Brand Consistency, Content Creation

Digital design templates: content creation tools for brand consistency

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Papirfly
4 minutes read

This content has been automatically translated and may include minor variations.

In an increasingly competitive market, brand consistency isn’t a nice‑to‑have. It’s how you build recognition, loyalty, and long‑term value. And that’s where digital design templates come in. With digital design templates, you can ensure your brand shows up the same way every time, strengthening your brand identity and helping you stand out.

How can every team create on‑brand content without needing design support?

When content needs to go live fast, brand identity is often the first thing to suffer. With teams working under pressure and without the right tools, off-brand assets can creep into your channels. Templated digital content creation changes that.

Editable templates empower anyone in your business to create assets without compromising your brand – and without needing to chase down files or request support. Workflows get smoother. Bottlenecks disappear. And your brand stays protected.

How do you stay agile without compromising brand consistency?

Marketing teams must move fast – but not at the expense of consistency. While you don’t want to be the last brand to react to an important new social media trend, you also cannot risk rushing out a message that doesn’t fit your brand personality or target audience.

With pre-designed templates, anyone in your company can create consistent and on‑brand assets in moments. Logos, fonts, color palettes, tone – every element is pre‑set and locked into the content creation process. So even when timelines are tight, your messaging stays sharp and on‑brand.

Reduce costs. Increase efficiency.

Templated content creation tools don’t just make brand execution easier – they make it more cost‑efficient. By shifting digital content creation in‑house, you can minimize revision cycles and free up agencies and design teams to focus on more high‑impact creative work.

The result?

  • Faster turnaround times
  • Fewer approval delays
  • Lower production costs
  • More content created without more headcount

What types of templates should your brand be using?

Best-in-class digital template solutions should cover every channel and format your brand needs. That way, they can become the essential building blocks of your campaigns. Key formats include:

  • Ads
    Ensure brand recall across paid and owned channels with ad templates built for cross-platform consistency.
  • Social media
    React to events and social media trends instantly with templates that help local teams post quickly, without compromising the brand.
  • Print
    From posters and brochures to event roll‑ups, your physical assets should reflect your digital brand with precision.
  • Video
    Video is no longer optional. Templates make it scalable – empowering non‑designers to produce compelling, brand‑aligned videos with ease.
  • Dynamic content
    Create, edit, and personalize assets across markets. Templates with dynamic fields give teams the flexibility to adapt, fast.

Why is templated content creation key to future‑proofing your brand?

Your brand doesn’t stand still. It evolves, adapts, and expands. So your tech needs to keep pace in line with the size of your business. That’s why it’s important to ensure the best design template tools for enterprise businesses are used above more consumer-focused software.

Templated content creation tools for enterprises – built into a centralized solution like Papirfly – give you the control to safeguard your brand and the flexibility to empower every team to contribute. It’s how modern content creation services stay responsive, consistent, and cost‑effective.

Does everyone create content that’s on‑brand, every time?

Find peace of mind with
better brand governance.

Does everyone create content that’s on‑brand, every time?

Find peace of mind with
better brand governance.

Discover content templating

Find peace of mind with
better brand governance.

Discover content templating
Discover content templating

FAQs

What are digital design templates and how do they support brand consistency?

Digital design templates are pre-built content formats that lock in brand elements like logos, colors, fonts, and tone of voice. They enable any team to create on-brand content quickly, helping maintain consistency across every channel and touchpoint.

How do templated content creation tools help teams work faster?

Templated tools streamline workflows by reducing dependency on designers or agencies. They empower teams to produce their own studio-quality assets quickly and confidently, without any risk of straying off-brand. This helps cut production bottlenecks and approval delays.

Which types of templates are most effective for digital content creation?

The most effective templates support content creation across all channels and formats, including ads, social media posts, video, and dynamic content. This ensures your brand appears consistently everywhere it’s seen.

Do templated content creation tools help reduce marketing costs?

Yes. Tools like Papirfly’s design templates empower internal teams to handle everyday content creation, lowering production costs, reducing the need for agency input, and freeing up creative teams to focus on higher-value work. This boosts efficiency without compromising quality.

Table of contents:

  1. How can every team create on‑brand content without needing design support?
  2. How do you stay agile without compromising brand consistency?
  3. What types of templates should your brand be using?
  4. Why is templated content creation key to future‑proofing your brand?
  5. FAQs
Employer Branding

EVP 2.0: Is it time to refresh your employer value proposition?

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Papirfly
4 minutes read

This content has been automatically translated and may include minor variations.

The world of work has been turned on its head several times over in the last few years. The roles of HR, recruitment and talent acquisition teams have been especially challenging as they’ve worked to navigate the complex nature of the pandemic and other changes taking place across the globe.
While the basic principles of your EVP won’t have shifted miles from where it was, there will be new considerations and an element of realignment that needs to take place as part of your employer brand management.

Whether you are continuing in a similar vein to pre-pandemic strategies and trying to realign your team, or have completely transformed the way you work over the last couple of years, revisiting your EVP is an important step.

Why is an EVP 2.0 so integral?

The purpose of your employee value proposition is to align the company’s offering to your employees’ needs, wants and expectations. Employees and companies have seen some unprecedented events take place, but many have thankfully made it out of the other side. This leaves your recruitment colleagues and employer branding team with the following challenges:

  • Understanding the mindset and priorities of existing employees
  • Discovering what’s motivating top talent 
  • Differentiating your EVP from others in your industry

Your EVP 2.0 essentials

Take your purpose even further

It’s one thing joining a company because of its values, it’s another taking action to support those values. As people become more personally purpose-driven, it’s important that the brand they work for matches this.

For example, if your brand is known for its green credentials and helping the world become more sustainable, there should be an internal scheme that rewards ‘green’ behaviour – it’s all about building a great place to work. This could be vouchers towards owning a bike to encourage people not to drive to work, an internal recycling scheme, or special funding for sustainability projects (with additional holiday allowance to accommodate this).

Whatever your purpose, ensure you create a good workplace culture that is reflected in everyday working life as well as your initial promises – this includes ensuring that your internal communications are on-brand to show you’re committed to delivering them. 

Benefits that go beyond just the individual

Family and personal goals are a key career driver, but often employees spend so much time at work that these goals can be hard to fulfil. Explore benefits that will build a greater emotional bond with your employees to foster a positive and supportive  work environment.

This could be providing private health insurance for immediate family members or a training allowance to help the employee achieve new skills.

Get more flexible than ever before

If working from home mandates proved anything, it’s that employees can be trusted to work when and where they want or need to. Many companies are taking this one step further, and we’ve seen a range of working options and employee benefits including:

  • Working from home permanently
  • Hybrid working
  • Flexible start and finish times
  • Early closures in the summertime 
  • Unlimited holidays (providing that work is completed)
  • Extended maternity/paternity leave
  • Paid sabbaticals after a specified amount of years

Prioritise mental health support

A supportive company culture will help instil positive mental attitudes, but that alone isn’t enough to ensure your employees remain happy.

Create a forum that encourages open conversations – this could be through the acquisition of a digital mental health platform that employees can engage with as and when needed, regular mental health workshops, the introduction of wellbeing champions, and training for existing managers to effectively support someone who is struggling. There are lots of mental health awareness courses that can be taken, including mental health first-aid.

