Kanban Board for Marketing Teams: Which Columns to Use and Why
Paul Boards ·
For a marketing team, a kanban board usually works well with seven columns: Backlog, To do, In production, Internal review, Client approval, Revisions, and Published or Delivered. Each column represents a stage where the task changes owner or state, and that's what justifies its place on the board.
The rule for deciding whether a column should exist is simple: if a task can sit at that stage waiting on someone, it deserves a column. If the stage takes five minutes and nobody waits on it, it becomes a checklist item inside the task. Below, we explain each column, when to adapt it, and how to keep the board from becoming a dumping ground for forgotten cards.
What a kanban board is and why it fits marketing
Kanban is a visual management method where each task is a card that moves through columns from left to right as it progresses. The board shows in seconds where the work is and, most importantly, where it's stuck.
Marketing has a workflow with lots of hand-offs: account management takes the request, the copywriter writes, design creates, someone reviews, the client approves, it goes back for revisions, and it gets published. Each hand-off is a point where the task can be forgotten. Kanban makes those hand-offs visible.
Recommended columns and why each one exists
Backlog
Everything that has been requested or thought of but doesn't have a start date yet. Campaign ideas, client requests for "whenever you can," website improvements. The backlog protects the rest of the board: what's in it doesn't put pressure on anyone today.
To do
Tasks prioritized for the current cycle, with an owner and a deadline. The difference from the backlog is commitment. If a card has moved into "To do," someone already knows it's theirs.
In production
What's being worked on right now. This is the column that most needs a limit. If a designer has nine cards in production at once, in practice they aren't focused on any of them. A limit of two or three tasks per person is a good starting point.
Internal review
Before it reaches the client, someone on the team checks spelling, branding, asset dimensions, and whether the deliverable matches the request. Keeping this column separate shows when review becomes a bottleneck, which happens often when a single person reviews everything.
Client approval
One of the most important columns and the most often forgotten. When a task is waiting on the client, the ball isn't in the team's court. Having a separate column lets you answer "why didn't the post go out?" precisely and follow up with the client using data instead of impressions.
Revisions
The client asked for changes. Sending the card back to "In production" hides the rework. A dedicated column makes it visible how many assets came back and lets you measure that over the month.
Published or Delivered
The end of the workflow. For social media content, use "Published." For other deliverables, like a report or a landing page, use "Delivered." What matters is that a task only lands here when it has actually gone out, not when it's ready.
Set up this board in minutes. In Scrumboards you create statuses your way, view work as kanban or a list, and track each task's deadline, priority, and hours. Create your marketing team's board for free.
Columns that tend to get in the way
- "Urgent." Urgency is a priority, not a stage. An urgent column becomes the fullest column on the board within two weeks. Use the priority field on the card.
- One column per person. "Bruno," "Carla," "Diego" as columns turn the board into a list of who's busy and hide the stage. Use the owner on the card and filter by person when you need to.
- "On hold" or "Pending" with no owner. If a task is blocked, note the reason on the card. A generic pending column becomes the place where tasks go to die.
- Too many columns. A board with twelve columns requires horizontal scrolling and nobody looks at the last ones. If two stages always happen together, merge the columns.
How to adapt kanban to your type of team
Agency with multiple clients
Use one board per client when workflows differ, or a single board filtered by client when the workflow is the same. The second model helps managers see the whole team's workload. Either way, every card needs to be linked to a client so the monthly report comes out without digging.
In-house marketing team
Replace "Client approval" with "Stakeholder approval" or "Legal approval," depending on who signs off. A software company, for example, might have launch assets go through the product team before they ship. The approval column still exists; only the approver changes.
Video production team
Video has longer, more distinct stages. It may be worth splitting "Script," "Shoot," and "Edit" into their own columns, because each has a different owner and its own wait time.
Ground rules that make the board work
- Every card has an owner and a deadline from "To do" onward.
- Whoever finished the stage moves the card. The designer moves it to review when they're done instead of waiting for the manager to do it.
- Work-in-progress limit. Before pulling a new card, finish or hand back one that's open.
- A quick board review every day. Ten minutes in the morning, reading right to left: first what's close to going out, then what's stuck.
- The brief lives inside the card. Request, references, and files stay on the task, not in the group chat.
What the board shows beyond day-to-day work
When every column change is recorded, the kanban board becomes a data source. You can see how long an asset sits in approval, how many came back for revisions, and who delivered each task. In Scrumboards, each task's status history feeds the task, time, and revisions reports. There's also a timer on every task, which shows how many hours a client actually consumes, useful information when renegotiating a contract.
For teams that want to see how the board connects to the content calendar, CRM, and finances, take a look at Scrumboards' project and task management system. And if your question is about plans, the pricing page shows what comes with the Free plan.
Frequently asked questions
How many columns should a marketing kanban board have?
Between five and eight. Fewer hides important stages, like approval. More makes the board hard to read.
Kanban or list view: which is better?
They're views of the same work. Kanban shows flow and bottlenecks. A list is better for sorting by deadline or filtering lots of items. A good tool lets you switch between the two.
Should I have an urgent column?
No. Mark urgency as a priority on the card and keep the columns for the stages of the work.
How do I measure whether the board is working?
Track how long tasks take to go from "To do" to "Published" and how many pass through the revisions column. If those numbers drop over the months, the workflow is improving.
Can the client see the board?
It depends on the tool and what you want to show. In Scrumboards, each person sees only what's linked to them, and reports can be sent to the client via a link, with no login.
Organize your team's workflow
Start with the seven columns, use them for two weeks, and adjust whatever doesn't fit your workflow. The right board is the one the team checks every day. Start free and build your team's marketing kanban, or first see everything the platform does.