Marketing is complex. There are a lot of moving parts across creative teams such as design, copy production, SEO, PPC and more, which can make production and coordination confusing if everyone’s not on the same page. Every marketing campaign demands real time collaboration, precise project planning and the ability to track key performance indicators (KPIs) without letting repetitive tasks slow you down.
Streamlined communication across multiple teams and stakeholders is paramount for success. Who’s responsible for what? Where can internal stakeholders and clients go to find information and review assets?
A central hub for campaign management ensures marketing operations stay organized and every marketing initiative remains visible from start to finish.
Deploying a conglomerate of software platforms can get messy fast. Instead, it’s ideal to have a single source of truth for all marketing planning, budgeting and other campaign processes. Sure, using just one platform may not be possible for some of the large businesses, but that’s where integration comes into play.
Effective management software should connect with social media platforms, email marketing providers, analytics reporting tools and CRM systems so your marketing team can make data driven decisions.
This is everything marketing planning software platforms should be able to do with little fuss.
What Is Marketing Planning Software?
A marketing planning platform is the quarterback of a marketing team — it helps coordinate the plays and strategies integral for successful campaigns.
Simply put, it’s a centralized marketing planning tool that allows teams to align and collaborate on planning and executing; a digital command center, if you will, where you can:
- Organize tasks.
- Set goals.
- Track progress.
- Monitor campaign performance in real time.
- Analyze key performance indicators to improve future marketing strategies.
But what features make these possible?
What Should You Look for in Marketing Planning Software?
Hunting for marketing planning software is like shopping for a Swiss Army knife. You want it to have the right tools for the job. Here are some key things to look for in digital marketing:
- Collaboration capabilities: Teams should be able to work seamlessly together and collaborate on projects with little obstacles standing in their way. Look for features that facilitate communication, file sharing and collaborative editing. The best platforms also support real time collaboration so marketing teams in different time zones can push projects forward without delay.
- Ease of use: Like any piece of software, marketing planning tools should be user-friendly and intuitive, ensuring that teams can get started quickly without a steep learning curve. If the interface is too complex, repetitive tasks will pile up and slow down campaign planning.
- Customization: Ideally, you want software that can be customized and tailored to your team’s unique needs and workflows. Custom dashboards let you surface KPIs, resource management data and analytics reporting relevant to your marketing initiatives.
- Integration options: While a great marketing platform is a one-stop-shop, it should still play nice with other tools your team already uses, like CRM systems, web analytics platforms or social media management tools. Integrations with email marketing services, social media platforms and digital asset libraries ensure end-to-end campaign management.
- Project management features: From task assignments to deadlines, software should have robust project management capabilities. Being able to assign tasks, set dependencies and track progress keeps marketing campaigns on schedule.
- Resource management: Look for features that help you plan and track your budget, as well as allocate resources efficiently.
- Analytics and reporting: A good platform should provide analytics and reporting tools to measure the success of campaigns and identify areas for improvement. Detailed dashboards turn raw numbers into actionable insights for smarter marketing strategies.
- Scalability: You want a tool that can grow with your business and evolving needs. Ensure that your chosen software is scalable and can accommodate future marketing plans for your business. As your campaign portfolio expands, the solution should handle additional users, channels and key performance indicators without a hitch.
The 10 Best Marketing Planning Software To Use in 2024
Without further ado, here are the top marketing planning software solutions available today. Each one offers unique strengths for digital marketing, campaign planning and overall marketing operations:
1. Brafton CMP
What it does well: Brafton’s content marketing platform operates on 5 core functions, including digital asset management, content calendar, content production planning, resource tracking and campaign measurement. It’s a Jack of all trades!
The platform simplifies software marketing planning by housing everything from social posts to email marketing workflows within a single interface.
Standout features: Plan, produce and track performance all in one place with the Brafton CMP. Teams can assign tasks, measure campaign performance against key performance indicators and automate repetitive tasks like status updates.
Pricing: $100 per month for up to 50 users, but you can start with a 14-day free trial.
