Admation In Depth

Online marketing approval software

Today, marketers are juggling up to six social media sites at any one time and outputting 75% more content than the year before. Still a majority feel they should be performing better. With this, the process is effectively is more vital than ever.

This aspect plays an integral role in the production of collateral, from briefing projects to creating artwork to getting final approval. But if your process isn’t in good shape it can adversely affect the quality, cost and timeliness of your campaigns. It’s important then to understand your creative journey and the kinds of challenges associated with managing it. Only then can your brand implement the right tools and processes to achieve the best outcomes for your creative projects.

Understanding your creative approval workflow

While marketing approval workflow has commonalities, its touch points and pathways are unique to every brand. This is why it’s important to understand your process so you can evaluate its true effectiveness.

For example, create a flow chart that outlines how the work flows through the department denoting every touch point all the way to final production. If you are experiencing issues, at least then you can sit down and review the flow chart to see where the problems lie.

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Reviewing your plan to identify any challenges

After a couple of years of using the workbook, the business decided it was time to seek out a more efficient solution. A small group from marketing was formed who started the process of researching project management tools. The group wanted to find a system that could:

  • Incomprehensive briefs
  • High revisions
  • Stakeholders overlooked in the process
  • Missed deadlines
  • Projects going over budget
  • Using outdated tools that are ill-equipped to manage the journey
  • Poor compliance
  • Lost assets

Once you’ve identified your challenges there are a few simple strategies you can implement to improve your process.

  • Implement comprehensive brief templates.
  • Select only the reviewers who are vital to your creative project.
  • Map out your pathways strategically.
  • State your deadlines and milestones upfront.
  • Send assets for feedback and approval only when it is ready.
  • Batch your feedback so that the designer isn’t amending artwork repetitively.
  • While these strategies will enhance your process, it might well be time to implement tools to support you.

Marketing workflow tools

More brands are turning to software to solve their challenges and automate the tedious administration that goes with managing the entire system. This tool streamlines the process from briefing to artwork revisions to saving final assets. There are many great covering the full gamut of the process: simple administration, greater transparency, automatic audit trails, improved compliance, reduced artwork revisions, instant reports and more time to be creative!

So let’s take a look as some of the which will change the way you manage your projects:

  • Approval lists
  • Request notifications
  • Compare revisions online
  • Online Proofing tools
  • Automated reminders
  • Reserve buttons to reserve work
  • Digital Asset management integration
  • Reporting tools
  • Easy, remote access
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Selecting marketing approval workflow software

Recent studies show that the return on investment (ROI) for businesses implementing project management tools lies somewhere between 15-30% with 32% of businesses seeing ROI within the first year. In fact, 60% of companies that exceed $500 million in revenue have adopted tools to streamline their marketing approval workflow. It’s worth noting that those who profit from integrating this kind of software typically dedicate time to research, cost and select the right solution.

Implementing the right tools

If you are serious about implementing this software, then it’s critical that you identify your unique requirements first so that you for your brand. Make sure that you get input from all of your stakeholders to hone your requirements and then list them in order of priority. Finding a vendor with solution can feel a bit like wading in a sea of infinite possibilities. Don’t be discouraged. Once you know exactly what you want then it’s easier to match your requirements with a solution that has the inbuilt features that are going to fix your problems. A few things to consider when selecting a tool for your business:

  • How easy is the system to use?
  • How easy is it to implement?
  • Does it manage all file types: digital, traditional and websites?
  • Is the solution supplied as hardware or software that needs to be installed, or is it a cloud- or web-based solution?
  • How much does the solution cost? What’s the upkeep?
  • Does it provide the capacity to upscale, and add more users or clients?
  • Does it have extra integrated features that could be useful such as resource management?
  • What kind of training does the vendor offer?

So you’ve narrowed down your requirements and matched it with the right vendor and the right marketing workflow tools. Now it’s time to make sure that you have a successful implementation.

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Find a champion now

It’s one thing to select and implement the right marketing approval software, but you still need your team to use it. We all know how easy it is to fall back into old habits so you’re going to need someone who encourages and guides people to use it.

Archibald / William implemented its preferred online marketing approval software in just six weeks across the whole agency. The agency made sure that everyone who was to utilise the platform received training as well as it had a vocal champion – someone who got behind the software. When the champion saw that some individuals were still struggling with the software after the initial training, she sat with them individually to guide them through the system.

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Archibald | Williams Case Study
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