OK, so there are loads of reviews of marketing project management software - why should we write another one?

Well, we studied a number of the most popular and in-depth reviews and, whilst we're not suggesting foul play, we suspect that there may be a teeny weeny bit of bias in some of them.

For example, in a review of 13 Marketing Project Management Software Solutions the ClickUp team came to the (shocking) conclusion that "ClickUp is by far the best marketing project management software".

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Similarly, in a recent review of 30 Marketing Project Management Tools, against all the odds, the ProofHub team concluded that "ProofHub tops the list".

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Given it seems unbiased opinions are hard to come by, we've taken a slightly different approach.

This article contains:

1. What to look for in a good marketing project management platform

2. The problems to be aware of with marketing management software

3. An unranked and uncurated list of marketing project management tools

What to look for in a good marketing project management software

First of all, we believe a good marketing project management platform should be light on features. The goal should be to minimise (not maximise) the amount of time users spend in your app. The best marketing project management platforms get out of the way and enable team members to focus on execution.

That being said, we believe the following functionality is essential to support modern growth marketing teams.

1. Goal tracking

Set clear goals and keep everyone aligned

The primary goal of your marketing project management software is to set and track your marketing goals and KPIs (be that traffic, MQLs, revenue, or whatever). Strategy and execution must be aligned to ensure the right work is prioritised and teams are working on the right initiatives. Everyone should understand team goals (see the north star metric), and the software should assist ensuring the team remains on-course to achieve the desired results.

2. Custom dashboards

Know how your metrics are trending

A dashboard view enables everyone to quickly and easily gather performance insights at a glance. This should bring together important metrics and indicators in one place whilst keeping the big picture in focus, and tracking team progress towards the goal. Typically, this is in the form of visual widgets that turn data into insights, and may include aggregating data from 3rd party tools (such as HubSpot, Pardot or Google Analytics).

3. Idea repository

Capture all marketing ideas in one place (not in people's heads)

The first goal of any growth marketing team is to capture all marketing ideas in a central repository so that opportunities can be analysed and prioritised. Your marketing opportunities should be stored in a consistent format which clearly explains the expected outcome (for more information, see marketing hypothesis best practises) of the activity in order that they can be scored and prioritised accurately.

4. Idea scoring

Prioritise work that impacts goals and revenue

The biggest growth levers a marketing team has at its disposal are team productivity and efficiency, this comes down to ensuring everyone is working on the most high-leverage opportunities at any point in time.

The ability to accurately score and prioritise ideas enables teams to make strategic work decisions and to focus on this high-leverage work. Scoring marketing opportunities (see the ICE framework) ensures you and your team are confident in maximising marketing resource by working on the right work, at the right time, and prevents human biases negatively influencing team priorities.

5. Agile experimentation

Deliver fast

The days of marketing projects taking 3 months to deliver are gone. Modern marketing teams need to be nimble with a bias for action - in other words, they need to be agile.

Your marketing project management system should encourage your team to break-down large projects into smaller testable ideas that can be improved upon and scaled after they have been proven to be successful. Running marketing activities in an agile manner and employing iterative processes has become an essential characteristic of modern growth teams.

6. Custom reporting

Demonstrate results, without needing Excel

Reports should provide you with a 360-degree view of everything that matters allowing you to gather and visualise what you need - quickly and easily. Generate reports for individuals, teams, managers and stakeholders to demonstrate work in progress, what's coming next, team efficiency, KPI tracking and more. Zoom out for the big picture and zoom in for the nitty gritty.

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