Takeaway: If you need one platform that can handle just about any marketing plan you throw at it, the Brafton CMP is for you. It empowers marketing teams to execute multi-channel marketing campaigns with less effort and more insight.
Say “Bye” to Spreadsheet Calendars
Say “bye” to spreadsheet calendars
And “hi” to smarter planning with the Brafton Platform.
And “hi” to smarter planning with the Brafton Platform.
2. Asana
What it does well: Asana is built for teams. The platform easily enables complex cross-departmental work for product and project management. Marketing teams appreciate Asana’s ability to handle task management for simultaneous marketing efforts.
Standout features: Project views, time tracking, custom fields, admin console. These features support robust campaign planning, helping you balance workloads and visualize deadlines across multiple marketing initiatives.
Pricing: Asana offers special pricing for individuals and small teams from $0-$24.99 per user, per month. For Enterprise rates, contact the Asana sales team.
Takeaway: If your organization does a lot of cross-team collaboration, Asana may be the perfect project management platform. However, if you’re looking for tools similar to Asana, there are various other options available that might suit your needs better.
3. Trello
What it does well: Trello helps keep teams organized to boost productivity. Create boards, lists and cards to organize and track each stage of a task, from start to finish. It’s well loved for its visual approach to campaign management.
Standout features: Power-ups. Trello allows you to “power up” your teams by linking their most-used and favorite marketing tools directly to Trello plugins. Additionally, you can select a solution that works for you, whether that’s one purpose-built for engineering teams, start-ups or design work.
Pricing: $0-$17.50 per user, per month.
Takeaway: Trello seems to know a thing or two about staying productive. **** If your organization needs a boost in that department, it may be the solution you’re looking for. Marketing campaigns become easier to follow when each card illustrates progress, attachments and due dates in one glance.
4. Sprout Social
What it does well: If the name didn’t give it away, Sprout Social is specifically designed for social media management. They say, and I quote, “Our all-in-one social media management platform unlocks the full potential of social to transform not just your marketing strategy — but every area of your organization.” The platform excels at streamlining social media marketing for brands of all sizes.
Standout features: This platform’s core features offer tools for engagement, publishing and analytics, but a step up will give you access to even more, including tools for influencer marketing, employee advocacy and more. Built-in analytics reporting showcases how each social post contributes to broader marketing strategies.
Pricing: $199-$399 per seat, per month (for standard to advanced options). Enterprises must contact Sprout Social directly for pricing.
Takeaway: Sprout Social is something of an industry standard for social media marketing. If you do a lot on social media, this platform is sure to offer value. It’s ideal for marketing operations that require unified inboxes, audience insights and data driven decisions about content scheduling.
5. HubSpot
What it does well: If you need inbound marketing and sales support, HubSpot does those very well. It combines CRM, email marketing, automation and analytics to drive cohesive marketing campaigns.
Standout features: Known for its Hubs, HubSpot offers dedicated software for marketing, sales, service, CMS, operations and commerce. There’s a hub for virtually everything. The most popular of which may be the HubSpot marketing Hub, but there’s a lot more where that comes from. The marketing Hub unifies campaign planning, content creation and performance tracking under one roof.
Pricing: HubSpot’s free plan offers access to a selection of useful tools. Paid plans range between $800 (for 3 core seats) – $3,600 (for 5 core seats) per month.
Takeaway: HubSpot speaks for itself. If you’re at the helm of a large marketing operation, the platform is sure to make managing it a little easier. Marketers can segment audiences, execute email marketing, automate repetitive tasks and prove ROI with comprehensive analytics reporting.
6. Wrike
What it does well: Workflows, workflows, workflows. Need them streamlined? Wrike can probably help with that. It’s a favorite among marketing teams that juggle multiple campaign timelines.
Standout features: Wrike is in the business of streamlining. Enjoy features for resource planning, proofing, cross-tagging and more. Custom request forms convert marketing initiatives into actionable projects, minimizing bottlenecks.
