5 Tools to Keep Complex Inbound Marketing Strategies Under Control

The right tools can help keep complex marketing strategies under control. Here are five of the best management tools you’ll find anywhere

As we talk with inbound marketers, we’ve noticed a common theme come up in conversation. They’re always on the lookout for helpful, new tools to help them keep their marketing campaigns running smoother. Complex marketing strategies depend on several moving parts and overlapping layers. If you don’t keep on top of it all, things can start to feel a bit out of control.

The right tools can help you streamline your complex marketing strategies. Here are five of the best tools we’ve found for managing complex operations.
Top Tools to Streamline Your Inbound Marketing

Slackslack-screen

Slack seems to be everybody’s favorite workteam tool of 2017, and for good reason. The app takes a team-based approach to chat, so that you can live chat one-on-one or with an entire team. Create individual channels for each project, and you can streamline your communications so that everyone stays in the loop—without interrupting colleagues that aren’t on the project’s team.

Slack is especially helpful if you have team members who work off-site. You can communicate in real-time, without scheduling clunky conference calls.

Teamwork project management tool

teamwork-zendesk-api-appThe right project management tool makes all the difference in keeping complex projects under control. If it’s too lightweight, it won’t manage much for you. Too many features, and you’ll spend more time than it’s worth trying to figure out how to use it.

There are scores of online project management tools available, but our favorite is Teamwork. Teamwork is a business management app that seems to have been designed specifically for fast-moving teams. It’s fully loaded with everything you need to organize and track your marketing campaigns:
Project tasks
File storage
Project notebooks
Team chat
Time tracking
Project calendar

Even though it’s feature-rich, Teamwork is easy to learn and simple to use—and flexible enough to fit into your company’s current business process. And their customer service is one of the most responsive we’ve encountered.

A documented marketing strategy

Successful marketers tell us that a documented marketing strategy is the most important tool for their inbound marketing team. A fleshed-out marketing strategy focuses your efforts, communicates requirements, and ensures that everyone is on the same page. A content strategy provides vital information about the target audience, design guidelines, content publication and distribution channels.

Your marketing strategy doesn’t need to be complicated or sophisticated, but it does need to be documented. Keep it online in a central location that’s easy to find—perhaps in a Teamwork project folder!

HubSpot marketing automation softwarehubspot-all-in-one1

HubSpot is the most powerful inbound marketing tool available. Its emphasis on automation and streamlining distinguishes it from other marketing platforms. The sophisticated workflow options are especially helpful for nurturing leads all the way through your sales funnel. And the integrated CRM options make lead handoffs to sales a seamlessly automated event.
HubSpot is continually developing new ways to streamline inbound marketing so that you can do more without creating chaos.

Plandisc project planning tool

Often, marketing campaigns run into snags because of unrealistic expectations during the planning stage. If you can’t see how the multiple layers of moving parts interact and depend on one another, it’s easy to make best guesses that don’t pan out.

Plandisc’s interactive, real-time planning tool uses circular planning to make complex marketing plans easy to manage. Circular planning, also called årshjul, was originally developed in Denmark and is used extensively in Europe. Its highly visual layout makes it easy to see everything that goes into a complex campaign at a glance.

With Plandisc, you’ll see how tasks and responsibilities are interrelated and where the dependencies lie. Every task and every team member is represented, so nothing slips through the cracks—so you can anticipate and prevent bottlenecks before they occur.

See how Plandisc can help marketers master their campaigns, and play around with a live template. Like it? Get Plandisc for free!

Keep All Your Marketing Plans Running Smoothly

The most effective marketing campaign is a smooth campaign. The right tool can make a huge difference to help streamline your inbound marketing and keep your most complex campaigns under control. You’ll see an immediate impact on your team’s effectiveness—and on your ROI.

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