Simon Severino, a business strategy coach, has a 90-day plan for when she coaches teams on project management:
“What we do in 90 days is — month one, we free up 10 to 14 hours of their time by better organizing, better processes.”
This is the power of project management for ad agencies. Done right (and using the right tools), your agency can streamline processes to deliver high quality deliverables in less time.
But what do the “right tools” look like? Below, we’ll explore seven of the most powerful project management solutions to help your agency organize your time — and be more profitable in the process.
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7 powerful project management tools for ad agencies
1. Teamwork.com
With so many very specific challenges facing agencies today, you need a tool purpose-built to alleviate those struggles and increase profitability — that’s where Teamwork.com comes in.
Teamwork.com is the all-in-one project management platform built specifically for teams that deliver client work. In fact, the platform was designed by ex-agency owners who couldn’t find a solution for their needs — so every feature and detail has been carefully thought out with agencies in mind.
From tracking milestones and task dependencies, to using an agile project management board view or list view, Teamwork.com is brimming with project management features that make it a hit for any ad agency.
In a 2021 report, 92% of survey respondents said they think collaboration within their teams could use improvement. With Teamwork.com, your agency has access to multiple features to aid your team collaboration efforts — including dedicated chat channels for each project with a searchable history.
Teamwork.com can also give you a snapshot of your budget and profitability, and has around-the-clock customer support to ensure that your agency never misses a billable moment.
Key features
Customizable dashboards: Team members can view the information in a way that’s relevant to them. Pick between lists, kanban boards, tables, and Gantt charts. Don’t get bogged down by notifications that are irrelevant.
Time tracking: Get an overview of where your team’s time is being spent. They can log time directly, mark it billable, and create invoices. Capterra reports the biggest benefit experienced by using a project management tool is improved timeline estimation.
Financial budgeting and reporting: Get a real-time view on all your projects and overall profitability. Teamwork.com lets you track expenses, view budget breakdowns, and create custom reports to share.
Resource management: Manage day-to-day capacity and accurately plan for future projects easily with these features. Teamwork.com lets users easily prioritize tasks, and assign work with a drag-and-drop function.
Integrations
Communications: Slack, Microsoft Teams, Gmail, Outlook, Elevio, MailChimp
Reporting: Databox, Easy Insight, Grow, Numerics, Plecto, Stripe, Yoke, Zoho
Importers: Asana, Basecamp, ClickUp, Freshdesk, Help Desk Migration, Trello
The power of Slack and Teamwork.com together
Consolidate communications into a centralized space. Pull content, ideas, or requests from Slack into the Teamwork.com platform and instantly convert them into project-managed tasks.
Pricing
Free forever: For small teams, up to five people.
Starter: $5.99 per user per month with PM basics.
Deliver: $9.99 per user per month for more robust project management.
Grow: $19.99 per user per month to manage complex client projects.
2. Brafton
Built to simplify content marketing for organizations, Brafton helps you plan campaigns, effectively produce content, and track the campaigns you’ve executed. This platform has pre-built dashboards for each content project. It also saves all your assets and has a content calendar and analytics section.
Key features
Effectively project manage: Use pre-built dashboards that will give you visibility into all projects’ details. Brafton’s AI will create customizable workflow templates for each type of project, leaving you free to strategize.
Plan and execute on campaigns flawlessly: Brafton’s platform allows you to build and launch custom campaigns, end-to-end. Work on content strategies, create calendars, and discuss plans.
Performance tracking: Set and meet all your KPIs. Brafton’s tools will report on if you’re meeting your goals and how efficiently you’re meeting them. Integrations with leading analytical tools means you don’t have to switch apps to get answers.
Integrations
WordPress
Drupal
Joomla
HubSpot
DNN
Shopify
Pricing
Pricing available via quote only.
3. nTask
nTask is a comprehensive project management platform for ad agencies, containing the typical features you’d expect. This easy-to-use software helps you simplify project planning.
With nTask, you can organize all the details of all your projects in one place. From assigning a project to connecting with coworkers on the execution to creating visually dynamic analytics reports, you can do it all in nTask.
Key features
Interactive project boards: nTask offers unlimited Kanban boards, custom statuses, and customizable workflows. You can use nTask’s templates or build one that works for you.
Prioritize collaboration: Keep your team on the same page using the built-in team chat, set meeting agendas, and add discussion notes.
Create custom reports: Track progress using visually precise reports on the number of tasks completed, open issues, risks, etc.
Integrations
Zoom
Google Calendar
Apple Calendar
Outlook Calendar
Microsoft Teams
Google Meet
1,000+ other apps
Pricing
Basic subscription: $4 per user per month; comes with unlimited workspaces.
Premium subscription: $12 per user per month; comes with unlimited workspaces, projects, tasks and to-do lists.
Business subscription: Pricing available via quote only.
4. Basecamp
Easy to set up, Basecamp is a good option for ad agencies that are just starting out. It’s a simple work management tool that encourages collaboration between all stakeholders and gives you what you need to hit the right milestones.