EVP 2.0: Company culture checklist

Ensuring all bases are covered

Our hierarchy of needs as humans is different in employment than it is in everyday life. Your EVP will be unique to your brand – hopefully including many of the initiatives mentioned already – but there are four basic boxes that your EVP 2.0 needs to tick. If lacking in one of any four areas, you could see your brand lose good talent to competitors and increase your employee turnover. To become an employer of choice, consider the following:

Physical needs

  • Health incentives such as gym memberships or on-site classes 
  • Partner with apps that can support sleep and wellbeing, such as Calm or Headspace
  • Provide access to private healthcare or nutrition services

Emotional needs

  • A supportive and open work environment
  • Access to therapy tools if needed
  • Offer coaching for high-stress positions
  • Conduct employee surveys to understand how people are feeling and what improvements could be made

Social needs

  • Regular meet-ups virtually or in-person to ensure teams feel connected
  • Embrace diversity
  • Encourage cross-department collaboration
  • Encourage giving back and volunteering days in line with your brand purpose

Financial needs

  • Offer employees access to financial advisors where possible
  • Provide interest-free loans for medium-sized purchases such as annual travel tickets, holidays or cars
  • Ensure peace of mind for employees’ families with life assurance
  • Conduct regular pay reviews

Communicating your EVP with Papirfly

A creative brand management solution can help to support the good workplace culture you are aiming to build. The platform we offer at Papirfly is used by some of the world’s most notable employer brand teams including Unilever, Vodafone and more. Teams are able to own and control their EVP in every aspect of marketing.

This gives your employer brand team the freedom to:

  • Create an infinite amount of on-brand digital, print, social, video and email assets in a matter of minutes – no design skills are needed. These documents are stored in a centralised system and you can manage all campaign
  • Store, edit, find and share every asset created in a centralised DAM system
  • Access all educational brand and employer brand documents 
  • Manage all campaign timelines, briefs and assets from a single portal. On the go. Anywhere in the world. 

So if you need agile talent acquisition, a brand management platform can help you keep consistency throughout your campaigns.

Discover our brand management platform for employer brand teams, check out our customer brand stories or book your demo today.

Table of contents:

  1. Why is an EVP 2.0 so integral?
  2. Your EVP 2.0 essentials
  3. Company culture checklist
  4. Communicating your EVP with Papirfly
Content Creation

How to optimize your marketing content approval workflow

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Papirfly
5 minutes read

This content has been automatically translated and may include minor variations.

Brand managers have a big responsibility: to make sure the brand is aligned across every asset, every campaign, and every channel, all over the world. And without the right approval process in place, it’s easy for the content creation workflow to spiral into confusion, delays, inconsistencies.

It doesn’t have to be that way.

With the right structure and tools, approvals can run smoothly – and even help your team deliver better and faster.

Here’s how to simplify sign-off and keep every asset perfectly on-brand.

Five steps to streamline your sign‑off process

There are many ways to approach your marketing content approval workflow. The right approach will depend on the size and nature of your brand. That said, there are some key principles that always apply. The aim here is not to micromanage the content creation process for teams – this is about ensuring clarity, consistency and control over all your brand campaigns.

Step 1: Map your approval process

Before you can streamline, you need clarity. Start by identifying all the people and processes involved in getting assets signed off. Your audit needs to include:

  • What type of content and campaign material is being created
  • The stages involved in the creation of each type
  • Who is accountable at each stage
  • Timelines for each stage
  • Triggers for moving from each stage to the next
  • How progress is communicated
  • How campaigns are adapted for different markets
  • Any alternative processes that exist for urgent or topical content

Does everyone know their role in this process? The advantage of using software like Papirfly is that the marketing content approval workflow is automated and visible to everyone, removing any confusion over who does what.

Step 2: Document everything

Ideally, you’re fully digital by now. If not, you may still be using physical forms, emails, a PDF annotator or project management tool to submit requests. Either way, it’s worth creating a standard template to keep everything consistent. This may be in the form of a checklist, comment boxes, or signature sections. Don’t just automatically go with what you’ve already got. You need to make sure you have documentation that addresses the following:

  • How to submit change requests
  • What happens after approval or refusal
  • Who is accountable if something goes wrong
  • What happens if the approval is unavailable
  • How many revisions are allowed before escalation
  • How are general review phases separated from approvals

A clear, shared approval guide is invaluable here. It helps new starters and existing employees get to grips with how things work – and gives you peace of mind that brand quality will be protected, even when you’re not there.

Step 3: Share brand guidelines

Without comprehensive brand guidelines, your approvals process could end up being unnecessarily long and complicated. Or worse, campaigns could go to market completely wrong. At the very minimum, brand guidelines should include:

  • Logo use across different markets and applications
  • Typeface and text sizing
  • Supporting visual assets and icons
  • Imagery guidance 
  • Tone of voice rules

Step 4: Make feedback meaningful

Marketing content approval workflows work best when feedback is:

  • Specific – you point to the exact issue and solution
  • Actionable – you explain what happens next, and who takes ownership
  • Aligned – you use brand guidelines to prevent subjective or inconsistent changes

Does everyone in your organization know this? To boost understanding, include examples of constructive feedback in your approval guide or as a separate piece of training. For example:

❌ Not specific

“The information looks too much.”

✅ Specific

“Volume of information makes it hard to read. Remove section B. (marked up).”

❌ Not actionable

“I’m happy with this now. Send it across to David and see what he thinks.”

✅ Actionable

“I’m happy with this now. You will need David’s final approval before posting. Please make sure he does this today and confirm with me when it’s done.”

❌ Not aligned

“That logo doesn’t seem quite right.”

✅ Aligned

“The exclusion zone around the logo is too small. Refer to brand guidelines for correct measurements.”

Step 5: Keep refining processes and fix recurring issues

Even the best processes hit bumps. Debrief after major projects to identify bottlenecks and fixes. Map imperfect journeys and rebuild your process if it’s not delivering. It’s also important to ensure all templates evolve with your brand.

If the same problems keep appearing in approvals, your brief might be the culprit. By refining briefs, you reduce amends – which means quicker sign-off and fewer bottlenecks. Check: 

  • Are briefs detailed enough?
  • Do different roles need tailored briefing formats?
  • Does everyone have easy access to brand guidelines and assets?

How Papirfly transforms your marketing content approval workflow

With Papirfly’s Digital Asset Management and Templated Content Creation suite, your approvals are fully digitized, tracked, and optimized.

Key features to support your marketing content approval workflow include:

  • Chat function — all stakeholders discuss feedback in one place, avoiding conflicting instructions
  • Document markup — pinpoint exactly where changes are needed
  • Locked templates — empower employees to create their own materials with core brand elements locked in, reducing the number of review steps required
  • Automated workflows — from submission to sign-off, every stage is visible, accountable, and recorded
  • Re-approval safeguards — any post-sign-off change reopens the approval process, ensuring final assets are always correct

The result? Faster approvals, stronger consistency, and full confidence in every asset you release – from one central portal.

Bring your approval workflow under control

With Papirfly, you can protect your brand, empower your teams, and get campaigns to market without the chaos. Book your demo today.

Does everyone create content that’s on‑brand, every time?

Find peace of mind with
better brand governance.

Does everyone create content that’s on‑brand, every time?

Find peace of mind with
better brand governance.

Discover content templating

Find peace of mind with
better brand governance.

Discover content templating
Branded marketing content created with Papirfly’s solutions.
Discover content templating

FAQs

How can documentation improve your marketing content approval workflow?

Standardized documentation like templates, checklists, and approval guides ensures everyone follows the same process. It also reduces the risk of missed steps, miscommunication, or repeated revisions.

What role do brand guidelines play in speeding up the content creation process?

Comprehensive guidelines help creators get assets right the first time. This reduces unnecessary back-and-forth and ensures campaigns go to market on-brand and on time.

What makes feedback meaningful in an approval process?

Feedback should be specific, actionable, and aligned to brand guidelines. This prevents subjective changes and ensures clear next steps for the person making updates.

How does Papirfly’s platform transform the marketing content approval workflow?

