Meeting Marketing Deadlines Doesn’t Have to Be a Deadly Affair
Deadlines…. we all have them, and they’re not going to go away anytime soon.
The word ‘deadline’ has a long history and was first used in its historical meaning of a literal deadline in the American Civil War in the 1860s.
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“The prison guards, composed mostly of older men and boys, watched from sentry boxes perched atop the stockade and shot any prisoner who crossed a wooden railing, called the deadline.”
The modern meaning of a deadline is perhaps less serious but still many people view deadlines as something negative.
Deadlines don’t, however, need to be a burden keeping us awake at night. With the right approach and planning, deadlines can become a useful tool to manage your flow of workflow throughout the year, motivate you and ensure you’re focusing on the right tasks at the right time.
WHY MEETING DEADLINES IS IMPORTANT
Deadlines are not there to make our lives difficult. They’re there because of the necessity to get something done by a certain date. It’s like catching a flight – if you’re not at the airport on time, you will miss your flight. The simple fact is that missing a deadline costs money. It can also ruin you and your company’s reputation and drive customers away.
Pharmaceutical organisations are all too familiar with the seriousness of missing an important deadline. The consequences can be severe if an organisation doesn’t meet a production deadline or a deadline to comply with new regulation, such as the recent EU directive on falsified medicines 2011/62/EU that requires pharmaceutical manufacturers to apply two safety features to all new packs of prescription medicines; a unique identifier and an anti-tampering device.
When it comes to pharmaceutical marketing, missing a deadline could mean that a print issue of a key magazine is going to print with a missed placement. The printer does not wait! Missing this kind of a strict deadline can mean that your ad or article will not appear in the planned issue and therefore will not reach the right audience. It can mean that your advert or company profile will not land in the hands of the decision-maker at a specific trade show (Pharmapack, CPhI, Interphex, DCAT etc). Missing deadlines can be deadly for your marketing objectives in any specific year and literally kill your business.
WHAT CAN YOU DO TO MAKE SURE YOU MEET DEADLINES?
To ensure you meet all those important deadlines, according to your marketing strategy in 2020, there are several things you can do.
1. COMMUNICATING DEADLINES TO THE WHOLE TEAM
Communication is the key to meeting deadlines as it is for successfully managing any project. Make sure you sit down as a team, discuss what needs doing and when, allocate tasks and ensure everyone knows what they need to do the meet the deadline. Ensure that communication is open and that your team members feel comfortable expressing their thoughts and views.
2. SET SMART TARGETS FOR EVERYONE IN THE TEAM
SMART targets are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-Measured. SMART criteria are commonly associated with Peter Drucker's management by objectives concept.
3. ENSURE EVERYONE IN THE TEAM IS AWARE OF WHAT IS EXPECTED OF THEM AND WHEN
Nominate clear tasks and deadlines for each individual in the team and ensure everyone knows how all the different parts come together. For instance, for a print ad, ensure that the content writer knows what the creative person is doing. If you work with an agency, make sure they know what your team is doing and when.
4. ACCOUNTABILITY
Making deadline dates visible in a workflow management tool to the whole team is one way to increase accountability, and this can be supported by regular meetings where each team member can update the rest of the team on where they are towards their SMART targets.
5. USE THE RIGHT TOOLS TO MANAGE A PROJECT AND ENSURE YOU HAVE VISIBILITY OF THE DEADLINES ACROSS THE TEAM
Here at Orientation Marketing, we use Asana, however, there are lots of other tools you may wish to use instead, such as Microsoft Planner, Monday, Getapp, Mindtools etc. These tools allow you to add projects, key deadlines and it will keep reminding you of all the tasks that are due each week. It’s almost like having a personal assistant to remind you about what you need to do and when. Take a look at my colleague Lauren’s blog on task management software for more information.
6. HOLD REGULAR MEETINGS TO ENSURE EVERYONE’S ON TRACK
A weekly meeting to ensure everyone’s on track with their tasks is a must. The meeting doesn’t have to take more than 15 minutes, and it can be done over a cup of tea/coffee in the morning. If the team is not physically in the same place, you can use other tools such as Microsoft Teams Meeting/Skype/Webex. Holding regular meetings with the team comes back to regular and open communication and we cannot emphasise enough how important this is. Arrange individual catch-ups as and when needed/on a regular basis, depending on the situation.
7. ADDRESS ANY ISSUES WHEN YOU STILL HAVE TIME TO ACT
By having regular meetings you can foresee any possible issues before it’s too late. When you’re on top of each stage of the process, small issues remain exactly that, small issues that can be dealt with. If you leave it too late, small issues and as a consequence you may risk meeting the deadline and therefore the successful completion of your project.
8. DON’T LEAVE IT UNTIL THE LAST MINUTE
We have all been there. If I have a deadline on Friday 13th at 13.00 I will leave it until Friday 13th at 12.59 to get it done. What you could do is to set a deadline a week before the actual deadline. Imagine if you always had everything ready a week before it’s due, and you have time to make final amendments, tackle any potential issues when you still have time to act.
9. BE HONEST
Be honest about your progress and encourage your team members to be honest about their progress too. If you’re struggling with something, ask for help. If you notice someone is struggling, offer help. It’s that easy.
10. REWARD GOOD BEHAVIOUR AND POSITIVE ATTITUDE WHEN YOU HAVE MET AN IMPORTANT DEADLINE
There’s a lot to be said about going for a pizza or drink together when it’s all been done and dusted. The deadline was not only met but you had a great finished product to show for it. Positive encouragement and recognition go a long way both in business as well as in your private life. Show them the carrot, not the whip!
SUMMARY
There is no getting away from deadlines. All of us have them, and they are not going to go away anytime soon.
The key is to learn to manage them in the right way, to ensure continuing success with all your marketing projects throughout the year. Reach out to us if you would like to learn more about the tools we use to manage deadlines effectively at Orientation Marketing, both internally and for our clients.
