If you haven’t thought about it before, maybe it’s time to start applying your mind to introducing workflows to your digital marketing agency. As your company expands the workload starts to pile up making it difficult to keep track of what needs to be done and by who.
The reality is that workflows are a great tool for growing businesses to outline the steps that need to be taken in order to effectively execute projects. Workflows become a great template that employers can apply at the beginning of every project to help maximize efficiency and reduce error rates.
When using workflows, there is no need to contemplate where to start when onboarding a new client! With a clear set of steps, any employee can take charge and feel confident in this process.
Workflows can be outlined in various different ways, however, the most common way is by using a checklist.
Benefits Of Introducing A Workflow
Before outlining a simple marketing checklist, let’s first take a look at the benefits of using workflows:
Increases Efficiency
If you work for a digital marketing agency then you should be used to working in a fast-paced environment, and probably already have too much to do and too little time! A workflow checklist can help you identify all the tasks that need to be completed during your day or project.
When creating your checklist avoid overloading your list with things that need to be done as this will cause you to feel overwhelmed. But rather, ask yourself why each step needs to be performed? Are these steps practical, or are they procedure or tradition?
Asking yourself these questions will help you simplify the deliverables and get work done.
Makes Responsibilities Clear
It’s not uncommon to have multiple team members involved in different aspects of one project. For example, you can have an account manager that deals with the client, and a designer that deals with changes to the client’s website.
Effective teamwork requires clear communication and a checklist will help you clearly outline who is responsible for what. This helps reduce ambiguity by clearly mapping out everyone’s responsibilities as well as helps improve consistency.
Increases Consistency
Consistency, consistency, consistency! That is the key to success! By implementing a workflow you can quickly identify any mishaps in the process or deliverability of the project and have enough time to rectify your mistakes.
Identifying these errors can also help you adjust your workflow to ensure that does not happen again. By outlining a step-by-step list of the tasks that need to be delivered, you are less likely to fail!
Improves Visibility Across Teams
As mentioned before, when executing a project, there will be various moving components and departments that will be responsible for different aspects of the client’s account.
By using collaboration tools like Trello, managers and coworkers have transparent visibility into what other team members are currently working on. Encouraging visibility on tasks helps:
- Managers stay up to date with what their staff is currently working on
- Know the completion status of each task as well as the overall project
- Communication between departments by increased transparency
Before Starting Your Workflow…
Before working on a workflow there are a couple of crucial things that need to be in place:
Collaboration Channels
Before starting a workflow, you need to decide on the channels that will be used to promote efficient collaboration. You will need:
- Platform for communication – This can be Gmail or even Slack. With more employees working remotely due to covid, it’s important to pick a platform that allows for informal communication for projects and tasks between employees.
- Platform for collaboration– This can be a platform like Trello to help managers and co-workers visualize the completion of each task.
- Reporting Platform – A platform like Oviond, will help you and your team monitor and report on the performance of your client’s digital marketing campaigns and accounts.
Roles And Responsibilities
Roles and responsibilities need to be defined for each project that is executed. Within a digital marketing project, the roles are:
- Account Managers
- Writers
- Designers
- Specialists
- Analysts
Each role will vary in its responsibilities. For example:
Account Managers – Focuses on client/project communication, delegates tasks, monitors deadlines
Writers – Focuses on content research and copywriting
Designer – Focuses on blog images, ad images, product images, etc
Specialist – Focuses on specializing in social media management, SEO management, and more.
Analysts – Analyze overall results of campaigns and content.
The Outline Of A Basic Digital Marketing Checklist
Now that we have looked at why workflows are important and what you need to identify before starting your own workflow, here is a basic structure of a digital marketing checklist:
Onboarding
- Welcome Email
- Questionnaire
Brief
- Outline clients goals
Brainstorm
- Identify Goals And Implement Strategy
- Assign Roles And Responsibilities
- Set Deadlines
Execute
- Research
- Copywriting
- Creatives
- Ad Creation
Analyze
- Discuss results
- Identify improvements
- Compile Report
- Offer Insights
Present
- Schedule a meeting with your clients
- Present results
Put Your Knowledge To The Test!
Now that you have a better understanding of how a digital marketing workflow can help your business, it’s time to put your knowledge to the test! It’s time to create your own digital marketing workflow…
To learn more about digital marketing reporting, industry tips, agencies tips, and more, check out some of our other blogs!
