Advocate Marketing: Strategies for Building Buzz, Leveraging Customer Satisfaction, and Creating Relationships

16. Best Practices for Creating a Project Management Plan for an Advocate Recognition Engagement (ARE) Program

The previous chapter shares the story of how the Advocate Recognition Engagement (ARE) program came to fruition. This chapter expands on the steps described in the previous case study and provides more specific advice to create a sustainable program.

Once you have determined critical roles and responsibilities (from managers to staff workers to outside consultants and vendors), create your strategic plan. This plan outlines timelines, budgets, tools and technologies needed, and your specific goals and how they will be measured. Table 16.1 provides an example of a simple project management chart. It identifies the key stages of the project ...