There are tons of components that go into a marketing campaign, right from its inception to planning all the way to its execution.
So, it’s no surprise that your team is looking for marketing project management software to speed up their processes!
After all, who wants to spend time on a bunch of admin tasks when they’re supposed to be brainstorming the next viral marketing campaign, right?
Well, you’re in luck.
In this article, we’ll cover what marketing project management software is and take a look at 13 excellent tools to help you manage your marketing projects.
Let’s go!
What Is Marketing Project Management Software?
Marketing project management software helps creative teams plan, communicate, and manage every stage of a project’s life cycle.
An excellent marketing project management tool will have features for:
- Ideation 🤔
- File attachments
- Workload management
- Resource management
- Client management
- Team collaboration
- Time tracking
- Reporting
A really great project management software for marketing will also provide teams with some sort of budgeting feature.
Why is this necessary?
Marketing teams need to make sure that their wonderful ideas are also wonderful for their company’s bank account, so they don’t end up like this:
Here are other things you should look for:
- Scalability: the tool you choose needs to be able to grow with your marketing agency
- User-friendliness: the tool needs to suit both your employees and clients
- Integrations: the tool connects with your existing software
- Customization: you should be able to make the tool your own
- Remote working: mobile apps or an offline mode ensure your team can work on the go
After you decide on your marketing project management software, you can read our expert roundup for more marketing project management tips.
The 13 Best Marketing Project Management Software
Here are the 13 best marketing project management tools in 2021:
1. ClickUp
ClickUp is the world’s leading marketing project management software.
From providing you with useful team collaboration features to helping you manage all your marketing OKRs and operations, ClickUp is easily the best project management software for marketing.
ClickUp key features
Here’s how ClickUp can help your marketing teams:
1. Mind Maps
Put on your creative thinking hats because we’re about to brainstorm! 🧠
Plan marketing campaigns, come up with cool ideas, and even organize your content marketing strategy using Mind Maps.
You get two modes when using Mind Maps:
- Task mode: map out your workflow for existing projects by quickly creating, editing, and deleting tasks (and subtasks) right from your view!
- Blank mode: create a Mind Map from scratch and convert it to a task later 📝
2. Docs
Use Docs to create wikis and marketing plans anywhere in ClickUp.
You and your teammates can also work together on creative projects in real-time with Collaborative Editing.
You can also get notified when someone is viewing (yellow binoculars icon) or adding new comments (purple ellipses icon) on the same Doc as you with Collaboration Detection.
We know you’re there, Nosey.
3. Tasks
ClickUp lets you Assign Tasks to one team member, Multiple Assignees, or a Team.
You can also create Recurring Tasks for any marketing project that you know will come up again.
Choose ‘On Schedule’ in the recurring settings to have your tasks run on a loop without ever having to change the status.
This way, you’ll never lose sight of your tasks, literally.
4. Multiple Project Views
ClickUp has tons of marketing project views that let you envision your projects in the way you see fit:
- Board view: make bulk edits and see where you’re at with your marketing plan with this powerful drag-and-drop interface
- Calendar view: plan campaigns, schedule meetings, and manage your resources all in this view
- Gantt view: plan marketing projects, determine deadlines, and track Milestones
- Workload view: reallocate tasks to team members who have some free time on their hands
- Chat view: have casual conversations or get feedback about tasks right alongside your work
- Form view: create custom Forms for affiliate sign-ups, client onboarding, co-marketing collaboration requests, and more
5. Proofing
We know that client feedback can get confusing!
That’s why ClickUp lets you add comments and updates on your designs and other marketing content. Once your design is done and dusted, you can ask your client to approve it ✅.
You can also create new and improved contracts and agreements by proofing PDF files with your clients so that you can avoid disagreements over the fine print. 🔎
With Proofing, you can also let clients review contracts by attaching the contract to a task and once that’s done, simply assign a comment to the client to let them take action on it immediately.
ClickUp pros
- Powerful free version with unlimited users
- Create and keep track of your company Goals and marketing KPIs
- Create custom Dashboards to see your budgets, allocations, spending, and profits
- Track time taken to complete any marketing activity and even include time estimates with our Global Time Tracker
- Use Accounting Templates to manage your marketing records, income, invoices, and predicted revenue
- Perform powerful Column Calculations using your numerical data in your tasks
- Send and receive emails directly within a task with Email ClickApp
- Ready-made Templates for SEO, Campaign Tracking, and Graphic Design
- 50+ Task Automations to streamline your workflow
- Integrates with several third-party software like Evernote, Time Doctor, Salesforce, and more
- Add and manage tasks using our Mobile Apps (available on iPad, iPhone, and Android)
ClickUp cons
- Can’t export Dashboards
Check out ClickUp’s roadmap here to see how we’re fixing these minor drawbacks. Also, take a look at all the innovative features that this free marketing project management tool has for all your creative needs!
