Running an efficient, effective, and profitable agency is challenging. The bigger you grow, the harder it can get.
HubSpot’s Marketing Agency Growth Report revealed that inefficient time management practices prevent 55% of agencies from growing their sales and marketing efforts. And 18% face difficulties retaining clients due to a lack of process.
Several types of software play a role in empowering agencies to address these problems so they can scale. Project management tools are specifically useful when it comes to optimizing processes and creating more efficient organizations. The right project management software will ultimately help your agency become more profitable as well.
Most of your team’s time is likely spent doing client work. Each project has its own steps, timeline, contributors, resources needed, approvals required, etc. Without the proper systems and processes in place, there are too many opportunities for projects to fail. Projects exceed scope, deliverable dates are missed, and you have no idea who’s working on what and when.
Even if your team members have their own task management systems in place, those tools are only designed to increase individual productivity. Agency project management software is built to organize your entire project portfolio, give visibility into what’s happening across the business, and ensure that every project is completed on time and within budget.
Top 10 Marketing & Creative Agency Project Management Tools
You’ll find more than 400 project management software listed on the G2 software review platform. Researching all of these tools would take weeks. Plus, with many of these platforms tailored to specific industries, it can be difficult to tell which is the best project management software for agency teams.
We’ve saved you some time by putting together a short list of our 10 favorite project management tools that are ideal for creative and marketing agencies.
- Mosaic
- Asana
- Deltek WorkBook
- Productive
- Wrike
- Trello
- Robohead
- Basecamp
- Hive
- Teamwork
Below, you’ll find a summary of each tool’s capabilities and pricing details. We’ll start with our personal favorite: Mosaic.
1. Mosaic
Mosaic provides AI-powered project management, resource planning, and workforce intelligence that empowers marketing and creative agencies to build more efficient and profitable organizations. It’s designed to help agencies track and optimize workload, capacity, demand, and priorities across all team members and projects so they can maximize productivity, proactively hire, and increase profitability.
Mosaic is best for organizations with 10 or more team members.
Mosaic Features
- Project management
- Resource planning
- Workload forecasting
- Demand and capacity analysis
- Profit and loss analysis
- Budget and time tracking
- Performance dashboards
- Integrations with financial and ERP systems
Why Agencies Choose Mosaic
Marketing and creative teams use Mosaic so they can:
- Improve productivity and efficiency
- Increase utilization and profitability
- Strategically plan projects
- Optimize and forecast workload
- Efficiently allocate resources (the right people with the right skills at the right time)
- Deliver a better client experience
- Reduce burnout by eliminating over-scheduling and minimizing overtime
- Understand demand so they know if, when, and who they need to hire
- Enable collaborative planning and productive communication across the entire agency
Mosaic Pricing
Mosaic’s pricing is simple, transparent, and affordable with a risk-free trial. It has three different annual subscription plans.
- Team Plan: $9.99 per user per month, billed annually
- Business Plan: $14.99 per user per month, billed annually
- Enterprise: Customized pricing for 100+ team members
Schedule a free demo of Mosaic here.
2. Asana
Asana is a work management platform that supports team collaboration. Teams use it to organize projects, tasks, and timelines. It’s most often used by marketing and software teams, but can be adapted for a wide range of needs, including service-based projects.
Asana Features
- Project dashboards
- Project and task management
- Project collaboration
- Reporting
- Workflows
- Integrates with Mosaic’s resource management software
Asana Pricing
Asana offers a free plan, plus three paid plans.
- Premium: $10.99 per user per month, billed annually
- Business: $24.99 per user per month, billed annually
- Enterprise: Customized
Visit the Asana website to learn more.
3. Deltek WorkBook
WorkBook is an agency management solution that’s part of the Deltek product suite (which Mosaic happens to integrate with). It connects project management, resource management, and finance processes to deliver real-time data and insights about agency performance.
Workbook Features
- Project dashboards
- Project management
- Resource planning
- Task management
- Time tracking
- Client and team collaboration
- Proofing and approvals
Workbook Pricing
WorkBook Projects is available as a standalone product, or agencies can package it with Deltek's CRM or finance products. Pricing is not available on the WorkBook website, so you’ll need to reach out to their sales team to get a quote.
Visit the Workbook website to learn more.
4. Productive
Productive aims to be a one-stop shop that optimizes operations and profitability for agencies of all types in sizes. Developed by agency veterans, it includes many features you won’t find in most project management tools.
Productive Features
- Project management
- Resource planning
- Time tracking
- Billing
- Budgeting
- Reporting
Productive Pricing
Productive has three subscription plans, all available with monthly and annual pricing options. No free plan is available, but it does offer a 14-day free trial.
- Standard: $12.50 per month per user, when billed annually
- Premium: $20.00 per month per user, when billed annually
- Enterprise: Customized, 100+ users
Visit the Productive website to learn more.
5. Wrike
Wrike is a collaborative work management platform used by more than 200,000 teams. It can be customized to meet the needs of any team, function, or department. Companies choose Wrike when they need to maximize productivity and efficiency across a larger or dispersed agency.
