mapping out long-lead deadlines on your editorial calendar and keeping on the track to success.
Forbes Agency Council members share steps professionals should take to keep up the progress on projects with long-lead deadlines.
Photos courtesy of the individual members.
1. Hold Your Team Accountable
A long-term project tends to have many stakeholders involved, and keeping those stakeholders on schedule is the key to success. Make sure each stage of your project has a clear “owner” with complete visibility to the entire editorial timeline. Conduct weekly lighting briefing sessions to troubleshoot any issues that may cause the project to get “stuck” and keep the team focused on the end goal. – Jenni Smith, EGR International
2. Assign A Designated Project Manager
If you feel that your team needs help organizing the workflow and meeting project deadlines, get a project manager. Simple as that. Have a dedicated person to outline deliverables, monitor progress and organize all the working processes. This will take a lot of tasks off your project team’s shoulders and they will be able to focus on their core activities. – Solomon Thimothy, OneIMS
3. Keep Spirits And Engagement High
Beyond the standard best practices such as having a timeline and sticking to it and identifying champions for different portions of the project, it’s important to keep everyone motivated. Share information, have calls to talk about accomplishments so far and recognize achievements (both on the agency and the client side). It’s important to keep enthusiasm and engagement high for the long haul. – Jodi Amendola, Amendola Communications
4. Use Project Management Tools
An efficient approach is to break the project down into digestible components. Tools to help manage this process include a production schedule where tasks are broken down by priority, and a more granular “tasks and deliverables” spreadsheet, which delves into the minutiae of each project component. These tools ensure no detail is overlooked and the team stays on task in an organized manner. – Robert Macdonald, Impact Communications
5. Break The Project Down
Project management can be a challenge for even the most seasoned marketers. But the easiest way to successfully manage long-term marketing projects is to break them down into shorter timelines and have weekly or bi-weekly check-ins to ensure that any issues or challenges can be dealt with quickly. – Lauren Fairbanks, S&G
6. Have A Plan, But Be Flexible
When creating a long-lead editorial strategy, look at everything from the types of messages you want to get across over the next few months to how those messages might tie into what will likely be going on in the news at a particular time. Just remember that sometimes things will come up—be flexible and ready to adjust your strategy as appropriate. – Tripp Donnelly, REQ
7. Have Weekly Status Meetings
One of the most important things to ensure long term success is to have weekly meetings. The meetings will allow you to have a touch point that ensures alignment and know that you are going to have access to everything you need. That is mission-critical if you are going to be successful in planning out a project. Weekly meetings are critical; daily are better. – Jon James, Ignited Results
8. Leverage Long-Term Content Planning Tools
Use a content planning tool that allows you to parse themes out over months and quarters. Approach the campaign from a macro level down to the tiniest detail. Develop a repository of optimized evergreen content that connects with your ideal audience. Supplement hiccups in your long-lead projects with that content to keep your audience engaged and your content strategy moving forward. – Mary Ann O’Brien, OBI Creative
9. Plan The Work In Batches
It would seem that longer lead times would mean work is done on or ahead of schedule. The reality is that more time doesn’t change the actual amount of time to complete a task and there is a greater risk that tasks fall off the team’s radar. Map out batches and schedule kickoff meetings and internal reviews of works-in-progress well in advance of the final due dates to ensure timely completion. – Keri Witman, Cleriti
10. Make The Hard Decisions Early
The reason for a delay in almost every project is having to adapt to unanticipated circumstances. So I do the hard work early by carefully planning through each step of the process. That way, when it comes time to execute, I’m not slowed down by having to reformulate the plan and haven’t wasted time moving in the wrong direction. – Adam Guild, Placepull
11. Set Multiple Calendar Reminders
For long-lead deadlines, make sure to place multiple reminders on your calendar that keeps you on track leading up to the target date for your final deadline. If it’s a one month lead time, set a one-week alarm for a first draft, a two week and so on while sharing drafts with colleagues for review to ensure your final version is completed on time. Let your calendar be your “boss.” – Scott Kellner, GPJ Experience Marketing
12. Hold A Daily Standup Meeting
Holding a 15-minute daily standup, aka “scrum meeting,” ensures our team is tracking to plan. For our close-knit but globally distributed team, daily standup surfaces roadblocks before the death-spiral and gives a clear indication when and where we need to focus our energy. – Serenity Thompson, A23 Advisors
13. Set A Timeline And Stick To It
Strategy is critical if you want to guide a business toward achieving its goals. We recommend a simple timeline that supports you in staying the course. You can organize your schedule by month and then you can drop the details into a status document to ensure you meet deadlines. Don’t ever rely on your memory to get things done. Be sure you revisit the timeline monthly to ensure you are on track. – Jennifer von Stauffenberg, Olive Creative Strategies