Papirfly digitizes and automates approvals, centralizes feedback, and uses locked templates to protect brand elements. This ensures every asset meets brand standards before it is published.

Table of contents:

  1. Five steps to streamline your sign‑off process
  2. How Papirfly transforms your marketing content approval workflow
  3. Bring your approval workflow under control
  4. FAQs
Digital Asset Management

3 essentials for a global Digital Asset Management system

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Papirfly
5 minutes read

This content has been automatically translated and may include minor variations.

Managing digital assets is challenging – even more so when you’re doing it across global teams, multiple markets, and countless channels.

The reach of modern brands has never been greater, and neither has the complexity of keeping digital content organized, on-brand, and ready to use.

That’s why a global Digital Asset Management system is so essential for modern and forward-thinking brands, as it solves all the challenges of managing digital assets by centralizing content and making it easy to find, share, and protect.

Introduction to global Digital Asset Management systems

Digital Asset Management (DAM) is a system for housing digital content. It brings all your assets together in one searchable location – everything from images, videos, and presentations to campaign documents and brand guidelines.

With your brand being your number one asset, a centralized repository for local teams to deliver the global brand is a must to speak to every audience.

The benefits of using DAM software include:

  • Faster access to the right files
  • Stronger brand consistency
  • Fewer duplicated or lost assets
  • Reduced time and cost of content production

But not all Digital Asset Management systems are the same. How to choose a digital asset management system suitable for all teams across all markets requires three key considerations, helping to guide your decision.

3 questions to consider when choosing a DAM solution

1. Will the DAM make it easy for users to find and use assets?

Your DAM software should provide an effortless user experience, especially when it comes to searching for digital assets. If the system is slow, confusing or hard to navigate, people will avoid it – and you’ll be back to makeshift storage solutions like Google Drive or Dropbox.

Ask yourself:

  • Is the navigation intuitive?
  • Can you tag and categorize assets using your organization’s terminology?
  • Are there filters available by tag or category to help you search faster?
  • Is the interface clear across desktop, mobile, and tablet?
  • Is it easy to share assets with teams in multiple locations?
  • Can the system be translated into other languages for global teams?
  • Does it prevent duplicate uploads?
  • Are only brand-compliant assets available, applying GDPR and rights management?
  • Can assets be exported in a variety of file formats?

Intuitive DAM software is only half the story – the other half is disciplined asset management. Clear labelling and consistent terminology make content even more searchable – and help turn your DAM into a true productivity engine.

2. Does the DAM enable both global and local activation?

Local marketing matters – 71% of consumers prefer advertising tailored to their location or situation. That means teams need global assets they can adapt for language, culture, and market-specific campaigns without reinventing the wheel.

With a centralized global DAM system:

  • Brand assets are always available and on-message
  • Local teams can access culturally relevant imagery and copy
  • Campaigns can be created faster, without external agencies.

Papirfly takes this further with Templated Content Creation — a solution that allows any approved user, regardless of design skills, to create on-brand, localized materials instantly.

Not sure what to look for in a DAM?

We’ve got you covered

Not sure what to look for in a DAM?

We’ve got you covered.

Read our buyer’s guide

Not sure what to look for in a DAM?

We’ve got you covered.

Read our buyer’s guide
Read our buyer’s guide
Papirfly's Digital Asset Management system - All you need in one single place

3. Can you control user access through the DAM system?

While accessibility is critical for effective Digital Asset Management, unrestricted access can create problems. The wrong asset in the wrong hands can lead to off-brand content, compliance breaches such as GDPR, or costly mistakes.

Your DAM software should:

  • Provide usage statistics to measure ROI on specific materials
  • Allow admin-level permissions for approving, uploading, or deleting assets
  • Restrict access to certain files by user role, team, or location
  • Track who is adding, editing, or downloading assets
  • Enable teams to build bespoke brand portals for specific campaigns or user groups

Take control with digital asset library software

A global Digital Asset Managment system isn’t just a storage solution – it’s a strategic tool for protecting your brand, speeding campaign delivery, and empowering your teams.

With Papirfly’s Digital Asset Management software and Templated Content Creation suite, you get:

  • Unlimited asset storage and intelligent categorization
  • On-brand asset creation with intuitive templates
  • Global brand education tools
  • Campaign management with full visibility

If you’re ready to activate your brand on a global scale while keeping every asset consistent, accessible, and secure, find out about the Papirfly Suite today.

FAQs

What is a Digital Asset Management (DAM) system?

A DAM is a centralized platform where all your digital assets – images, , videos, documents, guidelines, and more – are stored, organized, and made accessible to approved users. It ensures your teams can quickly find the right files, maintain brand consistency, and avoid duplication or lost content. Read more in our guide.

Why is DAM important for global brands?

Global brands operate across multiple teams, markets, and channels. DAM provides a single source of truth for all assets, enabling faster campaign delivery, reducing wasted resources, and strengthening brand governance across every location.

What are the key considerations when building a global DAM system?

There are three essential to consider when building a global DAM system:
1. Prioritize navigation and user experience so assets are easy to find and use.
2. Support both global and local marketing needs with adaptable, on-brand content.
3. Control access and permissions to prevent misuse and maintain asset quality.

What makes Papirfly the best Digital Asset Management system for global retail brands?

Papirfly gives retail teams instant access to brand assets, with tools to localize content and stay consistent across every market. Whether a centralized or franchise model, it’s built for scale, supporting speed, control, and brand integrity in every store and channel.

How does Papirfly ensure ROI from a Digital Asset Management system?

Papirfly cuts costs by reducing agency spend, speeding up campaigns, and eliminating asset waste. Retailers benefit from faster execution, stronger brand control, and better engagement in every region.

How does Papirfly enhance Digital Asset Management?

The Papirfly suite combines DAM software with Templated Content Creation, enabling any approved user to create localized, on-brand materials instantly. It also includes features like “add to basket” downloads, permission controls, and campaign management tools.

How can a global DAM system support localized marketing?

By storing globally approved assets alongside market-specific resources, teams can quickly adapt content for language, culture, and campaign goals – all while ensuring brand consistency worldwide.

Table of contents:

  1. Introduction to global Digital Asset Management systems
  2. 3 questions to consider when choosing a DAM solution
  3. Take control with digital asset library software
  4. FAQs
Content Creation

20 high-impact marketing video content ideas

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Papirfly
6 minutes read

This content has been automatically translated and may include minor variations.

Video isn’t just a nice-to-have in today’s marketing mix — it’s a core part of how brands earn attention, build trust, and convert customers. With more than 90% of 16 to 54-year-olds watching online videos every week (source: Statista), brands that fail to show up visually risk being forgotten entirely.

But showing up isn’t enough. You also need to optimize your video content by ensuring it aligns with your brand values, visual identity, and audience expectations across multiple channels and at every touchpoint.

Whether you’re just starting with video content marketing or looking to scale your efforts, these 21 proven video content ideas can help you spark engagement, tell your story, and drive demand.

#1 – Tell your brand story

Use video to shout about who you are and bring your brand values to life. A well-crafted brand video builds emotional connections with customers by showing who you are, where you’ve come from, and what matters most to your company.

#2 – Demonstrate your product

Don’t just describe your offering – show it in action. Explainer videos and product walkthroughs help viewers visualize and understand your products in ways that writing can’t always communicate.

#3 – Share customer reviews and testimonials

Social proof builds trust. So why not let satisfied customers do the talking? Sharing authentic stories of people who have used and enjoyed your products is a highly effective way to promote your brand and the benefits you offer.

#4 – Showcase user-generated content

Encourage customers to get directly involved in your video content marketing by sharing footage of themselves using your products or services. Spotlighting people who love your brand makes for great social media content as well as helping you strengthen connections with your community. Make sure you have permissions before you share.

