Oct 3, 2023
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Best Project Management Software for Creative Agencies
Project management looks different for each client-based industry. There may be full teams whose roles are solely focused on ensuring that projects are completed on time and on budget, one single project manager keeping things on track or various individuals handling distributed project management responsibilities.
If you run a marketing agency, you know that creative teams can have unique needs compared to other types of professional services teams. Digital tools can help, but selecting the right ones for your agency could feel overwhelming.
To help you explore the potential of a new tech stack, we're breaking down the software options that could help your team complete projects more efficiently, thereby improving client relationships and increasing profitability.
Below, we'll share platforms that are best for creative project management and its associated core functions:
Best Creative Project Management Tools
While you could piece together software tools to accomplish client projects, having one core platform to handle your project management needs is preferable to multiple disjointed ones. A single source of truth can help your team:
- Avoid missing tasks and deadlines
- Clear up and prevent inaccuracies
- Establish clean workflows
- Visualize current workload and plan for future projects
- Build project history to help onboard clients and staff
Whether your agency specializes in marketing, design, branding, digital products, media or another field, if you complete client projects, your team will benefit from a dedicated tool built for just that. Following are three of the best project management softwares for creative agencies.
Accelo
Accelo is a cloud-based client work management platform designed to help professional services firms, including creative agencies, manage client relationships from prospect to payment. The powerful platform provides customizable solutions to expand visibility, improve collaboration and increase profits.
Features
- A full suite of project management tools, including automated time trackers and customizable project templates
- Custom trigger automations to streamline workflows
- Centralized client database connecting client projects and tasks to a client record
- Automated scheduling and task assignments to help manage workload
Pros
- Proven results for creative agencies and other service businesses
- #1 in customer satisfaction for Professional Services Automation for three consecutive quarters based on real user reviews
Cons
- The platform may be too robust for agency leaders seeking only one or two functions
- Not the best agency management software for teams of fewer than five people
Start a free trial or schedule a demo to see how Accelo could exceed your expectations as much more than a creative project management software for your agency.
Trello
Trello is a sister program to Jira, as it’s managed by Atlassian. One of the most well-known and widely used project management tools on the market, Trello integrates with many of the tools you may already use. Its structure is based on the Kanban framework of agile project management. However, it's easy to use Trello with the Scrum framework as well.
Features
- Simple drag-and-drop interface with labeling, tags and comments
- Task assignments for groups or individuals
- Automated email notifications for deadlines and mentions
- Voting and discussion options
Pros
- Free version available for unlimited users
- Well-organized and user-friendly with a recognizable format and versatile uses
Cons
- No Gantt chart view
- Users mention that it doesn’t function well for long to-do lists
Workamajig
Workamajig is a project management software for agencies and creative teams. It features a variety of financial reports that tie time logs and team capacity to projects and tasks, making it a good option for agencies looking to focus on maximizing the profit potential of billable time.
Features
- Project management templates
- Daily dashboard for task and scheduling visibility
- Profitability reports by client and project
- Time tracking attached to projects
Pros
- Gantt and burn charts provide meaningful project timeline visuals
- Strong resource management tools, including task prioritization and re-assignment and workload forecasting
Cons
- Requires creating multiple roles in the platform for one person to take on additional responsibilities
- Some users note the limited collaboration capabilities
Best Collaboration Tools
Solid internal communication is non-negotiable in project management. Even if your project management software offers some collaboration tools, you may choose to use a separate platform to communicate about client work.
While they may not work as replacements for the more comprehensive platforms above, we’ll review three great options for digital collaboration tools.
Basecamp
Basecamp is an application that’s popular among project managers for its collaboration features, including chats, message boards and pings. As the name suggests, it’s a centralized place for teams to turn for tasks, notes, files and conversations related to a given project.
Features
- Strong team communication features
- File management and document collaboration
- User-friendly project management
- Client access
Pros
- Team discussion space ideal for meeting collaboration
- Automatic polls to complete daily or weekly check-ins
Cons
- Some users mention its outdated UI
- Simplistic project management, lacking granular subtasks
Google Meet
Google Meet is an in-browser video conferencing tool that’s ideal for agencies with hybrid or remote teams. It can also be used for client calls. Because it’s integrated with other Google Workspace tools, Google Meet makes quick connections with business contacts within the Google ecosystem simple.
Features
- One-hour meetings on free plan
- Meeting links auto-created in Google Calendar events
- Recordings saved to Google Drive (on Business plan)
- Accessibility features, including live captioning
Pros
- Longer meetings than competitor platforms on free plan
- Top-notch security features
Cons
- Limited participant capacity for large meetings (max 250)
- No integration with third-party tools
Slack
Slack is a popular messaging app used by all types of businesses. With private messaging and group chat features, the platform makes internal communication simple. It integrates with many popular tools, including Google Calendar and Google Drive, allowing users to be notified about documents and events. Slack is a great complement to other project management tools.
Features
- Public and private channels
- Voice notes, audio and video calls
- Toggle between multiple workspaces
- File sharing with previews
Pros
- Reduces the need for inefficient email
- Allows simple cross-departmental collaboration via dedicated channels
Cons
- Premium plan pricing could be out of reach for small to mid-sized businesses
- Some users claim they don’t receive all notifications on mobile
Best Time-Tracking Platforms
Project management is often most successful when it’s accompanied by solid resource management. To manage resources thoughtfully and achieve the highest employee utilization rate possible, it’s imperative to track time. You have many choices for how to do so, but we recommend using a digital tool to help reduce the burden of manual time entry.
