The Best Project Management Tool for Marketing Agencies – A Detailed Review of NiftyPM
A good project management tool is an absolute necessity for a marketing agency to effectively manage projects. Let’s assess how well NiftyPM delivers on these project management tools and why it is ideal for a marketing agency.
A good project management tool is an absolute necessity for a marketing agency to effectively manage projects. With so many of these platforms available today, it can be a daunting task to narrow down the solution that works best for your company. You may be unsure about what the platform provides in terms of task management, how it tracks project milestones and resource management, and what communication options are available for your teams to collaborate. Let’s assess how well NiftyPM delivers on these project management features and why it is ideal for your marketing agency.
NiftyPM Review 2022
Summary
NiftyPM is the best project management tool for marketing agencies. With multiple project views, roadmaps and milestones, chats, time tracking, docs, task management, and a host of great features, it is the one tool you need for your agency.
What is NiftyPM?
To put it simply, NiftyPM is a project management tool that allows an organization to do project planning and track the progress of its goals. It also helps employees to get their daily tasks done in pursuit of those goals. NiftyPM does this by providing a shared workspace that allows project managers to create and assign tasks to team members attached to that project. A project manager can then check the project progress as tasks are completed to ensure the creative teams are on schedule to deliver and are heading in the right direction for a successful project.
NiftyPM offers communication features such as chats, discussion boards, and comments for the team to use. File sharing among relevant team members is easy with plenty of collaboration tools, such as Nifty Docs, as well as integration with third-party services like the Google Suite of products. If your marketing team is working from home or remotely, NiftyPM is great at keeping them all on the same page and productive throughout the work day.
With the ability to manage multiple project portfolios, NiftyPM is very handy for digital marketing and advertising agencies that need to keep track of their campaign progress when working with different clients. It can also help the company ensure everything is properly aligned with its marketing strategy. Let’s dive in and see how you’ll be using NiftyPM for project management, what’s great about it, and what needs improving in this detailed review.
How NiftyPM Handles Tasks Within a Project
Any decent project management software lets you manage projects by creating tasks and assigning them to the relevant project members. NiftyPM gets all the basic project management features right, with a few extras that definitely save time for both project managers and the members of your team assigned to the tasks.
The first thing you’ll notice when you log into NiftyPM is all the projects listed on your left, which can be scrolled down, and the main workspace front and center. Clicking on a project name will open up its dashboard in the workspace where you can see which team members are assigned to it. Clicking on Tasks will allow you to view all the tasks that have been created, as well as create new ones.
Multiple Workspace Views to Choose From
Everyone has their own task viewing preferences, and NiftyPM provides multiple options to choose from. There is a List View which arranges tasks from top to bottom and a Calendar View to sort them by day, week, or month. Personally, I prefer Kanban View since it gives a nice overview of the entire project without having to scroll down a long list or fiddle too much with the task groupings. The Kanban View gives a lot of transparency compared to other views, especially when tasks are grouped by their completion status.
There is also Swimlane, which is similar to Kanban but with an additional section that shows project milestones and Timeline View. Complex projects often have many tasks and subtasks attached to them. NiftyPM offers many ways to filter and group these tasks within the project, as well as a search option if you have difficulty finding what you need, making it very efficient to track projects.
Project Task Creation is Easy
Task creation is one of the key features of NiftyPM and can be done by both project managers and project members. Simply click on ‘Add a new task’, which would open up the task creation interface after naming the task. NiftyPM includes all the usual project management features like assigning due dates, team members, relevant attachments, and a description of the task, which can be super helpful when a new member joins your marketing team.
Marketing projects will require members from across different creative teams, such as copywriters and graphic designers, to collaborate. Their subtasks can be assigned within the main task of a campaign by the marketing project manager, who can also add tags to indicate the priority of the task, with custom tags also available in NiftyPM. The best part is that if you are new to project management software, NiftyPM offers project templates to guide you right from the start.