#5 – Create thought leadership pieces

Modern B2C companies are expected to be more than just product manufacturers and sellers. Video interviews and expert POVs help position your brand as a source of insight. They also encourage viewers to learn more about you through your other channels.

#6 – Host live Q&As and webinars

Create high-value content and drive real-time engagement by hosting live discussions on a topic that’s important to your brand and your customers. This kind of video content marketing makes the audience part of the process and helps drive consumer trust in your brand. You can also repurpose the highlights for ongoing social media content.

#7 – Answer your FAQs on video

Turn static support pages into engaging, helpful video explainers. Easy to consume and easy to share, these videos provide useful content on common issues you’ve identified within your communities.

#8 – Repurpose your blog content

Take snippets and key points from your blog posts and turn them into short, snackable videos that drive more traffic to your site. A great way to share useful information, while also linking people to the original article to learn more.

#9 – Increase engagement with list-based formats

People love a list. Use countdowns, “top 5” formats, or quick wins to make educational content more engaging.

#10 – Create behind-the-scenes content

Going behind the scenes can be a highly effective way of aligning video content with marketing objectives. Use making-of footage to explain the how and why of your brand and give people the real story behind your products. This approach to creative content marketing can also help build transparency and trust.

#11 – Launch a video diary or vlog series

Vlogs are hugely popular. Why not encourage members of your own team to share moments from their day-to-day life. It’s a great way of building emotional connections with customers and giving your brand a human face.

#12 – Produce how-to guides and tutorials

Solve common problems or pain points for your audience. They don’t always need to feature your products or services – just your expertise. Example: a toy brand might produce a guide on how to create games for children using household items.

#13 – Use whiteboard video explainers

Ideal for breaking down complex concepts or product features, whiteboard videos help you educate consumers in a simple but engaging way.

#14 – Partner with influencers

Influencer collaborations can help expand your reach and boost brand credibility – as long as there is alignment with your audience and values. Proven creative content marketing ideas include unboxing videos or videos where influencers incorporate your products into their own content.

#15 – Bust common myths

Challenge misinformation in your category with fact-led, authoritative videos. Myth-busting content boosts customer trust and helps position your brand as an expert in the field.

#16 – Interviews team members or industry experts

Harness the expertise of your people and contacts by conducting thought-provoking interviews on favourite topics. Not only does this kind of video content marketing position your company as a source of knowledge for consumers – it can also provide a real boost for your employer brand.

#17 – Create relevant parodies or trend-based clips

Social media content that parodies or builds on recent trends has huge viral potential. Just make sure your video content ideas are authentic and well-timed – and always stay true to your core brand values.

#18 – Use timelapse videos to show transformation

Whether it’s a physical product or a digital process, timelapse reveals progress in a way static visuals can’t.

#19 – Run product comparisons

A tried and test form of video content marketing. Create videos that compare your products to competitor products and show customers – simply and clearly – the additional benefits your brand offers.

#20 – Experiment with VR and 360° footage

Immersive formats are especially powerful for showcasing environments, events, or new product launches.

Don’t just create content — build brand equity

Whatever formats you choose to explore, one principle remains constant: consistency.

Consistent visuals, voice and customer across every asset and in every market are the key to building brand equity.

That’s where Templated Content Creation tools can change the game. Papirfly gives your teams the power to create video content at scale, with tools that embed brand controls into every frame — so your story is told clearly, confidently, and always on-brand.

Does everyone create content that’s on‑brand, every time?

Find peace of mind with
better brand governance.

Does everyone create content that’s on‑brand, every time?

Find peace of mind with
better brand governance.

Discover content templating

Find peace of mind with
better brand governance.

Discover content templating
Campaign templates interface showing on-brand content across digital, print, and social channels.
Discover content templating

FAQs

Why should B2C brands invest in video content marketing?

Video has become a core channel for brand visibility, trust, and conversion, with over 90% of people aged 16–54 watch online videos weekly. Without a strong video presence, brands risk being overlooked. Video also communicates brand values and product benefits more vividly than static formats, making it a vital tool for customer engagement.

What are some of the most effective video content ideas for building trust with consumers?

Customer reviews, testimonials, and user-generated content are among the most powerful video content ideas. They provide authentic social proof, showing real people using and loving your products. This authenticity builds credibility and emotional connection far faster than brand-led messaging alone.

How can B2C brands use video to drive engagement with social media content?

Trend-based parodies, countdown lists, and behind-the-scenes footage often perform well. These formats are quick to consume and easy to share, and make your brand feel approachable. Pairing them with consistent branding across platforms strengthens recognition and recall.

What role does thought leadership play in B2C video content marketing?

Thought leadership videos, such as expert interviews, myth-busting content, or educational explainers, position your brand as a trusted authority. In a competitive market, being seen as a credible source of insight can influence buying decisions and inspire long-term loyalty.

How can brands ensure video content marketing remains consistent across multiple markets and channels?

The key is strong brand governance — maintaining consistent visuals, voice, and messaging in every asset. Templated Content Creation tools like Papirfly embed brand controls into every frame, allowing teams to scale video production without losing alignment to core brand identity.

Table of contents:

  1. #1 – Tell your brand story
  2. #2 – Demonstrate your product
  3. #3 – Share customer reviews and testimonials
  4. #4 – Showcase user-generated content
  5. #5 – Create thought leadership pieces
  6. #6 – Host live Q&As and webinars
  7. #7 – Answer your FAQs on video
  8. #8 – Repurpose your blog content
  9. #9 – Increase engagement with list-based formats
  10. #10 – Create behind-the-scenes content
  11. #11 – Launch a video diary or vlog series
  12. #12 – Produce how-to guides and tutorials
  13. #13 – Use whiteboard video explainers
  14. #14 – Partner with influencers
  15. #15 – Bust common myths
  16. #16 – Interviews team members or industry experts
  17. #17 – Create relevant parodies or trend-based clips
  18. #18 – Use timelapse videos to show transformation
  19. #19 – Run product comparisons
  20. #20 – Experiment with VR and 360° footage
  21. Don’t just create content — build brand equity
  22. FAQs
Employer Branding

Getting your employees to build their personal brand: here’s what they need

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Papirfly
6 minutes read

This content has been automatically translated and may include minor variations.

If you have an account on LinkedIn, you are likely exposed to thousands of ‘personal’ brands each day. From what you post on social media to how you sign off an email, a personal brand can be a powerful thing that shapes how the people of the world see your professional self.

When companies invest time and resources into helping their employees propel and magnify their personal brands, it can be highly beneficial for the person and the brand they represent.

Anyone can use the corporate brand’s narrative to help carve their own. Let’s take a look at which roles in particular should be actively encouraged to propel their personal brand.

Sales Professionals

Those sending out emails, inMails or hosting sessions with prospects are not only representing the company, but in most cases are the first point of contact for individuals. They are responsible for building trust in the brand and establishing a positive relationship with business decision-makers across the world.

It’s vital that sales professionals have the basic sales tools and documentation they need to do their job, but above this, they need support to create an impressive online presence. If a prospect is being reached out to by a sales professional, more often than not, they will check them out on Google. If the prospect is met with a poor online presence, it may tarnish the respect they have for the brand. If the individual is a thought leader or active poster online, they could be more likely to engage.

Sales Professional:

  • Needs access to videos, social assets and email templates
  • Nees access to tone of voice guidelines
  • Should understand brand values

Customer Service Professionals

Much like Sales Professionals, those in customer service play a crucial role in how they portray the brand to new and existing customers. They too need access to documentation that can assist them with queries and company information, but if they actively made being helpful and knowledgeable part of their personal brand, there could be an exponentially positive ripple effect on the company’s reputation.

