As a marketing agency, you face a set of unique challenges when it comes to managing document control. These challenges stem from two strong, opposing forces:
- On one side, you’ve got corporate marketing: the branding police that keep your brand’s identity consistent and integrated across all marketing initiatives.
- The opposing headwind comes from local marketing: the more autonomous marketers who seek out custom-tailored sales tools and messages to support their local teams.
When you pull your information through the system, you end up hitting many obstacles:
- Document version control… what’s that? Confusion and miscommunication gets the wrong versions in the wrong hands. Worst case scenario: The wrong version, laden with grammatical errors and inaccurate information, gets approved and sent off to layout.
- My approvals are in a state of chaos. From concepting and copywriting to design and interactive, your internal approval system is more of a web than a structure. You’re never confident that the right people are getting the right assets at the right time, or where they are in the approval process. Do you know how long your approvals are taking and why?
- Where in the world is all the information? You know that document is somewhere out there… perhaps in an email folder? But which one? (And the time-depleting, frustrating-wreaking search commences.) Is that a valuable use of time?
- I feel like I have blinders on. You have no universal, accessible and search-friendly repository to store your content. You don’t know what the next step is, who’s next in command or where that last document came from. You know you’re dealing with big-time bottlenecks, but what and where are they exactly? You have no visibility. Shouldn’t you be able to know where all the pieces of the puzzle are just by viewing a report?
How do you keep your document control under control? You implement comprehensive marketing asset management.
What is marketing asset management?
Marketing asset management is a specialized subset of digital asset management but encompasses every type of file or information.
No more passive pulling!
Document management software that’s designed specifically for marketers strategically and efficiently pushes your information to the team members who need it, when they need it. How does it do it? With the following power plays:
- Leveraging dynamic templates to empower marketers with customized marketing collateral that adheres to brand standards
- Applies integrated workflow for creative development and approval
- Streamlines document management, document indexing and document version control
- Use with creative tools (e.g., Adobe and Corel, MS Office etc.)
- Provides searchable access to digital assets and their metadata
But what about my precious folders?
No more folders! Your critical information is far too critical to collect cobwebs in unreliable, unorganized folders. And we’re not just talking about simple desktop folders, either. You can’t use file-sharing systems for your asset-managing purposes. For example, DropBox and Box.net are great for storing and sharing, but not for information management that includes rules-based workflow and compliance.
As with all business projects, document control software, workflow management facelifts and process improvement initiatives require strategic thought before jumping into the tactics. To read about the eight key strategies that set you up for powerful and effective marketing asset management, download our free report by clicking the button below.