There are different styles of project management. If your team hasn’t narrowed it down to one, that’s okay. These project management systems can be personalized to fit your needs.
Key features
One-page dashboard: Bringing together your assignments, projects, and schedules, this dashboard doesn’t overcomplicate anything. You can customize it how you like, pinning projects and re-ordering assignments.
Check in with your team automatically: As an alternative to stand-ups, Basecamp allows you to poll your team automatically and get the answers you need.
Keep up with your team: Basecamp offers multiple ways to know what’s going on with your team. From reports to Hill Charts to real-time updates, you can choose the way you want your information.
Integrations
Zapier
Field Trip
Retool
Tick
GitHelpers
And more
Pricing
Basecamp Basic: $15 per user per month; comes with every feature and 500GB storage for files and documents.
Basecamp Pro: $299 per month; unlimited users. Comes with every feature and 5TB storage, priority support, and 1:1 onboarding with Basecamp team.
5. ProofHub
ProofHub is all about unity. Everything you need from your coworkers, clients, and assets — all in one place. Project management features include time tracking, workflow management, and templates. You can also access robust collaboration tools for your agency like forms, chats, and space for announcements.
Key features
Communicate how you want to: With features to speed up proofing, one-on-one chats with clients, and custom forms to make it easier for clients to request work, you have a myriad of ways to streamline communication.
Flip through different views: Manage tasks and project timelines with a task list, a board view, a calendar, a table view, or Gantt charts.
Effectively own task management: Add project templates that fit your needs, assign tasks and subtasks, accurately track your team’s time, and create custom workflows.
Project management made for client work
See how Teamwork.com can help your agency effortlessly manage its project, teams, and clients in one place.
Integrations
Slack
Box
Dropbox
Google Calendar and iCal
Google Drive
One Drive
Pricing
Essential: $50 per month, which includes 40 projects, unlimited projects, core features.
Ultimate control: $99 per month, which includes unlimited projects and users, core, and custom features.
6. PSOhub
If you’re looking for an all-in-one agency project management software, PSOhub is it. It has features to help you project manage, track time, and create invoices. It’s tailored to help you provide professional services.
Key features
Simplified project management: PSOhub has an easily digestible project dashboard to view your ongoing projects, manage your budget, and make scheduling your time easier.
Improve contract management: For creative teams, this is an added plus. There are templates and other smart contract functionalities to help you generate contracts using data from HubSpot.
Get an overview of your resources: To understand your team’s capacity, PSOhub has tools for resource management. Plan your team’s workload effectively by viewing how much is already on their plates in real time.
Integrations
HubSpot
Salesforce
Microsoft Dynamics 365
Quickbooks Online
Xero
Google
Outlook
Slack, Microsoft Teams
Pricing
Starter: $15 per user per month; comes with 50 active projects, contract and task management features.
Rise: $20 per user per month; comes with 100 active projects, unlimited time and expense tracking, and resource dashboard.
Growth: $25 per user per month; comes with unlimited active projects, unlimited guest accounts, and resources management.
7. Wrike
Built to help creative agencies, Wrike houses everything you need to deliver projects to your clients in an efficient manner. Streamline your communications and processes by housing everything under one roof.
Key features
Create and structure projects to your liking: Prioritize your team’s processes. Understand how your team works and configure spaces to maximize efficiency using folders, projects, tasks, and subtasks. Use Wrike’s pre-built templates to get started.
Optimize for cross-collaboration: Projects have a lot of key stakeholders. Wrike’s collaboration features make it easy to build a workspace where everyone can have an opinion. Use cross-tagging, proofing, and live document editors to hear everyone’s voice.
Analyze your progress: Easily measure the impact your projects have. Understand how each team member contributed and create a strategy to move forward. Using industry insights to compare against benchmarks, share real-time reports of how successful your team has been.
Integrations
ADP Workforce Now
Apttus
Fresh Books
Google API.ai virtual assistant
HubSpot
Pricing
Free: $0 per user per month; includes projects & task management.
Team: $9.80 per user per month; includes 2-25 users, unlimited projects, unlimited custom fields.
Business: $24.80 per user per month; includes 5-500 users, folder structure and nested projects, cross tagging, and resource management.
Enterprise and Pinnacle: Pricing available via quote only.
Try Teamwork.com today
Advertising agencies have specific project management needs and many different approaches. Writing to-do lists on paper will only get teams so far. You need software that can help you track time, save time with automation, and integrate with the other tools in your tech stack.
Because Teamwork.com started as an agency, we know what agencies need to be successful. To project manage with ease, ad agencies need a way to keep an eye on project health at a high level and zoom in to see granular details at any time. You also need a way to seamlessly collaborate with your clients and incorporate their needs.
It’s all possible with Teamwork.com. Start your 30-day free trial today and get your agency on track to more successful projects and greater profitability.