Customer Service Professional

  • Needs detailed documentation
  • Needs access to tone of voice guidelines
  • Should understand brand values

Managers and Director-Level Professionals

Your brand’s content strategy may not extend to the experts in your business, but it most definitely should. Not just from a corporate perspective, but from an employer brand view.

People want to know the company they’re investing in, whether as a customer or a potential candidate, is as expert as it claims. If each head of department is creating their own content (or assisted in creating it), those in each respective team can share, comment and engage – further casting the net for your brand to get noticed.

Managers and Director-Level Profession

  • Needs access to professional resources such as copywriters and videographers
  • Shoukd pioneer brand values
  • Needs specific area of expertise to become thought leader on

HR and Employer Brand Teams

Showing the world that you lead by example is a great way to attract recruits. Those that are responsible for attracting and retaining employees should shout about what a great place it is to work, and keep everyone updated with any new or impressive policies.

HR and Employer Brand Teams

  • Helps brand to practice what it preaches
  • Understands employee brand inside out
  • Needs access to pool of assets

What will motivate employees to build their personal brand? 

Employees that do not have a strong personal connection to your brand are unlikely to be willing to build their personal brand in conjunction with your corporate story. Your employer brand must be strong in the first place and rooted in a positive culture in order for personal brand building to be effective and beneficial.  
Here are some key ways to help motivate employees:

  • When setting guidelines on what they can and can’t do, make them easy to read, understand and implement. 
  • Provide easily accessible resources and assets that can be edited or shared directly. 
  • Don’t expect this personal brand building to take place outside of work hours – it’s a big ask. Allocate some work time to personal development and brand building – once they’ve reached a certain level, employees are more likely to invest their own time.
  • Don’t leave them hanging. If they want to be involved but are unsure of how to get started, put them in touch with whoever can help, such as your agency, marketing consultants, designers or copywriters. You could even do in-house sessions that help individuals in certain aspects of personal brand building.
  • Don’t be too militant about which websites they can access on the company network. Restricting access to social media, for example, will discourage employees from building any form of personal brand. 
  • It’s important to remember that not everyone will want to partake in representing the company on their personal channels. It’s a big step for many, so think about rewarding those that do contribute – this can help incentivise others.
  • Know your brand mission and identity – if your brand is misaligned internally there’s little point in getting employees to shout about it.

Building a personal brand: what they need checklist

Now we’ve covered the who and the how, let’s get into the what. This list is by no means comprehensive, but it is the bare minimum your team should expect to implement should you wish to recruit more employees into building their personal brand:

Professional photography

Without a professional photo, an employee has little chance of making a good impression. If a photographer isn’t available then someone should be available internally to help shoot them professionally.

LinkedIn (or equivalent) training

If social media isn’t part of their job, it’s a huge ask to expect employees to get involved. A crash course or ongoing support to help them progress and answer any questions will be critical.

Access to a company laptop or phone outside of work hours

If you want your employees to represent your brand at all times, they need access to the technology that can help them facilitate it, even if they don’t engage outside of work hours.

A copy of the company mission and values

Employees need to be aligned to their corporate mission and brand values, otherwise it’s a wasted effort trying to build their personal brand. Someone that doesn’t share your vision will be instantly obvious on any social media feed.

Brand and tone of voice guidelines

This may be a smaller, more focused version of your wider guideline document. It could contain all the key brand terminology, dos and don’ts, and some key information about their industry or area of expertise.

A digital resource for assets and files 

Appearing professional starts with looking professional. This may begin with a nicely shot photo, but the content that appears on social feeds must look and feel like it’s part of the brand. Having a central, digital repository that teams can dip in and out of when needed will break down any barriers to engagement they have and actively encourage them to get involved.

A simple approvals process

If you’re using a Brand Activation Management (BAM) system, you should have a built-in DAM and approvals process for any new assets created. If your asset creation and sign-off process isn’t digitised, then try to make sure employees only have one hoop to jump through to get their content signed off – any more than this and they are likely to disengage.

Idea and topic generation sessions

Whether it’s in the form of a company meeting or a Friday whiteboard session, it shouldn’t be down to just the individual to come up with every topic they write about. While most content will be focused on their area of expertise, wider company updates and discussions are paramount, otherwise things can become quickly misaligned.

Assistance from other employees or an agency

If your employees are from a technical background or aren’t used to writing about themselves publicly, offer them access to resources inside or outside of your organisation that might be able to assist.

Empower your employees to build their personal brand with BAM by Papirfly™

One of the biggest barriers for brands is being able to produce high-quality, varied content on demand. Add brand advocates in the form of employees into the mix and that’s an entire content stream that needs to be accounted for. What BAM does is provide a central place for marketing teams and employees to create, edit, share and manage campaign materials.

Videos, social media assets, emails and more. Every digital and print asset team could need, produced in-house, by anyone, an infinite amount of times. The best part is that there’s a digital audit trail and an in-built sign-off process, so you can guarantee that only approved content makes its way onto the internet. 

Find out more about BAM today or book your demo.

Table of contents:

  1. Sales Professionals
  2. Customer Service Professionals
  3. Managers and Director-Level Professionals
  4. HR and Employer Brand Teams
  5. What will motivate employees to build their personal brand?
  6. Building a personal brand: what they need checklist
Digital Asset Management

GDPR and marketing: An explainer guide for global teams

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Papirfly
5 minutes read

This content has been automatically translated and may include minor variations.

25 May 2018 was a wake-up call for the marketing world.

Since that day, when GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) was introduced, every organization has had to rethink how it collects, uses, and protects data from people in the EU. It doesn’t matter where you’re based – if you have customers in the EU, GDPR applies to you. And if you break the rules, the penalties can be eye-watering.

Marketing teams have felt the impact of GDPR more than most. Whether building a prospect database for email campaigns or creating personalized customer portals, they are often the ones responsible for capturing and managing personal data. And yet most marketers are not compliance experts. How can they be sure they’re getting GDPR right?

This guide is here to help, providing insight into why GDPR matters, what it means for your marketing activity, and how you can make compliance second nature.

If you would like GDPR explained, read on.

Why GDPR matters in marketing

Personal data is the currency of modern marketing and digital content creation. It fuels:

  • Personalised, relevant customer experiences
  • Smarter, data-driven campaigns
  • Sharper targeting and higher ROI

But with great value comes great responsibility. Fail to follow GDPR, and you’re not just risking your company’s reputation and eroding brand trust. You also risk fines of up to €20 million or 4% of global turnover (whichever is greater).

And these fines are no idle threat. British Airways was forced to pay over €26 million for a 2018 data breach affecting more than 400,000 customers while H&M was fined €35.3 million for illegal surveillance of employees.

The international reach of GDPR

Just because GDPR is an EU regulation does not mean it only companies within the EU. If you collect data from EU citizens, then GDPR applies to you, no matter where your organization is based.

This was underlined by a 2021 EU Court of Justice ruling, which found that big tech companies with European headquarters in Dublin can be taken to court by any national data protection authority if there are cross-border data processing activities.

Marketers targeting UK citizens aren’t off the hook either. Despite quitting the EU, the country has retained GDPR regulations in domestic law – so the same rules still apply.

In short: if your campaigns interact with customers from the EU or UK then your company is impacted by GDPR.

What is personal data and when can you use it?

GDPR defines personal data as anything that can identify someone directly or indirectly. This includes everything from names, phone numbers, emails, and home addresses to IP addresses, ID numbers, and online pseudonyms.