ClickUp pricing
ClickUp has a powerful free plan for unlimited users. Our paid versions start at just $5/user per month.
ClickUp customer ratings
- G2: 4.7/5 (2,000+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.7/5 (2,000+ reviews)
2. Basecamp
Basecamp 3.0 is a project management app that provides teams with features for file storage, managing projects, and group chats for a non-negotiable price of $99/month.
Psst… ClickUp offers your marketing team way more features for free!
Basecamp 3.0 pros
- Hill charts that give you an overview of how your projects are performing
- The ‘Hey!’ menu groups notifications like new messages, @mentions, and to-dos
- A portal for clients to view tasks and communicate
- Save new messages or documents as drafts before you publish them
Basecamp 3.0 cons
- Lacks advanced project management features like task priorities and custom statuses
- No labels or tags for better task organization
- No native time tracking features
- No free version
Basecamp 3.0 pricing
This project management tool has a flat rate of $99/month.
Basecamp 3.0 customer ratings
- G2: 4.1/5 (4,000+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.3/5 (12,000+ reviews)
3. Zoho Projects
Zoho Projects is a project management tool that helps you plan your work, track project progress, and collaborate with your team.
Feeling grumpy, happy, or sleepy?
Zoho Projects lets you switch between themes to find one that best suits your mood!
Zoho pros
- Timeline view lets you see what employees are doing within a specific period of time
- Use employee timesheets to log billable and nonbillable hours
- Kanban boards to visualize your workflow
Zoho cons
- The free plan only lets you create two projects and attach files up to 10MB
- Limited integrations with non-Zoho software like Zoom
- High-learning curve, especially during the initial setup process
Zoho pricing
This project management solution has a free plan, and its paid plans start at $5/user per month.
Zoho customer ratings
- G2: 4.2/5 (200+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.2/5 (200+ reviews)
4. Trello
Trello uses simple boards, lists, and cards to give teams a fun way to manage projects.
One of the drawbacks of this card-based tool is that you’ll need to pay extra for some basic features…
Trello pros
- Easy project setup and onboarding
- Tags, labels, and categories for task organization
- Custom automations, rules, and scheduled commands
- Kanban boards to streamline your task processes
Trello cons
- Free plan limited to 10MB per file attachment
- No task tray to view your current tasks
- Comments are found at the back of the card, which makes it challenging to collaborate
- Need to pay up for some power-ups for full functionality
Trello pricing
This project management software offers a free version, and paid plans start at $12.50/user per month.
Trello customer ratings
- G2: 4.4/5 (11,000+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.5/5 (18,000+ reviews)
5. Podio
Podio is a project management software that lets you invite your clients, freelancers, and external stakeholders to the Podio party: 🥳
Podio pros
- Set custom permissions to control who has access to your workspaces
- Excellent file-sharing capabilities
- Built-in team chat and video conferencing capabilities
- Powerful mobile apps that let you manage any marketing project on the go
Podio cons
- A limited free plan that lacks automated workflows, contact syncing, and user management features
- Can’t assign comments as tasks
- Visual reports are only available in the premium versions
Podio pricing
This task management software has a free plan with paid plans starting at $9/user per month.
Podio customer ratings
- G2: 4.1/5 (350+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.3/5 (200+ reviews)
6. Asana
Asana is a project management software that encourages teams to focus on wild ideas, not deadlines.
However, this task management app lets you assign tasks to only one person, which is a bit of a problem if your marketing team has, well…more than one person. 👀
Asana pros
- Attachments can be added to any task and accessed later in the team file storage
- Real-time chat and collaboration features for every task
- Project templates to speed up processes
- Calendar view to see your schedules clearly
- Kanban view that works like Trello
Asana cons
- Can’t convert comments into tasks
- No feature that lets teams collaborate on the same document
- Have to assign copies of a task to multiple team members, which can clutter your workspace with tons of clones
Asana pricing
This project management tool has a free plan with paid plans starting at $13.49/user per month.
Asana customer ratings
- G2: 4.3/5 (7,000+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.4/5 (9,000+ reviews)
7. Teamwork Projects
Teamwork Projects is a project management software that helps you deliver projects on time and on budget.
Teamwork pros
- Tags that help you categorize and group projects your way
- Break down large tasks into smaller marketing goals with goals and project milestone tracking features
- Intuitive Gantt charts for project planning
Teamwork cons
- Limited to five users in the free plan
- Only has Kanban board and list view
- Limited task boards in the free plan
Teamwork pricing
This project management system has a free plan, and paid plans start at $12/user per month.
Teamwork customer ratings
- G2: 4.4/5 (700+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.5/5 (600+ reviews)
8. Toggl Plan
Toggl Plan is a project management software with an intuitive drag-and-drop interface that makes planning fun again!
But the app has limited integrations, making it hard to transfer data to other marketing project management tools.
