The shift to remote work has created the need to bring teams together using work management platforms and project management tools. Regardless of whether the majority of your marketing team is back at the office or still working remotely, the entire organization can benefit from implementing a marketing work management platform.
“There has been an increase in the output that marketing teams are required to bring to the table, and even more focus on metrics and ROI than ever before,” said Brianna Miller, director of marketing and demand generation at healthcare compliance analytics company Protenus, at The MarTech Conference. “And sometimes managing all of these different moving parts can feel next to impossible, but that’s where a marketing work management system can come into play.”
Here are some important reasons why you should consider a marketing work management platform.
1. Marketing work management goes well beyond project management
Sometimes an organization will put in place project management tools to help organize and complete individual projects. Work management platforms go further than this in bringing together the entire workflow across multiple projects while also automating repetitive processes.
“By definition, project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to project activities to meet a single specific project requirement,” said Miller. “The main goal is to execute projects or unique initiatives with a set scope, set timeline, set budget, and set resources.”
Marketing work management systems are more flexible and designed to change with your team from project to project.
“The main goal of marketing work management is not just managing their workflows and processes, but organizing those tasks and streamlining communication and a collaborative shared workspace,” Miller said. “The keyword is ‘collaborative’.”
Dig deeper: What is marketing work management and how do these tools support agile marketing?
2. They put an end to fire drills
Marketing teams are familiar with stressful last-minute projects known as “fire drills.” Some organizations thrive on deadline pressure, but marketing work management tools can help decrease the likelihood that a fire drill will happen out of nowhere
“A marketing work management solution…allows you to see your capabilities, your resources and how you can better allocate them based off what you already have going on,” said Miller. “So even though they are kind of last-minute, they don’t seem so overwhelming because you already have a clear view of your resources.”
3. Improves remote collaboration and overall team efficiency
Because team members from all around the world can work together virtually on a marketing work management system, they can work more efficiently within their team. For one thing, they won’t have nearly as many emails and chats to send to each other.
“A marketing work management platform…optimizes and automates workflows,” said Miller. “It also allows you to utilize project templates.”
4. Eliminates silos and supports cross-departmental coordination
Marketing work management helps teams complete marketing projects, but many of these projects involve other departments. For this reason, a marketing work management system can help create more cohesion throughout the company’s organizational structure.
5. Creates stakeholder visibility
Stakeholders, including executives and clients, can have access to the marketing work management system, and this allows them to check on the status of projects without having to contact other team members individually.
This increased visibility helps contribute to overall efficiency. Again, there’s less time wasted on one-to-one emails and other communications.
6. Improved project planning
Marketing work management platforms enable more accurate project planning and forecasting. Leaders can even accelerate projects because they can see what resources are available and can move them to prioritize one project over another.
“Having a system like this in place with automation can free up your team members to have the time to work on meaningful work — the projects that move the needle for your company,” said Miller.
Register and watch The MarTech Conference here.
Get MarTech! Daily. Free. In your inbox.