Under GDPR, there are six lawful bases for collecting and processing personal data. These are:

  • Consent (you have the individual’s consent to process the data for a specific purpose)
  • Contract
  • Legal obligation
  • Vital interests (to protect someone’s life)
  • Public task (because it’s in the public interest)
  • Legitimate interests

Consent is the most common basis for marketing teams – and, crucially, consent must always be given freely and never assumed. In other words, it has to be the consumer’s choice to share their personal data with you – or not.

This means:

  • No pre-ticked boxes or default opt-ins
  • No confusing privacy policies
  • No bundling multiple permissions into one tick box

You must also make it just as easy to withdraw consent as it is to give it, for example by including an unsubscribe button in email newsletters.

5 tips for marketers to secure GDPR compliance

1. Be transparent about data collection

You need to make it crystal clear what data you collect from people and why. Consider:

  • Is your website’s privacy policy up accurate and up to date?
  • Do contact or download forms contain links to your privacy policy?
  • Do you make it clear you use cookies to collect personal data and give people control over what they share?

2. Establish clear opt-out systems

The right to be forgotten is a key principle of GDPR. Make sure customers can easily manage what they receive from you. Every email you send should have a visible unsubscribe link.

3. Audit databases regularly

Check marketing or website databases once a year or even once a quarter to verify you are maintaining best practice. This is an opportunity to remove outdated or unconsented data, and to identify any holes in your approach before they escalate into costly breaches.

4. Report data breaches immediately

With GDPR, honesty is the best policy. Report any data losses, theft or accidental transfers as soon as possible. Any attempt to cover up breaches will likely lead to maximum financial penalties and heavy damage to your brand reputation. 

5. Focus on employees as well as customers

Just like customers, employees have rights over the personal information. If using employee-generated images or videos in your marketing or employer branding, you must ensure you have each employee’s consent.

The easy way to ensure GDPR Compliance for global marketing teams

Papirfly’s Digital Asset Management (DAM) solution helps global marketing teams safeguard every aspect of privacy and consent by automating compliance when managing digital assets. Our DAM software includes a GDPR consent manager tool to ensure:

  • Facial recognition with consent management is used to identify subjects and verify assets for use
  • Images with identifiable people are only used with permission
  • Content is automatically withdrawn the moment permissions expire
  • People have the ability to review and revoke their content anytime

Bottom line: GDPR isn’t going anywhere. And neither is the need to earn and keep customer trust. The sooner GDPR compliance becomes second nature in your processes, the stronger your brand reputation will be.

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FAQs

Which organizations does GDPR apply to?

GDPR applies to any organization that collects personal data from people in the EU or UK – regardless of where the company is based. If your campaigns interact with these customers, you must comply.

What counts as personal data under GDPR?

Personal data includes anything that can directly or indirectly identify an individual, such as names, emails, phone numbers, IP addresses, ID numbers, home addresses, and even online pseudonyms.

What are the potential penalties for non-compliance with GDPR?

Fines can reach up to €20 million or 4% of a company’s global annual turnover, whichever is greater. This is in addition to the reputational damage that can be caused by illegal data breaches.

How can global marketing teams simplify GDPR compliance?

Papirfly’s Digital Asset Management (DAM) solution includes a GDPR consent manager tool that automates compliance across all digital assets. This ensures:
– Images with identifiable people are only used with permission
– Content is automatically withdrawn the moment permissions expire
– People have the ability to review and revoke their content anytime

Table of contents:

  1. Why GDPR matters in marketing
  2. The international reach of GDPR
  3. What is personal data and when can you use it?
  4. 5 tips for marketers to secure GDPR compliance
  5. The easy way to ensure GDPR Compliance for global marketing teams
  6. FAQs
Retail Marketing

How to be smarter with localisation in retail marketing

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Papirfly
6 minutes read

This content has been automatically translated and may include minor variations.

The importance of localizsation

Growing a new brand to become a household name can take years, if not decades, to achieve. But with successful localisation, you don’t have to rebuild your brand identity and consumer trust completely from scratch when launching in a new market.

For a brand to be truly global, it needs to be able to reach consumers anywhere in the world, unlock doors to new markets, be prepared to take on local competition and tap into the buying habits of different audiences. 

As anyone in touch with the modern marketing landscape will know, this takes more than just translating the copy on your products, communications and assets into the relevant languages — as we’ve already covered on the Papirfly Knowledge hub, doing this puts you at risk of making some embarrassing marketing faux pas.

Even at a time when marketers are well aware of the importance of localisation, a study from the CMO Council revealed that despite 63% of marketers being unsatisfied with their localisation efforts, 75% allocate less than a tenth of their budget to improving them.

For successful localisation in any local market, it’s essential to factor in a number of considerations, including:

Cultural sensitivities

Probably the most obvious and definitely one of the most important things to consider before releasing any kind of marketing material in a different market is the associations, nuances or dual meanings it may have there. 

Certain imagery that works well in one local market may be inappropriate or offensive in another. The tagline you’ve been running from day one may not translate as intended or it could even be a local term for something else entirely. For the sake of a few extra checks with local teams, there’s nothing worse than having to pull your hard work because it’s offensive to the very audience you are trying to engage.

There are a surprising number of occasions when big-name brands have got this wrong. Including the time clothing retailer GAP had to apologise to China after releasing a printed t-shirt showing an incorrect map that missed out several of its claimed territories. As well as being aware of long-standing cultural nuances, the impact of significant local events can change the meanings and associations of certain words and phrases. For example, retailers in Australia have to be sensitive about how they promote Black Friday sales as this is also the name given to one of the most devastating bushfires in the country’s history in 1939. It’s one of the reasons that Black Friday sales have only recently taken off and remains predominantly online.

Localising your message

Even when you’ve checked that your translated marketing materials say what you intended, it doesn’t mean they have the same meaning to local consumers. Your brand may be universally recognised, and your products purchased for the same reasons (taste, quality, price etc…), your messaging needs to be unique in every market to get those selling points across in the best way possible.

To get this right, it’s vital that you understand your audience’s buying habits, behaviours and pain points. This will help you tweak your messaging in a way that remains on brand, but resonates better with local consumers.

Seasonal changes and local events

To stay relevant and front-of-mind, brands need to respond to what’s happening in every market they operate in. This means reacting to seasonal changes as well as bouts of unusual weather such as heatwaves, snow and storms, with relevant product promotions.

Being aware of location-specific events like sports contests, music festivals and local traditions create opportunities for brands to respond with promotions of relevant products and messaging.

Hyperlocal culture

A single localisation strategy for each country may not be enough to reach all the different audiences within it. Even when the language doesn’t change, cultural nuances can be completely different between counties, states and regions.

This means that a blanket approach to localisation won’t work. To avoid excluding swathes of consumers, make use of regional teams who understand the needs and wants of audiences in their local area.

Local teams

From an outsider’s perspective, it is almost impossible to gain an in-depth understanding of particular locations and pick up on all the cultural nuances that often become the central idea of the best advertising campaigns.

The best way to make sure that your brand is landing in a local market is to employ the expertise of teams who work there. 

In 2020, Deliveroo used hyper-localisation as the premise for its ‘virtual neighbourhoods’ to ensure they had 100% coverage in every area in which they operate. By building maps around local restaurants, they have been able to accurately geo-target campaigns for specific areas. It also meant they could automatically create new campaigns for local audiences whenever they launched in a new location.

How to make localisation seamless

The points above may seem like a lot to consider, especially if you are planning on taking your brand to every country across the globe. When you have a solid localisation strategy in place, innovative tools can help take the stress away from head office and give local teams the autonomy they need to implement your strategy with innovative features:

Integrate your PIM/ERP with marketing tools 

Bringing your product information management (PIM) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) together and making them accessible in one location, empowers local teams to take control of pricing, stock levels, SKUs, variations, inventory options and distribution.