Not very fun, now is it? 😒
Toggl Plan pros
- The custom color-coding feature makes it easy to identify different marketing project stages
- Manage resources and workloads with team timelines
- Customize task statuses to meet all your teamwork project needs
Toggl Plan cons
- No project management dashboards
- The free plan is limited to five users
- Offers only 10+ software integrations
Toggl Plan pricing
This task management app has a free plan, and paid plans start at $9/user per month.
Toggl Plan customer ratings
- G2: 4.1/5 (20+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.5/5 (100+ reviews)
Not sure about Toggl Plan? Check out some Toggl alternatives.
9. Workfront
Workfront is one of the leaders in the world of collaborative work management tools.
But this project management software can also be more complex than other marketing tools, leaving you feeling like this:
Workfront pros
- Built-in approval feature for team collaboration and project feedback
- Visual reports and dashboards
- A consolidated task list that displays the most critical assignments and upcoming tasks
- Integrates with Adobe, Slack, GSuite, and Salesforce
Workfront cons
- More complex than other marketing software
- Not suitable for small businesses since the integrations depend on your pricing plan
- The Gantt chart is challenging to use
Workfront pricing
Contact Workfront for their pricing plans.
Workfront customer ratings
- G2: 4.1/5 (800+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.3/5 (1,000+ reviews)
10. FunctionFox
FunctionFox is a project management system that helps you manage multiple projects so that you can spend more time on the things you love…or on endless coffee breaks.
FunctionFox pros
- Team task assignment lets you manage resources and workloads
- Flexible project scheduling tools for marketing campaigns
- Online request forms with unlimited custom fields
- Communicate with team members using a project blog
FunctionFox cons
- Doesn’t offer Kanban boards
- Free plan limited to three users
- You need to download an add-on for $10 to share files
FunctionFox pricing
This project management tool has a free plan, and paid plans start at $5/user per month.
FunctionFox customer ratings
- G2: 4.4/5 (40+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.5/5 (100+ reviews)
11. Hive
Hive is a project management tool that lets your team manage projects the way they want. It has various integrations and multiple views for additional flexibility.
Hive pros
- Plan campaigns easily with Gantt charts, Kanban boards, calendars, and tables
- Invite clients and contractors to collaborate with you over the app
- Proofing and approvals to simplify feedback loops
- 1,000+ integrations with software like Jira, Salesforce, Zoom, and Adobe Photoshop
Hive cons
- Several add-ons are required for full functionality
- Mobile apps aren’t as robust as the desktop app
- No free plan
Hive pricing
This marketing agency project management software doesn’t have a free plan, and paid plans start at $16/user per month.
Hive customer ratings
- G2: 4.2/5 (200+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.5/5 (100+ reviews)
12. Workamajig
Workamajig is a project management app that lets you manage projects, budgets, schedules, and accounts all in one place.
And we mean one place literally, considering this marketing project management tool only allows you to store projects exclusively on your computer as it doesn’t have any dedicated mobile apps!
Workamajig pros
- Built-in client relationship management features
- Turn client requests into active projects
- Specific dashboards for different roles
- Manage multiple projects and tasks at the same time
Workamajig cons
- Doesn’t support threaded comments in a task
- Doesn’t have a very intuitive interface
- No free plan available
Workamajig pricing
This marketing project management tool has no free plan, and paid plans start at $50/user per month (for a maximum of 9 users.)
Workamajig customer ratings
- G2: 3.6/5 (100+ reviews)
- Capterra: 3.7/5 (200+ reviews)
13. ProProfs Project
ProProfs Project is a project management tool that offers solid features to help you manage, track, and conduct successful marketing campaigns.
ProProfs Project pros
- Ideate, plan, and execute multiple projects from a single dashboard
- Instant messaging and file-sharing ability for seamless collaboration
- Gantt charts, Kanban boards, and Calendar view to plan and visualize projects
- Incredible time tracking capabilities
ProProfs Project cons
- No free plan
- The trial version is only for 15 days
- Setting roles and permissions is only available in the premium plan
ProProfs Project pricing
This marketing project management software doesn’t have a free plan, and paid plans start at $2/user per month.
ProProfs Project customer ratings
- G2: 4.4/5 (20+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.7/5 (60+ reviews)
Time to Analyze the Results 📊
Marketing management software helps teams streamline their processes so that they can focus on the more important stuff like being as creative as possible! 🎨
But, your creative team can’t just take on any ol’ marketing PM software; you need a tool that can make your team’s imaginative dreams come true.
And while we did mention some decent tools in this article, ClickUp is by far the best marketing project management software.
From helping you run digital marketing campaigns for clients to motivating your creative agency through Goals, ClickUp has everything your marketing department needs to be both innovative and productive.
Get ClickUp for free today to experience a marketing project management tool that will drive all your best ideas forward! 💡
Questions? Comments? We're here for you 24/7 at help@clickup.com!