Yes, you can do some basic project management within HubSpot using its tasks, projects, and automation features, but it’s not a dedicated project management tool.
So, you’re wondering, can I do project management on HubSpot? It’s a common question for businesses already using the platform for CRM and marketing. You might be surprised to learn that HubSpot does offer some tools for managing projects, especially when it comes to tasks and workflows.
While not designed to be a full-fledged project management software, you can definitely leverage certain HubSpot functions. Think managing small to medium sized projects with tasks, assignments, and basic tracking. Let’s explore what HubSpot offers and its limitations in the project management space.
Can I Do Project Management on HubSpot?
Let’s get right to it: Can you actually manage projects within HubSpot? The short answer is, yes, to a degree. HubSpot isn’t primarily designed to be a full-fledged project management platform like Asana or Monday.com. However, it has powerful tools and features that, when used creatively and strategically, can help you manage many types of projects, especially those closely tied to your sales, marketing, and customer service efforts. Think of it as a place to handle projects that are tightly connected to your core business processes.
HubSpot’s Strengths for Project-Related Tasks
HubSpot excels in areas that naturally lend themselves to project management, especially when we talk about marketing initiatives, sales activities, and customer onboarding workflows. The strength lies in its ability to integrate different functions. This means you can get a holistic view, not just of your individual projects, but also how they impact other areas of your business. Let’s break down some of these areas:
Marketing Campaigns
Marketing campaigns often involve lots of moving pieces – content creation, email sends, social media updates, and more. HubSpot’s marketing hub is very helpful for this. You can plan out your campaigns, assign tasks to your team members, and track the results all in one place. For example, you can create a marketing campaign to launch a new product. You can use HubSpot to:
- Schedule social media posts.
- Design and send marketing emails.
- Track your marketing automation workflows.
- Analyze your campaign performance with built-in reports.
This integrated approach to marketing projects, helps to make sure that your plans are carried out effectively and efficiently. It’s not just about completing tasks; it’s also about analyzing the impact of your work to improve on future efforts. You can even use this campaign tracking to manage a large content calendar.
Sales Processes
Many sales activities are project-based. Think of onboarding a new client, managing the sales cycle, or nurturing leads. HubSpot’s CRM tools are beneficial to managing these processes. You can create custom deal stages, set up tasks to be completed for each stage, and even track the progress of your team. Here’s how HubSpot can assist with sales projects:
- Create and manage deal pipelines.
- Assign tasks for each stage of the sales cycle.
- Automate follow-up communication.
- Keep a log of all interactions with customers.
This makes managing a complex sale much more streamlined. You can visually see where a potential customer is in the sales journey and make sure that your team is doing all the right things to get that deal closed. It’s all about bringing a organized structure to your sales efforts.
Customer Onboarding
Onboarding new customers is often a structured project in itself. HubSpot can assist in creating a smooth and consistent process. You can automate tasks, keep records of your customer interactions, and provide personalized support, all in one platform. Some of the project management aspects HubSpot offers for customer onboarding are:
- Task creation for specific steps of the onboarding process.
- Using automation to send out welcome emails and helpful resources.
- Tracking the progress of each customer as they go through the onboarding phase.
- Personalizing the onboarding experience using customer data.
A good onboarding experience can create happy and loyal customers, and HubSpot can be the perfect tool to help you achieve that by keeping everything coordinated and well-organized.
Internal Projects Linked to HubSpot Activities
Beyond external-facing projects, HubSpot can handle many internal projects that are closely connected to sales, marketing, and service activities. For example, if your sales team needs a new set of resources, you can plan out the creation of those materials within HubSpot, assign tasks, and follow through on completion. This means you’re not just managing your customer-facing projects, but the support projects that power your business as well.
How to use HubSpot for basic project management
While HubSpot doesn’t have all the bells and whistles of a dedicated PM tool, here’s how you can use its native features for simple project management:
Task Management
HubSpot’s task feature is a vital part of making project management work on the platform. You can create tasks, assign them to your team members, set due dates, and add notes. Tasks can be associated with different objects within HubSpot like contacts, deals, or tickets which can help you keep track of everything going on related to your customer.
- Create individual tasks or use task queues.
- Assign tasks to specific users.
- Set deadlines and priority levels.
- Add detailed notes and attachments to tasks.
You can even create automated tasks when certain things happen in your CRM or other areas of your hubspot account, this can save time, and ensure no steps are missed on your projects.
Using Lists and Views
To get a clear overview of what’s going on, use lists and views. You can segment your contacts, deals, and other records based on different criteria which can help you track the progress of projects or see if your contacts have completed an action. Create custom views that show you only what you need to see, such as tasks that are due, or the status of a particular deal or contact.
- Create static and active lists.
- Use saved filters to see the data that is important to you.
- Personalize views to see what’s happening with your projects.
- Track project progress using different data points.
This is especially good for projects that are related to customer interactions. You can monitor the progress and easily see what is being done on each project.
Notes and Documentation
Using the notes feature within HubSpot is crucial for project documentation and team communication. You can add notes to records and create a detailed history of your project. This ensures that everyone on the team is on the same page and knows what is happening. By keeping detailed notes, you can refer back to previous steps and make better decisions for the future.