Wrike Features
- Gantt charts & kanban boards
- To-do lists
- Custom request forms
- Visual proofing
- Digital publishing
- Shared team calendars
- Time tracking
- Invoicing software
Wrike Pricing
Wrike offers a free plan and three paid subscription plans. You can get a 14-day free trial of any plan, including Enterprise.
- Professional: $9.80 per user per month
- Business: $24.80 per user per month
- Enterprise: Customized
Visit the Wrike website to learn more.
6. Trello
Trello is a versatile and customizable collaboration tool. Built on the idea of organizing projects into cards and boards, Trello is designed for anyone, including design, engineering, and operations teams. It’s powered by more than 100 integrations.
Trello Features
- Project planning
- Task management
- To-do lists
- Recurring tasks
- Project templates
- No-code automation
Trello Pricing
Trello offers a free plan, plus three paid subscription plans that can be billed monthly or annually.
- Standard: $5 per user per month, billed annually
- Premium: $10 per user per month, billed annually
- Enterprise: $17.50 per user per month, billed annually
Visit the Trello website to learn more.
7. RoboHead
RoboHead is a project management solution that helps marketing and creative teams manage people, deadlines, and deliverables. It includes everything teams need to manage projects in one place: schedules, budgets, deliverables, online proofing, surveys, reports, asset management, and more.
RoboHead Features
- Project management
- Request forms
- Approvals and approval tracking
- Scheduling
- To-do lists
- Time tracking
- Version control
- Workflow automation
- Reporting
RoboHead Pricing
RoboHead does not publish pricing or information about available plans.
Visit the RoboHead website to learn more.
8. Basecamp
Basecamp is one of the most widely adopted project management tools. It’s been around since 2004 and is used by millions of people around the world. This web-based project management tool is designed to support collaboration across remote teams.
Basecamp Features
- Message boards
- To-do lists
- Scheduling
- File sharing
- Group chats
Basecamp Pricing
Basecamp offers a free plan, plus a paid plan with monthly and annual pricing options. Subscriptions include unlimited projects and unlimited users. Non-profits qualify for a discounted monthly rate.
- Basecamp Business: $99 per month or $999 per year
- Basecamp for Non-Profits: $89 per month
Visit the Basecamp website to learn more.
9. Hive
Hive is an easy-to-use project management tool that’s built by democratic design. That means it’s built by users, for users via feedback on the product forum. The platform connects all aspects of work to deliver a productivity platform that reflects how teams work on a day-to-day basis.
Hive Features
- Project management
- To-do lists
- Intake forms
- Time tracking
- Proofing and approvals
- In-app messenger
- In-app email
- Workflow automation
Hive Pricing
Hive offers a free plan, plus two paid subscription plans. You can get a free 14-day trial of its Teams plan.
- Solo: Free forever
- Teams: $12 per user per month, when billed annually
- Enterprise: Customized
Visit the Hive website to learn more.
10. Teamwork
Teamwork is a project management software built specifically for client work. The founders of Teamwork started as a digital agency and built the software to address its own agency's needs. It’s designed to help teams deliver projects on time and within budget.
Teamwork Features
- Project management
- Resource management
- Gantt charts
- Time tracking
- Workflow automation
- Team collaboration
- Version control
- Billing
- Reporting
Teamwork Pricing
Teamwork offers a free plan and three paid subscription plans. You can sign up for a free trial of either the Deliver or Grow subscriptions.
- Free Forever
- Deliver: $9.99 per user per month, when billed annually (5 user minimum)
- Grow: $17.99 per user per month, when billed annually (5 user minimum)
- Scale: Customized
Visit the Teamwork website to learn more.
How to Choose Your Marketing or Creative Agency Project Management Tool
As you can see, there are a lot of choices when it comes to project management software for marketing and creative agencies. Many of them are built to be adaptable to all industries and teams, while others are specifically tailored to meet agencies’ needs.
Here are a few questions to ask before choosing your agency’s project management tool.
Scalability
- Is the software designed for fast-growth organizations? Can it scale with an increase in staff, teams, project volume, and/or client volume?
- Does the organization logic apply just as well to 20 projects and 10 team members as it will when you have 100 projects and 25 team members?
- Can you add new users to your plan easily and does the cost structure for additional users make sense?
Usability
- Is the interface intuitive and pleasant?
- Will your team enjoy working on the software?
Specificity
- Is the project management software really tailored to your marketing or creative agency’s needs?
- Can you adapt the project setup to match your current processes?
Training and Support
- Does the vendor offer onboarding training?
- Are there additional training resources like videos and guides?
- Is there a help database?
Integrations
- Can the software integrate with other tools that you use, like ERP/financial systems?
- Are the integrations plug-and-play or custom APIs?
- How well are the integrations maintained?
Experience
- What do other customers have to say about the software?
- Do they have case studies on their website from other agencies?
- What kind of ROI do clients typically receive from the software?
Creative and Marketing Agency Project Management Software: ROI Guaranteed
Mosaic’s next-generation project and resource management software is guaranteed to dramatically improve your agency’s productivity and profitability. Customers typically see a 330% ROI.
In just one year of using Mosaic, a company of 100 people will save 4,000 hours and make an extra $1.2 million.
Calculate your ROI or schedule a free demo of Mosaic today.
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