Integrating Marketing Project Management Tools into your Workflow

Marketing is a fast-paced game, so having the right marketing project management tools (MPM) in your workflow can go a long way in increasing the speed of processes, improving communication and promoting collaboration. The most efficient marketing teams reduce the friction of delivering a project on time and on budget. So where do you begin if you want marketing project management software, or marketing task management software but don’t know the best way to implement it into your current processes? We’ve got some ideas to get you started on the road to the right MPM solution – and how to use it.

1. Identify Your Needs

You don’t even need to press play before realizing two things. The first is that you should have a pressing need before you start exploring a tool. The second is that you haven’t really worked out what your pressing need is. How can you figure out which tool is right for you when you don’t even know what you need to achieve? Before starting, review your process: what exactly is it that you don’t like about how you get your work done? Where do things get bogged down and slowed up? Then, put that problem aside, and spend some time finding ways to fix that specific issue, rather than looking for a general-purpose solution that might not even apply.

2. Choose the right tool

Because there are many marketing project management tools on the market with different features, the tool that works best for you depends on your needs. Take into account what your team is looking for. Some things to consider may include: How user-friendly it is? Whether the tool can be integrated with other existing ones? How it can be adapted to your specific needs? What is the price? Almost all popular MPM or marketing task management software tools have a free trial period to experience what it’s like to use them.

3. Involve Your Team in the Decision-Making Process

Your team will be the main end users of the marketing project management tool or marketing task management software, so it is essential for them to buy into it. Ask them for their input on the selection process so that they feel like part of the decision and know they helped you make the choice.

4. Provide Comprehensive Training

After choosing a tool, design a training programme for your team. Most marketing project management tools or marketing task management software provide training resources in the form of webinars, tutorials and documentation. Schedule and participate in team training sessions to ensure your team is comfortable with the new tool. Then, enable your team to use what will be most relevant to their roles.

5. Define Clear Objectives and KPIs

Using an MPM tool is not just about moving work from one system to another, it is about making projects more successful. Decide what you want to measure. What would validate the integration of the tool into your business? Common KPIs for integrating a marketing project management tool or marketing task management software are increased project completion, decreased time spent reporting, increased collaboration, et al.

6. Customize the Tool to Fit Your Workflow

Gamification is also something that most MPM tools allow you to tweak, so you can adapt the platform to what you’re already doing. This can mean creating your own project templates and task lists, or setting up the best workflows for your needs. This does more than just ease the pain of transition – it also ensures that the tool will support rather than impede your productivity system.

7. Leverage Integration Capabilities

Proper marketing project management tools actually have true power not in their own interface, but in its integration with other software that you’re already using. Search for tools that integrate with your email, customer relationship management (CRM), content management systems (CMS) and other important platforms to carry out many tasks automatically. These kinds of integrations cut down the amount of data that you have to manually enter, and make the workflow much smoother.

8. Encourage Collaboration and Communication

Team collaboration is one of the biggest advantages of an MPM tool – so encourage your team to use one. Use the communication features built in to the MPM tool: comments, tagging for brightening other colleagues and file sharing. All project conversations and decisions will be in one place.

9. Monitor Progress and Adjust as Needed

Then, once you take the time to implement the tool, make it a point of following up with your workflow and how it’s changed. Solicit feedback from your team members and continue to observe your ‘scoreboard’ (KPIs) that you set out prior. Wherever you notice that the tool isn’t functioning as it should, make appropriate changes – whether it’s re-analyzing your processes, providing extra training, or exploring what other features are available inside the tool.

10. Promote a Culture of Continuous Improvement

Marketing project management tools or marketing task management software needs to be seen as part of an ongoing culture of continuous improvement. Encourage your team to review and iterate their use of the tool periodically, keep tabs on new features and updates from your tool provider, and consider adding new practices that improve your workflow.

Common Challenges and Solutions

Challenge 1: Resistance to Change

Solution: Deal with resistance by having the team choose the tool, make sure it is well-trained and highlight the benefits of the tool as making life easier and more productive.

Challenge 2: Lack of Adoption

Recipe: Don’t forget the human element. Make sure the tool is usable, accessible and fits your team’s needs. Provide regular support and construct healthy feedback loops that will enable you to identify and solve critical issues quickly. Continue to celebrate small wins that demonstrate the value of the tool.

Challenge 3: Integration Issues

Remedy: Stay with your IT team and work through these problems until the tool properly integrates with existing systems, and make full use of the support provided by the tool’s customer support and online resources.

Challenge 4: Overwhelming Features

Answer: Focus on the elements that will provide the most value to your team right from the start. Introduce the next elements incrementally, as the team becomes accustomed to the tool.

Get the right tool and integrate it into your marketing project management workflow, and you’re likely to transform your team’s operations for the better. Marketers with a MPM tool in place should enjoy greater efficiency and coordination, as well as better project results. By choosing the right tool, getting stakeholders invested in the change, training your team well, continually monitoring and optimizing your usage of the MPM tool, you’ll see how the investment pays off. If you’re still on the fence, let this article convince you that change is an opportunity to further refine your processes, elevating your marketing to new heights.