Work vs. Project Management for Marketing Agencies: A New Era
Project management alone is no longer cutting it for full-service marketing agencies. Why? Content sprawl, hyper-personalization, and omni-channel digital campaign activation are making work execution increasingly complex.
In this environment, simplified project management flounders. Scattershot assignments and muddled timelines hurt profitability and can feel like an MC Escher stairwell to nowhere.
These trends are also forcing agencies to grapple with the dual challenges of driving creativity and innovation while also efficiently managing work and resources at scale. Without a strong backbone to orchestrate the work (not just assign tasks and projects), at best agencies let things slip, and at worst clients churn and profitability plummets.
In this blog post we dive deeper into the unique challenges digital transformation is bringing to agencies, and the key reasons to invest in more robust platform for work management.
Riding the Whirlwind of Digital Transformation
Digital transformation has done more than just bring new technology to the forefront – it has continually revolutionized the fabric of agency operations.
Crafting stellar campaigns for clients is no longer just about coming up with innovative ideas. It’s about building highly personalized, impactful experiences, and then activating them across dozens of different platforms.
It’s about curating a symphony of SEO-enriched content, vibrant web designs, and potent social media narratives that harmonize into a cohesive brand experience.
It means multi-level resourcing, hierarchical rate cards, and different billing models and rules of client engagement.
In essence, it has forced a new playbook for agencies with distributed workforces and increasingly global client portfolios.
Surpassing the Ordinary: The Next Level of Work Management
Platforms like Monday.com and Asana emerged in the early 2010s as the answer to agency project management woes. And while they may have served agencies well during the initial waves of digital transformation, the growing complexity of agency operations have since revealed their limitations.
Agency teams handling global clients and multifaceted campaigns and projects need more than just task lists. They need:
- Customized Workflows: Every client has their own needs, leading to diverse project and resourcing requirements. Multiply that on a global scale, and the ability to adjust workflows on the go becomes an agency’s core superpower.
- Collaborative Ecosystems: Creatives thrive on collaboration. Tools promoting real-time collaboration and feedback, brainstorming sessions, and highly visual workflow platforms are foundational. It’s not merely about teamwork, but merging minds – and technology – to maximize creative results.
- Seamless Time Management: Time, more than just money, is a strategic asset in an environment bustling with multiple projects. Time tracking isn’t solely for billing – it optimizes work, allocates resources, and ensures productivity.
As a result of these unique requirements, Adobe Workfront has emerged as the leading platform for large-scale agencies. It enhances efficiency and productivity by offering a single source of truth for all agency work, and offers an intelligent, interconnected platform where strategy, resources, and client work can converge. With Workfront agencies can:
- Ensure that every campaign and individual task is tracked, managed, and executed with precision, eliminating common overseen risks of oversight.
- Integrate with the rest of the Adobe Creative Cloud and Experience Cloud ecosystem to reduce manual work and ensure cohesive workflows.
- Optimize resource planning and timekeeping to ensure optimal productivity.
- Extract actionable insights and optimize operations to stay ahead.
Unleashing Adobe Workfront’s Potential with LeapPoint
Harnessing the true potential of a solution like Adobe Workfront requires more than a surface-level engagement. It’s about delving deep, understanding its nuances, and customizing it to resonate with the unique rhythm of every agency.
As an Adobe Gold Solution partner with specialization in Adobe Workfront, LeapPoint is uniquely positioned to help you ensure Workfront isn’t just another tool, but an extension of your agency’s heartbeat. We can offer:
- Guided Strategy: C-Suite leaders from diverse agencies have banked on us to crystallize and execute their vision.
- Versatility in Action: Whether it’s Creative, Production, Media, or Performance Agencies, our expertise spans the spectrum.
- A History of Excellence: Our prowess is evident, from winning RFPs against competitors like Wrike to seamlessly transitioning pilot engagements into implementations for thousands of users across dozens of agencies.
- Agency Expertise Across the Board: From group-level engagements to partnerships with individual agency powerhouses, our footprint is extensive and varied.
Drive Greater Efficiencies with Connected Work®
In addition to getting agencies up and running with Workfront, LeapPoint’s Connected Work® framework helps create greater alignment between people and processes, as well as drive deeper integrations across the Adobe ecosystem. With integrations between Adobe Workfront, Adobe Experience Manager, Creative Cloud, and more, teammates can get project progress reports, perform file check-ins and check-outs, exchange input, and can even expedite web publication without the need to switch between various software and systems. This optimized method of collaboration enhances productivity, minimizes lost time from “switching systems”, and allows for greater space to deliver high-value work.
Evolve Your Agency with LeapPoint
The gap between success and mediocrity narrows as the landscape becomes increasingly crowded. LeapPoint isn’t just a provider of tools for agencies – we’re a partner that gives our clients a competitive edge.
Learn more about our Agency services, or connect with us 1:1.
Megan Cacioppo, Director of Marketing
