The major shift in the publishing industry to the online publishing medium has caused a revolution in the way content is created and absorbed. To support these cross-channel advertising operations be it, digital, print, audio or video, it has become vital for publishers to establish an all-inclusive strategy for producing quality content at scale along with ensuring less production time and expense.
While there are various factors that affect the content production time, copy chasing has been one of the tedious tasks that consume a lot of time and effort at the publisher’s end. However, with proper systems in place, copy chasing can be easily automated to save valuable time.
What is copy chasing?
When an advertiser books an advertisement, the editorial team at publisher’s end needs to receive the advertising ‘copy’, usually a PDF document of the advert, or brief and instructions to design the advert on advertiser’s behalf.
To run the advert on schedule, the copy must arrive with the publishing team by a strict deadline which means it must be ‘chased’ if it is getting late. Often copy chasing is done by sales reps, sales assistants or members of the editorial team at publisher’s end.
What’s wrong with the traditional approach?
The traditional approach of copy chasing consumes a lot of time, leaving salespeople and editorial teams to deal with the communication through endless emails, till all the sorting and editing is done to reach a final product.
The uncertainty of losing ad revenue because of not receiving a copy on time is the primary reason for sales team spending a lot of time in copy chasing which is eventually inflating the cost per sale.
Though, it is a fact that any project calling for vital input from the client is susceptible but, how value-added it is at the stake of salespeople chasing copies rather than chasing prospective clients?
Salespeople, who already have a lot on their plate like maintaining connections with their top accounts and prospects, making revenue-boosting strategies, keeping up a clean pipeline to close the quarter successfully, and a lot more. When also plagued by problems like:
- More admin work
- Communication challenges
- Inefficient use of technology
Further leads to:
- Lower profitability due to time wastage
- Loss of focus due to adding up of stress from several projects backed up, simultaneously
- Frustration to meet the deadline enhancing the chances of errors due to inefficient streamlined workflow
A salesperson’s expertise lies in selling which calls for extreme focus. And every sale they aren’t able to make because of distractions like copy chasing is one less sale to keep the company ahead of the game.
Automation — Eliminate the friction as much as possible!
Automation of the copy chasing process is undoubtedly the need of the hour for any publisher. The use of automated workflows, notifications and reminders for copy chasing will help the sales and editorial teams to focus on more productive tasks.
Below mentioned are some of the benefits of automating copy chasing:
- Optimization of productivity
- Reduction of administrative overhead costs
- Efficient time usage through streamlined workflow
Some of the ways automation can be introduced in copy chasing workflow are:
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Automated chasing for assets: Reminders about copy submission deadlines to ensure timely delivery of ad copy
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Asset submission on the go: Ability to submit copy and/or assets in the system by sending emails to the workflow system. No manual intervention
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Dedicated advertiser portal: Ability to submit copy and/or assets directly to a dedicated advertiser portal
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Other custom alerts: Timely updates about copy deadline, approval deadline, job release deadline, etc.
Mediaferry can help!
Mediaferry is an award-winning, cloud-based workflow management solution by EKCS. It enables creative teams of all sizes to effectively manage their projects and creative assets, and to streamline their artwork approval process.
Publishers across North America and Europe use Mediaferry to solve their creative workflow challenges. Using this cloud-based system, they automate their copy-chasing process by setting up multiple copy chasing email reminders based on predefined copy-receiving deadlines i.e. due date and time. These automated email notifications help their advertisers send ad copy on time and ultimately streamline the overall campaign delivery.
Mediaferry also integrates with publisher’s existing billing systems, printers and digital ad servers — manages the complex journey from booked orders, via job tracking, to successfully delivering final print, digital or video files.
To learn how Mediaferry can help you automate copy chasing and gain workflow efficiencies, contact us at enquiries@ekcs.co.