Intuitive Task Management with Clickable Task IDs
Each task you create in NiftyPM will get its own unique ID, which appears above the task title. Clicking on this ID will automatically copy it to your clipboard, allowing you to easily paste it into a chat or discussion section. This ID will appear as a hyperlink within NiftyPM, allowing team members to simply click on it to access the relevant task without wasting any time. You can also copy the URL of a task and share it.
Related tasks can be linked using these task IDs, and task dependencies can be set where one task’s completion is based on another. A project manager can set custom statuses, such as ‘To Do’, ‘In Progress’, or ‘Completed’ as required. Tasks will be listed under these statuses and can be moved when necessary. If you’re using Kanban View like me, all you have to do is drag and drop your tasks from one list to another when they’re completed.
Save Time By Duplicating Tasks
Here’s a little tip to make your task management life easier. If there are tasks that share the same format, you can save time by saving a template and pinning it to the project workspace. A project manager can set the ‘pinned’ status to appear first in the workspace, bringing all the templates to the front. With NiftyPM’s task duplication feature, these pinned task templates can be used to quickly add a new task to your ‘To Do’ list without filling in all the fields every time.
NiftyPM Lets You Manage Multiple Project Portfolios
NiftyPM is a project management tool that allows managers to get a high-level overview as well as a detailed perspective of what is going on within each project. There are plenty of dashboards, widgets, and tracking features to always be up to speed on any project your marketing team is working on. You can even invite guests when they need to be included to collaborate or provide client feedback on the project work.
Marketing agency project management might involve tracking the progress of your creative team through many ongoing marketing campaigns for different clients. If you’re a digital marketing or advertising agency, then you’ll be happy to know that you’ll be able to manage all of this across multiple project portfolios in marketing project management tools likeNiftyPM.
A Helpful Overview of Active Projects
A project manager can view the progress of a marketing project in a few different ways using NiftyPM. Firstly, there’s the task section I mentioned before, where everything is grouped according to its completion status. There’s a project dashboard that indicates the team members assigned to that project and also shows a recent project activity view. NiftyPM also allows widgets to be added to this dashboard, allowing users to get a quick overview of what’s been happening without diving into additional interface screens.
Time Tracking Helps Balance Workloads
Time tracking is not only a useful project management tool but also helpful in performance analysis. A team member can start time tracking by hitting the play button in the task window when they begin working, and clicking stop when they’re done. Later, the team lead or whoever is managing projects can visit the Workloads section in NiftyPM to get an idea of how their team members have been spending their work time.
Time tracking makes every team member’s stats visible, giving a fairly transparent view of what project tasks they were working on and how long it took them to complete these tasks. It’s also possible to observe if some members are being overwhelmed with work so that their tasks can be reassigned to others with a relatively free workload.
Time tracking effectively works as a resource management tool, allowing you to see whether more team members are needed to complete certain tasks. This way, planning projects for the next big marketing campaign will be better informed, making it easier to decide the project budget and resource allocation with all the data you can gather from time tracking.
Tracking Progress with Project Milestones
A project management tool is useless without the ability to track project milestones, and NiftyPM provides just that. A milestone can be set in the project planning stage to keep everyone on track to provide client deliverables on time or to achieve project goals with your organization. This will be especially useful when preparing to launch big marketing campaigns. This can be done by opening a project’s roadmap in NiftyPM.
A milestone can be set with a start date and an end date. Afterward, the project tasks that need to be completed can be assigned to them via their specific task windows when you create them. The roadmap in NiftyPM is a nice visual indicator of whether your team is ahead of schedule or lagging behind. If the marketing teams are not meeting the milestones or project timelines on time, it might be worthwhile to check their time tracking and workloads to find out why.
Manage Users and Invite Guests to Work on Projects
The NiftyPM account owner has access to everything and can assign an admin as a project manager for each project. These admins can then create projects as well as add team members to these projects. There’s a comprehensive set of permissions that can be adjusted for each role and specific team member to control their access to the company workspace.
These roles and permissions will become very useful when you start inviting guests to collaborate on your marketing projects. For agencies that do advertising and marketing, project management software can improve their workflow as it often involves bringing in freelancers to work on specific tasks. Clients may request to review digital assets being prepped for their marketing campaigns before approval. Having outsourced freelancers, clients, and vendors in your project management workspace allows everyone to know exactly where everyone is in the project timeline. With the comment and chat features in NiftyPM, it allows for smooth communication and streamlined workflows.
