During my time as a product manager in the Applied Integrated Marketing Communications class at Western Washington University, I experienced many challenges and unanticipated obstacles. Going into it, I knew that leading a team of students would be a huge learning experience, and I was both excited and nervous for what the quarter held!

Now, in my current position as the director of operations for the class, I am seeing the product managers run into many of the same roadblocks that I did. Well if you are a product manager reading this, I hope the following 5 tips that I learned along the way helps you lead your team to success!

From Content Creator to Product Manager, I have spent a little over 6 months as a cog in the machine that is Integrated Marketing Communication. In the next 3 months, I will be tackling a new role in IMC as Managing Director. Being a Managing Director has been a position on the Executive Team that has seemed to elude many students. For the first 2 weeks of being in this role, I was very lost myself, not knowing which duties fell into my lap and which duties were my peers. However, from listening to my past peers, current peers, and professor I have begun to define my responsibilities as Managing Director.

The idea of cultivating a personal brand was a task that seemed almost insurmountable to me when I took IMC in the fall. I knew that I wanted to be a marketer but had no idea the amount of work that went into developing a brand. As the quarter progressed and I began to work on my personal creative strategy, I was forced to sit down and think about how I wanted my brand to reflect who I am. I’m writing this blog with the purpose of helping you gain some ideas as to how you may want to develop your brand! Before the actual inception of your brand elements can be made, there are a few questions that you should ask yourself to aid in the ideation process.  

1. What is unique about me that can help me differentiate my brand?  

Just so we’re clear…what exactly is a creative brief?

A creative brief is a document that is created by marketers or project managers to plan a campaign or creative project. It serves as a blueprint for your project. This type of creative brief is important in gaining a clear understanding of your process and goals of a campaign, yet creative briefs can also serve as a tool to help define your own brand. Creating a personal branded creative brief for your brand ensures your organization knows its customers, recognizes the needs that it can fulfill, and understands its true mission and goals.

One thing that I have always struggled with using effectively and efficiently is technology, which has been extremely evident in my struggles to utilize technology to become an effective and competent creator. One such example of my technological blocker becoming an issue was in the fall when I had to build my own professional website on WordPress. While this task is challenging enough on its own, my struggles were only deepened as a result of my blocker when it comes to using technology in an efficient and effective manner. Because of this, I think it is pertinent that I explain my journey in building my own professional website, and how I overcame the obstacles that WordPress and my own perceived technological inabilities presented, which I believe will help content creators overcome similar technological blockers.

As my quarter acting as the Managing Director for the applied IMC class comes to an end, I would like to reflect on the lessons I have learned and what I would have done differently. I am writing this with the hopes that the next executive team can learn from my mistakes and start their journeys more equipped with the knowledge of how to best execute their role and lead the class to success.