Anyone in marketing appreciates just how stressful getting campaigns to market can be without the right tools, processes and people in place. The ability to adapt quickly and harness topical opportunities has become integral to keeping marketing fresh and culturally relevant. The strategic and creative ideas are usually flowing the minute the opportunity is identified, but demand for a wide range of assets usually outstrips a team’s ability to deliver within a short space of time.
Getting a planned campaign ready for launch globally can also be a headache in itself. Many brands still have to liaise with multiple agencies in multiple countries and it can become a logistical nightmare, with time constraints, brand inconsistencies and spiralling costs. Here we outline the core skills, tools and processes needed to ensure that campaigns go to market without a hitch – no matter if they’re designed for a worldwide audience or are put together at the last minute.
The right people…
Strategic
Knowing what needs to be said, who it needs to be said to, and where and how it will be broadcast is an essential directive for any successful marketing campaign. Its prospects can often live or die based on the strategic direction it is founded on – and how effectively this can be translated to those responsible for executing it.
Your strategic marketing specialists (be they in-house or a supporting agency) will need to be able to efficiently establish the core components of this campaign, namely:
- What is the overall objective or goal of this campaign?
- Who is the target audience this is aimed towards?
- What is the concept or creative behind this campaign?
- Which channels will you utilise to reach your intended audience?
- How will you schedule the various assets of this campaign?
- How will you measure the effectiveness of the campaign?
Rushing to find answers for these is a recipe for disaster, even when campaigns need to be turned around quickly. Instead, it is crucial your strategic marketers establish streamlined processes and have access to effective tools to swiftly communicate their vision to those responsible for creating the necessary assets. This could include:
- Establishing point-persons who will act as a bridge between strategy and creative execution, helping to keep communication regular and uncluttered
- Developing internal templates for processes like audience personas, available channels, content calendars, etc. – storing these in a single destination will allow your strategists to have a useful starting point for all campaign-related discussions
- Giving your strategic marketers a birds-eye view of campaign planning and delivery through a collective online portal – this allows everyone to organise, monitor and review campaigns in real-time, as well as proactively make updates where required
Creative execution
With the strategy in place and working efficiently, it is just as vital that those responsible for the creative execution of the campaign have the systems in place to turn around work quickly with no complications.
So how can this stage be streamlined? One way is by empowering your entire workforce with the tools required to create assets. Now not everyone is blessed with a gift for design, and no organisation wants low-quality materials to be sent to their customers (even if they are against the clock). But, with all-encompassing tools like BAM by Papirfly™, creating studio-quality assets no longer requires specialist support.
By providing your team with easy-to-use design software and customisable templates, they will be capable of creating materials for a wide variety of channels – social media, video, brochures, displays – the possibilities are endless. This allows you to build the layers of your campaign in-house and efficiently get them published, which is critical when campaigns have a strict deadline to meet.
This also helps overcome the issue of agency dependence. While these organisations can play a big role in establishing the branding, designs and overall strategic direction for your company, it is unlikely they would be in a position to turn around campaign assets at the same speed which your in-house team could accomplish this. Logistical barriers and their commitments to other clients could stand in the way of that.
The right tools…
While you can’t beat a good planning session by putting pen to paper, ultimately delivery relies heavily on technology. Calendars, creative tools and marketing automation all play a critical role in getting campaigns to market. What’s great about tools nowadays is that the interfaces are typically friendly, and you get training to help you get to grips with it, so even the most technically challenged can learn new skills very quickly.
Here are four must-have tools to get campaigns to market quicker:
Creative templates
While there are many ‘template’ tools available online, this is not what we’re suggesting you press on with. Intelligent and dynamic design templates on the other hand, which are predefined in line with your brand guidelines, take much of the stress and manual work out of creating studio-standard designs. Easily adapt creatives for different digital and print formats, switch out text and imagery, instantly produce assets for different sub-brands – the list goes on.
Localisation and translation
When campaigns are created by a central agency and then distributed to other countries, local agencies can often be tempted to go beyond what they’ve been asked. Moving logos, not using signed off imagery, changing colours of logos and layouts. Having a tool that centralises localisation and translation reduces the dependency on multiple agencies and makes sure nothing goes out looking less than perfect. Our BAM portal allows you to switch out the translated text for different territories, introduce culturally appropriate imagery and takes into account many other factors that differ from place to place.
Campaign planner
Having a visual campaign planner allows you to stay ahead of the game, plan in advance and see all the marketing activity that’s going on in one easy-to-understand snapshot. It’s just one moving part in a plethora of activities, but it’s the ultimate source of truth for what marketing is taking place in the coming months – keeping teams aligned and in control.
Centralised DAM
There’s nothing worse than different teams and employees saving files in different places. Whether it’s a centralised server, on their Google Drive or desktop, every brand should be utilising a centralised DAM.
With everyone having access to only the latest files and marketing campaign materials, the whole team has access to the most up-to-date and approved artwork. This prevents duplication of effort and allows for easy distribution internally and externally.
The right processes…
The success of having the right team, the best campaigns and all the wonderful tools at your disposal hinges on your internal processes and project management. Not every marketing team has the luxury of a dedicated project management team, but there are a few key processes that must run like clockwork in order to keep everything running smoothly. There are many more in between, but for us, these are the cornerstones.
A comprehensive brief
Every task requires a brief in some capacity. But where you are taking global campaigns to market, it’s important that briefing is both delivered verbally to allow for questions and further discussion, and then followed up with a written summary of what has been communicated. Where teams are time-poor and unable to provide a comprehensive write-up, consider recording your briefs so that creatives or marketers can revisit certain areas for clarification. It also places accountability should anything be briefed in incorrectly.
Plan your workflows
Your marketing team can run like a well-oiled machine most of the time. Aside from the inevitable odd curveball that will be thrown in from time to time, knowing how your workflows operate will provide much greater clarity in how to deliver a project. This means understanding who has the responsibility and skills to produce what, who needs input at which stage, who is responsible for sign-offs and how. There are many moving parts to any workflow, if others feed in at different stages, consider using a centralised tool or DAM where these can be made available. This will ensure everyone’s on the same page.
Implement an approvals process
There’s nothing that makes your heart sink like a piece of artwork going to print with the wrong information or a typo on it. Ensure you have a robust approval workflows process in place to avoid any unwanted surprises and make sure everything that leaves your office is of the highest quality.
Getting campaigns to market doesn’t have to be stressful
We can’t avoid last-minute amends and issues, but by giving your team the best possible toolkit to deliver as effectively as they can, you enable them to bring campaigns to market much quicker.
BAM by Papirfly™ is the all-in-one tool for getting campaigns to market and features everything we’ve discussed in this article and more. You can book a demo or a chat with one of our team.