We’re sharing three software platforms that help with time tracking for creative teams.
Clockify
Clockify is a free time tracking app that helps teams and individuals log time spent on tasks and projects using a combination of automatic timers and manual entry. The option to create teams can help project managers oversee total time on a project. Clockify can be used to calculate payroll and billable hours.
Features
- Timesheets categorized by activity
- Automatically tracks time for synced calendar events
- Integrates with popular project management apps
- Visible location history, multi-device clock-in kiosk and team check-ins for on-site work
Pros
- Free for unlimited users
- Simple, user-friendly interface
Cons
- Some users point out that reports lack detail
- Others report difficulty with activity and task sorting
Harvest
Harvest is a time-tracking software with desktop, browser and mobile versions. It offers flexible timesheets and the ability to invoice clients and accept payments directly through the platform. The range of reports go beyond simple time logs to display team capacity, project costs and more.
Features
- Budget tracking
- Invoice creation from billable time records
- In-app payment collection with PayPal or Stripe
- Custom time-tracking reminders for teams
Pros
- Time logs can be attached to a client or project
- Visually engaging reports
Cons
- Requires third-party integrations to effectively manage workflows
- Some users feel the app is slow and outdated
Toggl Track
Toggl Track is a time-tracking app with timesheets, billable time reports and budgeting features. Users can simply use timers or customize by adding in details like tags to categorize segments of time. Toggl Track can be used to calculate payroll for both employees and contractors.
Features
- Timesheets broken down by project
- Billable rates and reports for workspaces, projects and users
- Idle time reminders
- 100+ integrations
Pros
- Free plan for up to five users
- Custom sorting by user, tag or project
Cons
- Paid tiers may be pricey for larger agencies
- Users claim important alerts and notifications can be absent
⏰Time tracking works best when time logs are attached to projects, tasks and client records. While the above options are reliable tools for basic time tracking, they won’t be the most useful for maximizing productivity and profitability by connecting time reports to other key components of the client journey.
Best Workflow and File Management Software
To round out your project management software tech stack, you may want to consider having dedicated software to help with workflow management. Your agency’s workflows are unique, and perhaps complex, and keeping them seamless requires complete task visibility and easy file management.
Here are three platforms that can help project managers, designers, content creators and even your marketing team maintain a steady pace without sacrificing accuracy.
Asana
Asana is a work management platform built to help teams organize, assign and track projects. Featuring templates, automation and reporting tools, the platform helps teams manage task lists, collaborate across projects and improve visibility into project progress.
Features
- List, calendar, timelines and Kanban board
- Project and task templates to simplify recurring work
- Goal tracking for company, team and individual levels
- Reporting dashboards to track progress
Pros
- The platform is adaptable to meet the needs of multiple industries and project types
- Asana offers a free version with limited capabilities
Cons
- No invoicing or accounting options or integrations
- Users have found it difficult to migrate data out of Asana
Dropbox
Dropbox is a cloud-based file sharing platform that simplifies backup and file storage with its easy-to-organize folders. There are several versions of the platform to choose from, including Dropbox Professional for communicating with clients about documents and collecting contract signatures.
Features
- Link sharing with custom permissions
- File locking
- Large file transfer
- eSignature add-on: Dropbox Sign
Pros
- Industry-leading security
- Variety of pricing tiers and features for different sized businesses
Cons
- File syncing can take a long time according to some users
- Limited storage for free plan
Smartsheet
Smartsheet is a more powerful, intuitive version of an Excel spreadsheet. The platform has built-in project management tools like Gantt charts, file sharing and collaborative features that are popular among project managers at small businesses and enterprise organizations alike.
Features
- Task dependencies
- Complex process management with customizable permissions
- Executive dashboard for easy visibility among leadership team
- Integrations with project management software
Pros
- No-code automations support custom workflows
-
Charts with percentage readouts to track goals
Cons
- Costly licensing structure means it’s not ideal for small to mid-sized agencies
- One user notes that it “struggles to consolidate data” across sheets
Users Prefer Accelo for Creative Projects
While creative project management software can be limited in functionality, a client work management platform could be just what your agency needs. Instead of piecing together a disjointed tech stack to achieve your goals, opt for one end-to-end platform that helps you:
- Manage sales opportunities and visualize your sales funnel
- Create and send custom quotes and convert them into projects
- Automatically track time, assign tasks and manage team workload
- Monitor project progress and share real-time updates with clients via a client portal
- Seamlessly intake client requests and collaborate on issue resolution
- Manage and generate retainers for your clients’ preferred retainer periods
- And more!
See what agency professionals are saying about Accelo, then explore its range of features by signing up for a free trial or setting up a demo.
Want to learn more?
Join the thousands of professionals that are running more successful businesses with Accelo
About the Author
Chelsea Williams is Senior Copywriter at Accelo, where she shares unique insights with service professionals and tells user stories via blogs, eBooks, industry reports and more. She has over 15 years of B2B and B2C writing experience — primarily in tech, sales, education and healthcare. Chelsea is an AWAI-certified Master Copywriter trained in brand storytelling and microcopy.