- Add detailed notes to contact records, deals, and tickets.
- Keep a timeline of all actions done on a project.
- Use notes to communicate updates with your team.
- Document decisions and reasons behind project-related actions.
Clear notes can also prevent confusion, and make sure that projects are carried out in line with the plan. This can be particularly useful when managing projects with multiple team members.
Reporting
HubSpot provides excellent reporting tools that help you track progress and evaluate your performance. You can generate reports on a variety of data, which provides you with information needed to monitor project success. Set up dashboards and visualizations to see key metrics, so you can better understand if your projects are working as planned.
- Create custom reports on all areas of your HubSpot account.
- Build dashboards to see real-time data.
- Use standard reports for quick analysis.
- Track metrics such as task completion, project timeline, and sales performance.
By consistently reviewing your project data, you can make strategic decisions to better your processes and get results for your project.
When HubSpot Isn’t Enough: Limitations and Alternatives
While HubSpot can help with managing projects, it isn’t a dedicated project management tool. Its strengths are more focused on marketing, sales, and service. So, for large, complex projects that require more advanced features, or for projects that do not directly tie into your sales, marketing and service efforts, you might want to explore some other options. Here’s why and what you could look for:
Limitations of HubSpot for Project Management
HubSpot’s limitations in project management can be seen in a few areas:
- Lack of Gantt Charts: Unlike dedicated PM tools, HubSpot does not offer Gantt charts, which help to visualize project timelines and dependencies between tasks.
- Limited Resource Management: HubSpot doesn’t have robust features for managing resources and team capacity.
- Project-specific Workspaces: It does not offer a dedicated space to view and track a project across all teams and their tasks.
- No Advanced Dependencies: HubSpot’s task management does not include the sophisticated dependency feature where a task cannot begin until the other is done,
- No built in project budget tracking: There is no ability to add budgets to projects.
These limitations can be significant, particularly when dealing with projects involving multiple people or complex processes. If you’re struggling with these limitations, it’s a sign you might need a specialized project management solution.
Alternatives to HubSpot for Project Management
If HubSpot isn’t enough for your needs, there are a variety of project management tools that can help you to achieve your goals. Some good alternatives to consider are:
Asana
Asana is a well-known project management tool that offers advanced features, such as Gantt charts, resource management, and project templates. It allows team members to collaborate effectively and keep track of all tasks across multiple projects.
Monday.com
Monday.com is another powerful project management platform that allows you to visually plan and manage projects. It has a flexible interface with customizable workflows, automations, and the ability to track your team’s workload.
Trello
Trello uses a Kanban-style system to visualize project tasks. It’s very easy to use and suitable for smaller projects with simple workflows. Trello offers a very visually appealing and simple view of project status.
Jira
Jira is designed primarily for software development teams, but it also can be used for managing projects in other fields. It offers features such as bug tracking, sprint planning, and reporting.
Basecamp
Basecamp is a simpler project management tool with a focus on team communication. It includes tools for message boards, to-do lists, and file sharing and allows you to easily collaborate within a team.
When choosing a project management tool, consider your budget, the complexity of your projects, and your team’s needs. Sometimes it can be beneficial to use a separate PM platform for more complex projects and then continue using HubSpot for sales, marketing and service projects.
Integrating HubSpot with Project Management Tools
The best news is, you don’t always have to choose between HubSpot and a dedicated PM tool. Many project management platforms offer integrations with HubSpot, which can help you connect your project data with your sales and marketing efforts. This can be done using native integrations or connecting the two apps via an integration platform like Zapier or Make.
Benefits of Integration
- Data Synchronization: Automatic updating of project information between HubSpot and your PM platform.
- Improved Visibility: Seamless data flow helps you understand how your projects impact your sales, marketing, and customer service efforts.
- Increased Efficiency: No need to switch between platforms for project information.
- Streamlined Workflows: Automate tasks and workflows between the two platforms.
Common Integration Use Cases
Here are some scenarios where integrating your project management system with HubSpot can help:
- When a new deal is closed in HubSpot, it creates a new onboarding project in your PM tool.
- If a task is completed in your project management tool, update the related contact’s timeline in HubSpot.
- Use HubSpot data to trigger custom tasks in your project management platform.
- Create a new task in HubSpot from a project action in the project management system.
The power of these integrations allows you to manage projects without sacrificing the comprehensive view you need for sales and marketing. This can bring the best of both platforms.
In summary, HubSpot isn’t a dedicated project management software, but it’s very capable of managing smaller projects that are connected to marketing, sales, and customer service. If you find that your project needs go beyond what HubSpot can provide, consider using a dedicated PM system, particularly one that integrates with HubSpot, to get the most benefits. You can have the best of both worlds: manage your customer relations and projects within one place.
How-to use projects in HubSpot.
Final Thoughts
HubSpot offers tools for task management and collaboration. You can track progress and deadlines using its project features. Though not a dedicated PM software, it helps manage projects with existing HubSpot data.
So, can i do project management on hubspiot? Yes, you can handle basic projects within its CRM framework. For complex projects, you might consider integrating with specialized project management platforms.