Pricing: $0-25 per user, per month. Contact Wrike for Enterprise and Pinnacle rates.
Takeaway: Wrike does a little bit of everything — and has some robust integrations with leading apps as well, such as Slack, Salesforce, Teams, Adobe and more. That makes it a reliable choice for data driven decisions across complex marketing efforts.
7. Toggl Plan
What it does well: Are you a visual learner? Is your organization made up of people who would appreciate more visual marketing project management? Toggl Plan helps agencies and internal teams allocate resources efficiently by making workloads easier to look at.
Standout features: Built for smaller teams, Toggl Plan helps visualize and balance workloads with project and resource planning and task management tools. Color-coded timelines make campaign planning intuitive and fun.
Pricing: $0-$13.50 per user, per month.
Takeaway: Visual doers unite — Toggl Plan could be the key to project management success for teams that appreciate easily perceptible marketing planning. Drag-and-drop scheduling reduces the learning curve and accelerates marketing operations.
8. Planable
What it does well: With Planable, it’s all in the name. If you do content marketing and your teams typically plan content in sheet programs, like Google Sheets or Excel, “This is for you.” Planable is a content planning tool that brings clarity to social media marketing workflows.
Standout features: “Stop living in spreadsheets,” says Planable. Bring all your sheet content together in specialized views, like feed view or calendar view, and collaborate more easily. Version history and approval flows keep campaign performance on point.
Pricing: $0-$49 per workspace, per month. Contact Planable for Enterprise pricing.
Takeaway: If you have content teams and they need to collaborate, Planable makes it pretty hassle-free. Marketing campaigns move faster when feedback loops are centralized.
9. monday.com
What it does well: If you appreciate fully customizable software, you’ll appreciate monday.com.
Standout features: Key features of monday.com allow you to build your ideal custom workflow, with options for dashboards, integrations, kanban, docs, files, marketing automation and much more. The platform’s flexibility supports any marketing strategy, from product launches to email marketing campaigns.
Pricing: $0-$19 per seat, per month. Price increases with the number of users.
Takeaway: monday.com stands by the sentiment “free forever.” If you’re a one-person-show or a freelancer (or even a two-person team), you could use many of monday.com’s features for free. Growing businesses can scale marketing efforts and analyze KPIs without migrating to a new tool.
10. Notion
What it does well: Notion is a content creation and management platform that helps creative teams work better and faster. It’s a connected workspace where teams can centralize knowledge, manage projects, create content and more. Marketers love the ability to build wikis for campaign planning and reference.
Standout features: Notion rolled out a new artificial intelligence (AI) feature that allows users to ask virtually anything and “Notion will answer.” Write, plan and share more intuitively all with the help of AI. The result is quicker brainstorming and fewer repetitive tasks.
Pricing: $0-$20 per member, per month. Contact notion for Enterprise rates.
Takeaway: Notion helps businesses of all sizes consolidate the number of tools they use by offering a customizable solution that can handle many of the integral marketing tasks you need to manage. From drafting blog posts to tracking key performance indicators, Notion grows with your marketing operations.
Bonus: Softr
What it does well: Softr is built for businesses and professionals seeking to streamline operations, make data more accessible and unified and/or strengthen their client or partner relationships.
Standout features: Ease of use, Custom logic and permissions, Deep data source integration, Versatility (use cases), Strong community
Pricing: Softr has a free plan and 4 paid plans, cheapest starting at $49/mo
Takeaway: Softr enables anyone to build a complete custom portal in minutes or hours, without the need for coding or design expertise — eliminating the costs and delays of traditional custom development.
Creating a Marketing Plan? Use Marketing Planning Software
For your next marketing effort, save yourself and your team some headaches by investing in the right marketing tool. These 10 tools don’t even scratch the surface of what’s available to marketers today; there are hundreds more where these came from. We hope we’ve made it just a little easier to make the right choice for your business and trust you’ll choose the one for you.
Harnessing the power of marketing planning software allows you to streamline campaign management, improve collaboration and ultimately drive stronger results across every digital marketing channel.