A marketing workflow is a set of repeatable steps and processes that are connected to a single marketing task. These standardized workflows are then easy to use as benchmarks of productivity, as well as being easier to roll out to all teams once they have been finalized, meaning that one team’s innovation or improvement will lead to benefits for all the rest of your teams.
If you’re looking into your own team’s marketing workflow management and feel that your current workflows could be improved upon, here are some tips for upping their effectiveness:
Simplify and standardize your creative briefs.
There is a myriad of information that can be included in the creative brief for a campaign or task, everything from the correct font to be used to what the client likes to have for breakfast. While all of that information may be helpful in creating the perfect image or piece of content, a trade-off has to be made between how important a piece of information is versus the time it takes to create it and then read and understand it.
A simplified brief will have the core info at the top of the first page, always under the same headings, with space provided later for additional information. Though unless absolutely necessary, this should also be as concise as possible.
Automate as much as possible.
While almost everyone already uses automation for certain things, like planning and executing their social media strategy, there is still a huge range of other automation possibilities out there that can transform your workflows. Project management software like Planview AdaptiveWork can automate workflows and processes, such as creating status reports or sending calendar alerts, to save time and effort, as well as keeping results uniform.
Streamline campaign ideation.
Creating attractive campaigns that deliver results for clients is what marketing is pretty much all about, yet coming up with them can often be a very haphazard process – often not far off a Mad Men meeting (though probably without the excess of whiskey). While ideas still get created, far too much time and creative energy can get lost solely because of a lack of direction.
Today, it’s vital to streamline and track how your team decides on a campaign, focusing on questions that deliver on the client’s needs and providing provable metrics.
Make ownership matter.
An important element to consider in marketing workflow management is who is responsible for making sure the task is completed. A general workflow will be replicable, so responsibility will always change, but making sure that it is actually assigned can have a powerful effect on productivity. Having ownership over a workflow means that that person is committed to ensuring it is delivered within the specifications established.
Creating or improving a management workflow is relatively easy to do, but not necessarily easy to do well. Planview AdaptiveWork’s cloud-based project management software is perfect for helping managers to not only create workflows for their team, but to automate and track their effectiveness as well. To find out how Planview AdaptiveWork can help you with marketing workflow management, you can watch a demo and have your queries answered right here.