Working from a centralised portal, teams can more easily work together to make informed decisions using relevant data, while keeping senior-level teams in the head office in the loop. It’s a failsafe way to ensure that product variables are consistent.

Common product variables that are important for your marketing 

Capitalise on direct marketing

In unusually hot weather or the upcoming final of a major sports event, marketing teams need to respond fast to meet the sudden changes in consumer demand. 

These are often market-specific and local teams need to achieve fast turnaround times while ensuring that the materials they produce are the correct format, accurate and on-brand. With intelligent templates, pre-set to on and offline formats, they have everything they need to bring asset creation in-house and work within the strict parameters of your brand.

Don’t forget in-store assets

So that local stores are ready to promote local events, stock clearances and take full advantage of other time-sensitive opportunities, retail teams need a seamless way to produce printed in-store marketing materials.

Using simple creation software they can create professional in-store materials in minutes, define templates that are set up in the correct standardised formats for print and digital, and are pre-populated with the most up-to-date brand elements such as logos, colours and taglines.

Embrace local formats

As well as automated formatting for standardised social media assets such as Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn, the tools you are using to localise your brand needs to account for local formats.

This means that teams can instantly set their marketing materials to the correct sizes for the local newspaper, print and digital format sizes.

Empower your local teams

Two key components of successful brand localisation are accuracy and speed. When you have a clear understanding of different markets across the globe, and your local teams have the tools they need to achieve great work, your brand can react fast to changing demands in specific locations.

However, these two key components come with two key challenges. When your internal teams are overworked or you rely on outsourcing from external agencies, both speed and accuracy can grind to a halt.

The best way to overcome these challenges is by empowering your teams with a simple way to produce assets in-house and automate repetitive, time-consuming tasks.

Automate content delivery at speed and scale

Tools like BAM by Papirfly™ have a suite of innovative features that help teams to create digital and print assets within dedicated templates. Easy to use and always on-brand. No expert skills are needed. As well as making your team’s lives easier, these features give marketing managers in head offices complete oversight of live campaigns and the ability to react quickly to take advantage of trends and opportunities.

Get smart with localisation and BAM

Table of contents:

  1. Cultural sensitivities
  2. Localising your message
  3. Seasonal changes and local events
  4. Hyperlocal culture
  5. Local teams
  6. How to make localisation seamless
  7. Empower your local teams
Retail Marketing

Establishing good brand governance in retail

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Papirfly
6 minutes read

This content has been automatically translated and may include minor variations.

From online stores and social marketplaces to virtual shopping experiences and more, the number of retail marketing avenues to monopolise on has exploded, and there are more opportunities than ever for retail marketers to reach potential customers.

In today’s retail marketing landscape, pace, demand and scope have made setting a single set of guidelines and enforcing them globally very difficult to execute. In this article, we’ll explore the key elements of brand governance in retail, and where brand strategies should be focused on in the near future.

What does brand governance look like in 2021?

Applying more flexibility to brand governance does not mean going off-brand. While it’s necessary to adapt your guidelines for different platforms, sub-brands and territories, an underlying thread of consistency is still absolutely vital.

Brand trust and authenticity are delivered through consistency. When consumers become used to receiving your messaging, products and services in a certain way, you begin building a relationship. Should this messaging or brand be delivered differently, and without good reason, it could damage the way they perceive you. 

Research shows that a brand has a very short window to make a first impression, and it takes 5-7 impressions to start creating brand awareness.

To monitor every piece of marketing material or campaign asset across the world to make sure this first impression is right the first time, every time is a nearly impossible task. But the demands that have been placed on teams during the pandemic has meant that consistency for consumers has never been so important.

Where should marketers focus their attention?

Brand guidelines

Sure, you’ve already got a set of brand guidelines. But when was the last time you really looked at them? Since they were first created, has your business made any big decisions that could now make them redundant?

Could company decisions have impacted your brand guidelines? 

  • Has it made any major changes?
  • Started rolling out new seasonal marketing?
  • Realigned its core values?
  • Launched new products?
  • Updated its approach to customer service?
  • Introduced new sub-brands or initiatives?
  • Opened shop in new locations?

If the answer is yes to any of these, then your guidelines are probably in need of an update.

Your teams may already be crystal clear on how your brand presents itself, but what about your company as a whole, including teams in other markets and departments? To achieve global brand consistency it’s vital that everyone in your company has access to up-to-date and relevant brand guidelines.

The results of outdated brand guidelines or a lack of access to them, will quickly lead to inconsistencies in your product information, pricing and communications. Muddled messaging, unfamiliar looking product packaging and major price differences will leave customers feeling confused and your brand appearing unreliable.

Pricing

Brand governance and price positioning are more closely aligned than you might think. While governance strengthens brand consistency, price positioning strengthens the perceived value of your product. When you have multiple brands and products going to market across the globe, your pricing needs to align with the perceived value in each location. The implications of getting this wrong can undo all the hard work that has gone into your brand marketing.

Any good brand activation management tool will have a PIM and ERP integration feature that helps your teams to centralise product information including descriptions and prices, and allow you to import this data into your marketing (with all content correct) without needing any manual input.

Streamlined product data

Product data is all the information about a product that can be read, measured and structured into a usable format. It can do some wonderful things for retail marketers.

Organised product data can…

✅ Help you create competitive pricing online

✅ Compile product metadata
✅ Give sales teams relevant information

✅ Improve commercial decision-making 

The key to getting the best use of your data relies on your ability to organise what’s relevant to specific teams and make it easily accessible from one location. Again, most good Brand Activation Management portals will help you centralise this easily

In-store challenges

Retail marketing is always changing to adapt to new trends and consumer demands. But the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have caused monumental shifts in the way we shop in-store.

One of the top strategies for high street retailers has been to merge their online and in-store shopping experiences. More consumers now expect a seamless, hyper-personalised experience whenever they shop, and new technology has made this possible with app-based loyalty schemes, click and collect, personalised recommendations and more.

Effective brand governance is vital in implementing a seamless connection between these online and offline worlds. Without it, customers will be faced with misalignment between their experience shopping with a brand online and in-store.

Online challenges

Although the events of 2020 saw more consumers than ever before adopting online shopping as the norm, this hasn’t come without its challenges.

More online shopping platforms, along with competition from e-commerce giants like Amazon, mean that traditional in-store retailers have had to go above and beyond to meet the high expectations of consumers in the post-pandemic retail landscape.

Brand governance has played a vital role in making this possible. The core values of your brand are what attract your customers to your stores in the first place. Rolling out your brand’s messaging across multiple platforms and letting consumers see consistent, instantly recognisable traits both online and offline gives traditional retailers a physical, personal presence that giants such as Amazon have yet to establish.

Optimising approvals processes

Once a brand has solid governance and consistent alignment, teams need to be able to react fast to put it into practice. However, rushing to get a product to market on time is likely to increase the chances of error.

Having a clear approvals process where all changes can be monitored by key stakeholders not only makes life easier for your teams, but also means that you can react to demands, implement promotions and launch new products with speed and confidence. The key to a successful approvals process is ensuring it’s digitised where possible.

Which features to look out for when choosing a brand activation management tool

Template creation

If you have multiple teams producing retail assets, then templates are a failsafe way to ensure that everything stays on-brand, culturally relevant and consistent with specific campaigns.

Brochure creation


Never underestimate the power of print. With a creation suite built for producing both digital and printed assets, you can roll out a range of materials all with the correct branding, product names, features and prices. Bonus points for a localisation feature that can make your marketing tailored to local territories.

