Creative and marketing teams are the link between your business and your customer. Their ideas sell your vision. When you put together a team you usually look for people with unique creative talents. Managing these teams to produce everyone’s best work across multiple projects with various timelines and requirements is a challenge.
Additionally, managers of creative teams have become managers of processes and do not get to spend anytime being creative themselves. In order to eliminate excess and improve the way time is spent at work it is necessary to have best tools in place. Implementing the right software solution is the first key to success, not only to improve employee engagement and quality of work, but also to insure you are future proofing your business.
When it comes to Project Management Software, there is no shortage of solutions but with each one offering a variety of features it is hard to read between the lines and figure out which ones lead to the actual benefits your team needs. Software isn’t cheap, so it is important to get what you want without any surplus, which is why finding solutions tailored to the creative and marketing operations management is crucial.
Features for creative teams:
The most beneficial features for creative teams when it comes to project management software includes:
Smart Forms – Drive the information relevant to your team.
- The best solutions allow you to input the necessary information associated with projects in smart forms that automate your workflow based on the data. They are user friendly and provide visibility to aspects of the project specific to your needs. This is a necessary feature to ensure your team isn’t just using another spreadsheet to track your progress.
Collaboration on Documents – Capture feedback directly on your files.
- For creative teams this feature is essential and transforms the productivity of creative reviews. The important aspect with this feature is how user friendly it is. Look for solutions that are easy to use and allow people to work from any device from Androids to iPads. When you buy the right software you are buying capabilities and accessibilities. All users should be able to review items and provide feedback no matter the device or environment.
Digital Asset Management – Centralize and organize all of your digital assets.
- This is a powerful feature that can sometimes be overlooked. In my experience, I did not realize how great it was to have a tool in place that organized all of my files. The best solutions also allow you to perform advanced searching so nothing is ever lost. It is like getting insurance for your digital data.
Integration – Enhance your current environment with project management capabilities.
- In today’s landscape people use multiple pieces of software simultaneously. When you add more software you need to make sure it will integrate with everything else you use from your email to your sales and accounting systems.
Timelines & Workloads – Stay on task, keep priorities in check, and assign projects wisely.
- Timeline management is a big part of project management software and solutions go beyond tracking dates. The best solutions provide visibility to team member’s workloads to efficiently and effectively assign projects.
Financial Management – Create estimates, track budgets, and analyze results.
- Let the software do the math and keep campaigns and projects within budget. When you have a solution that keeps track of workloads it also tracks hours. This can be great for procurement as well as analyzing results of your campaigns.
Customization – Tailor the product to your team.
- No team or project is the same, so why would we all use the exact same solution. When you invest in software make sure you have the ability to customize it to meet your needs. When a company provides this feature it is a good indicator they have a strong team in place and they usually provide help during the implementation phase.
User Friendly – Get everyone on board.
- No matter the technical background, is it a solution that your team will use? Utilize the webinars and demos that are available. They are great resources and really let you “test drive” the product. Some products provide a modified version for a free download. Project management software does a lot for the user, which makes it detailed. Luckily, most of the complicated work is done behind the scenes. See how intuitive the product is to use and get multiple opinions from your team.
Complete Package – Manage your projects from start to finish.
- If you are going to make the investment in project management software make sure you explore your options of what else it can do for you. Creative teams sometimes don’t look beyond a proof sharing tool and realize they can have a solution that will take care of other things they need done like CRM, DAM, and even resource allocation.
7 Software Comparisons
When looking at project management software solutions you aren’t always comparing apples to apples. With the wide variety of features available and range of price points you want to know how to select the option that will deliver. When combing through solutions I focused on what truly is best for creative and marketing teams, and narrowed it down to the top seven contenders. I took into consideration only the most innovative, scalable solutions so no matter the size of your team or who your customer/client is; this data can be helpful and relevant.
ASANA
The Asana project management tool helps track all design request forms for creatives and graphic designers.
- Agency collaboration
- Creative asset feedback and approvals
- Creative requests
- Design project plan
- RFP process
- Daily standup meetings
- Team goals and objectives planning
- Usability testing plan
- User research
- Web design
- Web production
SCREENDRAGON
Screendragon is a leading project, resource & workflow management solution designed for the needs of marketing, agency & professional services teams.
- Simplify work requests
- Streamline proofing
- Speed-up creative workflows
- Faster Project Management
- Task management to match all workstyles
- Integrations
- Intelligent Resource Management
- Better budget tracking
- Powerful reporting
ADMATION
Admation’s project management software combines a range of features that let you to see the bigger picture and everything in between. Get an instant overview of all tasks in progress.
- Set clear goals and objectives
- Keep project briefs consistent
- Easy and timely brief approvals
- Set clear project requirements
- One location for project documents
- Full visibility over resource capacity
- Clear document and artwork revision tracking
- Meet your key project milestones
- Stay organised and compliant
STREAMTIME
Project management software for creative teams and businesses. Plan jobs, track time, schedule your teams, quote and invoice.
- Job Planning
- Time Tracking
- Invoicing
- Quoting
- Scheduling
- Reporting
- Kanban
- Integrations
- iOS app
- Collaboration
KISSFLOW
Kissflow Project helps teams plan, organize, and track all your creatives. Use it to manage all UX research, design requests, and all creative assets.
Multiple Views:
- Kanban
- Lists
- Matrix
- Sub-projects
- My Tasks
Task Management:
- Task States
- Custom Forms
- Assign responsibilities
- Alerts and notifications
- Activity feed
- Tags
Contextual Collaboration:
- Mentions
- Comments
- File sharing
- Search
Insightful reports:
- Flow efficiency
- Cycle time
- Cumulative flow
- Lead Time
Data Security:
- User roles
- Activity log
WORKAMAJIG
Workamajig helps creative, in-house teams manage projects, accounting, resourcing, time tracking and more all in one robust, fully integrated system.
- Communicate and collaborate in one tool that does it all
- Centralize project intake and streamline approvals
- Stay focused & productive with just the information you need
- Flexible project management customized for your workflow
- Keep workloads manageable and your team productive
- Track time and manage tasks, to-dos, and calendars
- Knowledgeable support and training from day one
INMOTIONNOW
Empower your team with creative project management software that fosters stronger collaboration and streamlines your projects.
- Stay Ahead While Staying Creative
- Kick Off Projects Right the First Time
- A Better Way to Manage Projects
- Hassle-Free Review Cycles
- Get Clear, Actionable Feedback
- Learn from the Numbers and Get More Done