Question

Topic: Other

Software For Marketing Project Tracking

Posted by broadhurst.jason on 10/27/2015 at 10:05 AM ET 250 Points
Hello Experts,

Our organization is growing quickly and a tremendous demand is being put on the 6 person marketing team.

Projects are varied, from printed collateral, website changes, app mods, tradeshows, pr, advertising, content creation, awards submission, branding work etc. etc.

The projects have increased in volume and complexity. And, are getting increasingly difficult to track and communicate to others in the organization.

I'm looking for suggestions on managing and tracking those projects - maybe a software you could recommend?

Thanks in advance,

Jason
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RESPONSES

  • Posted on 10/27/2015 at 12:45 PM Moderator
    It sounds like you are going through a rapid-growth phase and having trouble getting everything done -- and keeping your internal audiences up-to-speed.

    My experience suggests that the real answer is NOT a specific piece of software (a spreadsheet will do the trick), but the critical issues are RESOURCES and SETTING PRIORITIES. You either need to do fewer things or have more people working on them (including outside resources). If you don't deal with priorities and resources, it's unlikely that software will make enough of a difference for you to be worth the cost and effort (to learn/use it).

    Sorry I don't have the magic answer. Not sure it even exists.
  • Posted on 10/27/2015 at 2:48 PM Member
    Top tool for all your need that I highly recommend is TRELLO!!
    Trello is the easiest way to organize anything with anyone! I use it all the time and love it.

    You should totally heck it out and let me know
    https://bit.ly/iHackTrello
  • Posted by broadhurst.jason on 10/27/2015 at 4:00 PM Author
    Thanks for the comment mgoodman. We do use external resources quite a lot, and we are hitting objectives and prioritizing (for the most part) quote well.

    But we do have trouble in communicating to stakeholders where projects are at, at any given time. And we do seem to miss a 30,000ft view of what is going on at any given time... which I fear might lead us to miss-prioritize as we grow.

    I thought it would be great to have the team members updating a single tracker, that at any given time, I can go into and get a snapshot of project status, so that I can (a) pass that on to others and (b) re-prioritize where necessary.

  • Posted on 10/27/2015 at 5:10 PM Moderator
    I have no experience with TRELLO, but I do know they have an active affiliate network, and the link in matt.klimaszewski's post is, in fact, an affiliate link. That doesn't negate the praise he has expressed for TRELLO, but I'd still be a little skeptical at first.
  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 10/27/2015 at 5:25 PM Member
    Have you looked at Basecamp (https://basecamp.com/)?
  • Posted by broadhurst.jason on 10/27/2015 at 5:38 PM Author
    Jay, I haven't but I will. Do you have experience using Basecamp?
  • Posted on 10/27/2015 at 8:42 PM Accepted
    I've had clients who used Basecamp. They seemed happy with it. From my perspective (as the outside consultant), I think it did the job adequately, but it wasn't particularly remarkable. Not sure it would do much for your need to communicate internally. Others may have a completely different perspective, of course. (I'm not anti-Basecamp, just not as gaga over it as my clients were/are.)

    Right now I'm involved with a client using Evernote, and that seems pretty good. Good for having a central repository of information that everyone can access and update. Not particularly good for reporting/recapping or using as an independent dashboard or master control.
  • Posted by Gary Bloomer on 10/28/2015 at 7:14 PM Member
    Basecamp.
  • Posted by jstiles on 10/28/2015 at 7:27 PM Accepted
    Basecamp is OK, as a consultant I have had clients who insist on it, or other solutions. Essentially, it sounds like you need collaboration tools. Look at how your team works together, where are the bottlenecks and slowdowns. Then when you evaluate different tools (software or otherwise) keep those weaknesses in mind.

    Most importantly, any tool is only effective if it is easy for everyone to use. I watch these things fail because they are either too difficult to manage (require just as much or more time to log then the actual tasks) or are so cumbersome or deep that people dont use it out of sheer frustration or intimidation.

    Keep it as simple and easy as possible
  • Posted by telemoxie on 10/29/2015 at 9:12 AM Member
    It would be wonderful if you could just buy a piece of software and everyone would suddenly get along collaboratively. But I think this is the little bit too much to expect a group of fiercely independent and competitive creative types to share information in an open and collaborative way. Beware trying to herd cats.

    This question of software has come up many times on this forum. I have asked it myself. The most consistent advice has been to use Basecamp, but you can use Google to search hundreds of previous questions for more information and insight. If you would like some help doing so, send me an email. I'll be happy to help, no charge.

    The old advice used to be: don't try to computerize something until your paper system is working. If you simply computerize your existing problems, they won't go away. My personal trend has been to move away from complex "do it all" type software to a variety of small files and simple applications which each soul the little piece of the puzzle. For example, are you using Google Docs? If you are not already using this, it might be a way to address one or two of your major headaches.
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