PIM & ERP system integration

As noted earlier in this article, keeping thousands of product variations consistent is much easier when you have up-to-the-minute product data at your disposal. With the right tool, you can use PIM & ERP integration to import information such as top-line USPs, and update packaging and cost information. 

Digital signage

When the pressure is on to roll out new assets in your stores, digital signage is a great way to get your messaging out there, and fast. A tool with capabilities to upload assets to in-store screens directly from one system will help cut to-market turnaround times even further.

What’s next for brand governance in retail?

The world is moving faster every day. Teams are producing more content than ever. Hitting targets rests on the shoulders of central marketing teams. It’s integral to increase speed to market without compromising brand governance and consistency. But with disconnected teams across the globe, multiple agencies involved and disparate budgets, bringing powerful production tools into the mix will be a transformative move for retail marketers everywhere. It won’t be overnight, but when technology is embraced, workflows are re-imagined, productivity is increased and teams can deliver more on-brand campaigns than ever before.

BAM makes brand governance possible

We hope this has given you some new and helpful insights into establishing strong brand governance, and how a Brand Activation Management (BAM) tool can revolutionise your retail marketing processes. The challenges faced by retailers are growing, and as the landscape shifts on a daily basis teams should make their production process digitised, streamlined and future-proofed.Learn more about the BAM by Papirfly™ solution for retail brands and marketers. 

Table of contents:

  1. What does brand governance look like in 2021?
  2. Where should marketers focus their attention?
  3. BAM makes brand governance possible
Brand Activation Management

How campaign design templates unlock creativity, not restrict it

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Papirfly
5 minutes read

This content has been automatically translated and may include minor variations.

You don’t have to look very far on the Internet to find templates for any number of marketing mediums. Website layouts. Email designs. Business cards. Social media. You name it, you can find a template for it.

The reasons why they are so widespread are fairly obvious:

  • They can be massive time and effort savers for design teams
  • They help preserve brand consistency by locking down critical elements
  • They can be moulded to the ideal dimensions for digital and print materials, from social assets to billboard posters
  • They make creating perfectly branded designs accessible to anyone, regardless of design skills

Sounds fantastic so far. But, these advantages are frequently contested with this counter-argument:

“By placing firm boundaries on designers and promoting the duplication of the same layouts, templates greatly restrict creativity.”

While this assumption that templates restrict creativity is understandable, when they are used correctly, this is far from accurate. In fact, they can give designers the opportunity to work more creatively and feel more empowered in their role.

Why do many designers despise templates?

As highlighted above, a core issue that designers have with templates is how they limit the possibilities to produce unique, bespoke graphics.

Quite understandably, this “conveyor-belt” style approach to asset creation goes against their passion for producing innovative, one-of-a-kind pieces.

A quick counter to this argument is that competent companies already place these boundaries through their clearly defined brand guidelines. This is critical to maintaining consistency across all communications, a powerful marker of brand quality and essential for building trust among audiences.

With strict guidelines in place in place, designers can only push the boundaries so far in order to preserve their brand’s identity – any further and you can quickly lose recognition and trust among consumers. Good templates should manifest these guidelines, ensuring that anybody using them can’t stray away from the core foundations of your branding.

But, alongside these limitations on creative thinking, designers have further concerns about relying on templates, such as fears that templates will diminish the importance of their roles, making them dispensable if less-skilled workers can create graphics.

Again, this is an understandable concern. However, we would never advocate that templates exist to replace designers. A designer’s discipline extends far beyond just choosing from a predefined list of colours and patterns.

Without the unique insight and understanding that only a skilled designer can provide into any form of visual content, templates can result in a constant flow of bland, uninspiring and cookie-cutter assets.

We recognise that the core role of designers is being the overarching creative forces behind the brand. Rather than be caught up in the minutiae of producing repeat assets and making an endless stream of subtle tweaks, using templates ensures that designers can shift their focus to bespoke projects and creative thinking, while other, less-skilled employees can confidently work on day-to-day asset production.

Do templates actually benefit creativity?

Rather than cut off designers’ flow, there are many reasons why templates go a long way to freeing up designers’ time and preserving their creative energy, while empowering others to play an active role in asset creation.

No more mundane tasks

The use of templates means that those with minimal design skills can take responsibility for the more straightforward, mundane asset creations and tweaks. This removes the burden on your more qualified designers, who could be at risk of burning out or becoming disillusioned by making repeated adjustments or copies of old assets time and again.

More time for creative thinking

By freeing up your designers’ schedules, they will have more time to drive new ideas, research the latest trends and think conceptually, helping you stand out in today’s crowded market.

Not everything you push through your marketing channels necessarily needs to come from a template. While these can notably scale up the amount of content you produce for less time and money, for campaigns that need that extra creative spark or bespoke touch, you need your best designers on the case.

While your wider team uses templates to keep your content ticking over smoothly, you’ll have total confidence that all other collateral is going out perfectly on-brand.

Furthermore, this creative thinking time is likely to also form the basis for future templates, or helpful adjustments to your existing ones, which will improve the quality and attractiveness of your assets for your global audiences.

Conserving energy

It may sound frivolous, but even the prospect of your designers being able to go home on time and maintain more beneficial work-life balances, because templates have freed up their schedule, can greatly enhance their capacity to create and find inspiration for future works.

Designers can find inspiration practically everywhere, from films, television and books, to walking in the countryside. However, they are less likely to find new ideas when sitting behind the same desk, making miniscule amends to previous assets.

Let your templates do their job, so your designers can do theirs better, both inside and outside the workplace.

How to make the most of your templates

With all of these benefits for using templates in mind, it is possible to have too much of a good thing.

Using templates to replace the role of your designers is a recipe for disaster. This approach will inevitably hamper the uniqueness of your content, as only the insight of an effective designer can craft visuals that really capture people’s attention and illustrate your distinct brand identity the right way.

The solution is to have your design team play an active role in the creation of your templates, so that these receive their seal of approval, before they can be harnessed by other, less-skilled members of your organisation to apply as required.

That’s why a solution like BAM by Papirfly™ offers you more than cookie-cutter templates that can be downloaded or bought online. As well as providing an array of pre-built templates, our powerful platform enables you to structure your own smart templates across all forms of collateral, which can then be harnessed by your wider team to produce high-quality, on-brand results every time.

Create templates for every channel; social media posts, video, posters, brochures, banners, signage. All this and more can be housed within your platform, equipping your teams to produce an infinite amount of perfectly branded assets.

This means total consistency and content production that’s faster and more cost-effective than ever before. The ability to quickly amend or adjust collateral for your global markets and sub-brands, all while your designers have more capacity and less pressure, allowing them to work at their most creative, without burning out.

Empower your team’s creativity with smart templates

When used effectively and with the direct input of your insightful designers, templates can result in massive improvements to the productivity, consistency and ROI of your marketing output.

While your designers might immediately be hesitant about the idea due to the fears that we’ve pinpointed in this article, after using BAM by Papirfly™ these concerns will be replaced with celebrations for greatly reducing their share of mundane, repetitive tasks, and giving them the freedom to do what they do best: conceptualise and create great content.

  • Easy-to-use software and intelligent templates make creating exceptional assets simple
  • Provide your input on a wide range of fully bespoke templates
  • Reduce your dependence on external agencies to produce content that you could be creating in-house
  • Locked-down elements give you complete confidence that all content produced is consistent with your brand’s identity

Accelerated content creation is just one way that BAM can revolutionise your approach to marketing. Discover the full scope of our platform’s potential – get in touch with our team or arrange your free demo today.

Table of contents:

  1. Why do many designers despise templates?
  2. Do templates actually benefit creativity?
  3. How to make the most of your templates
  4. Empower your team’s creativity with smart templates