These guests can be included in discussions with your project management team, be allowed to share useful files with your creative teams, provide important client feedback, and be part of the review process. You can adjust their permissions accordingly to limit what they can view of your company’s inner workings, such as workloads and other client projects. For more on client management, check out How to Work with Guests in Nifty.
Team Communications in NiftyPM
Communication is an essential part of any great project management tool, and NiftyPM is no exception. You’ll quickly notice that communication is built-in to nearly every part of this platform to encourage team members to interact with each other.
Team Collaboration Through Discussions
Every project that you create in NiftyPM has its own dedicated discussion board where the project team can openly discuss anything. Any comment here can be spun off into its own thread, allowing multiple conversations to be had at the same time without getting in the way of each other. The handy hyperlinked task IDs I mentioned earlier can be shared here as well, allowing anyone who clicks on them to jump straight into the task, easily making it one of the most convenient features in project management systems.
Direct Messaging and Group Chats
Direct Messaging, or DMs, is also available among team members. You can also set up group chats with several different team members for specific projects, departments, or others. This is a great feature to have within your project management workspace; however, with experience, I find that it’s better to discuss an issue openly so that anyone with a solution to a problem can chime in and the entire team benefits.
Comment on Everything
If you want to discuss and get feedback on a specific attachment like an image, you can. NiftyPM allows you to start a comment thread on any file you share, keeping that conversation attached close at hand where it’s convenient to find. No longer would you need to sift through the main discussion board to find out what the project manager’s feedback was last week about the designer’s work. And, of course, you can comment on any and all tasks and subtasks.
Team Collaboration in NiftyPM
Marketing project management isn’t just about keeping track of tasks and communicating. Your marketing department might need additional tools for team collaboration, business development, and project planning to ensure your marketing efforts reach their fullest potential. This could range from a method to take down notes to file sharing and digital asset management.
Nifty Docs
You might need to have a brainstorming session for ideas for your next social media campaign or content plan. This is where NiftyPM’s robust document feature comes in handy. You can take notes during a client meeting, note down client expectations, allow creative teams to add their input, and even turn the document into a task when the meeting ends. This can also remind you to follow up on leads with prospective clients.
File Sharing in NiftyPM
Worried about digital asset management? With NiftyPM, you don’t have to. Another thing that makes it such a great project management system is that anything you upload into a project, whether it’s a screenshot or a PDF, doesn’t get lost in the discussion board. By going into the Files section, you can search with a wide range of filtering options to find what you need. You can also organize the project’s important digital assets into neat folders.
What Makes NiftyPM So Great
Now that you know how NiftyPM works as a project management tool, let’s see what else it offers to sweeten the deal.
Integration With Third-Party Apps
Does your company work within the Google Workspace or Microsoft Office 365 ecosystem? Then NiftyPM has you covered. For example, you can integrate Google to work with NiftyPM, allowing you to create Google Docs, Sheets, and more directly in the Nifty workspace. You can also connect various video conferencing tools like Zoom to further enhance team collaboration and launch calls without ever leaving the project management interface of NiftyPM.
Switching to NiftyPM is Hassle-Free
Want to move from a different project management tool that’s not working out for you? NiftyPM can handle that process as well. It can help you migrate over from project management solutions like Asana, Trello, ClickUp, and more. You won’t lose your existing project data either, since this process seamlessly brings over your tasks, attachments, and other associated communications. For more information, check out NiftyPM Integrations.
NiftyPM Works on Browser, Desktop, and Mobile
NiftyPM works on all the major platforms like Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS. It also supports most web browsers. This means that no matter which platform you use, or wherever you’re connecting from, you will be able to stay up to date on your tasks and project progress.
Responsive Customer Support
While there are some nagging minor issues with NiftyPM, we have found their customer support team to be very responsive in resolving any issues. This can be very important if this is the first time your company is using project management tools since there could be many areas new users are unfamiliar with. This can also help if you have issues with migrating from a different project management platform that wasn’t working for your teams.
Things That Need Improving in NiftyPM
While there are plenty of tools to keep track of your daily tasks and long-term milestones, not everything is rosy with Nifty’s project management platform. In my experience of using NiftyPM as the project management solution for a marketing agency, our team did notice the following issues which need to be addressed.
Issues With Tagging Teammates
If everything works as expected, you should be able to tag project members within discussions, comments, DMs, and multiple projects like you would on any messaging app. However, this doesn’t always work. Some members do not appear in tagging, even if they are included in the relevant project. This can be pretty frustrating when you need to get the attention of a specific team member.
Furthermore, there’s no option to tag each creative team separately. If you need to let all the designers know about an announcement that relates to them, you have to tag them one by one. This is fine if your design team is small, but will be an issue as your marketing project grows.
Lagging Issues
There is a noticeable lag in the NiftyPM desktop app and in the browser version of it. This seems to be a case-by-case basis but many colleagues, including myself, have faced this issue. This can be especially annoying when logging in to the project management workspace in the morning at the start of a work day. Going through all the notifications and messages before commencing work will go a lot smoother if this lag can be reduced.
Is NiftyPM Worth It?
Even with the above issues, Nifty’s customer support is already working to resolve many of them. Apart from that, what you have here is a well-equipped project management solution that will address most of your needs. Nifty offers a free tier as well as affordable pricing in five different pricing plans. Whether you’re a small business owner starting your own agency with a few marketing projects or an established company running a multitude of marketing campaigns at the same time, there’s a plan that will work for you.
The great thing about all of NiftyPM’s offerings is that they do not limit the number of team members. Even the basic Starter Package includes most of the core features and supports up to 40 projects. It’s $9 per member per month, making it the ideal starting point for a small marketing team or business. Larger organizations may need to opt for the Business Package ($25 per member per month) with advanced project management features like workload tracking, integration with Google and Microsoft platforms, and dedicated customer support. There’s also the Pro Package in between, at $16 per member per month.
Marketing project management requires a robust solution to assist in project planning and managing tasks. To end up with a successful project, its managers need to be able to track project progress and make sure everyone on the marketing team is sprinting towards the set milestones according to their marketing strategy. NiftyPM is a project management solution that shines in these areas, along with many advanced project management options to balance workloads and help project managers with better resource management for future projects. NiftyPM is definitely worth it, so try NiftyPM for free!
FAQs About NiftyPM
Does NiftyPM have a mobile app? Does it work for iOS or Android?
NiftyPM has a mobile app and it works for both iOS and Android. It’s fast, responsive, and has almost all the same features as the desktop app or web version. NiftyPM also works seamlessly on tablets including iPadOS.
What integrations does NiftyPM have?
NiftyPM natively integrates with GitHub, Google Drive & Calendar, Microsoft Suite, Slack, Webex, Zoom, Harvest, and Zapier. For Zapier, you can connect apps from within the NiftyPM app or browser, making it very easy to use. You can find the integrations by navigating to the App Center within NiftyPM.
How are NiftyPM workspaces structured?
The hierarchy of NiftyPM is structured with Workspaces at the top level, then Portfolios (like folders), and then Projects within. You can organize Workspaces by company or department. You can organize Portfolios for different projects or clients. You then organize Projects accordingly within their Portfolio.
What kind of task views are available within NiftyPM?
NiftyPM provides a multitude of task views so that team members can use the task view that is best for each individual. NiftyPM provides Kanban View, List View, Calendar View, Swimlane View (milestones + tasks), and Timeline View (Gantt Chart). You can toggle the view for each project at the top right dropdown menu.
What kind of automations does NiftyPM have natively?
NiftyPM provides simple automations within its own platform. Some examples of predefined automations are “when a task is created, then set a start date” and “when a task is completed, post a project message”. You can create your own custom automations from within NiftyPM.
Does NiftyPM have a lifetime deal?
NiftyPM currently does not offer a lifetime deal. They have offered one before, but there is no mention of it coming back any time soon. Fortunately, NiftyPM has affordable pricing, including a free tier for personal use.