The approval process is one of the most important part of creative workflow, that if not streamlined, can negatively impact the overall campaign delivery. It further results in unnecessary delays, wastage of time and resources—ultimately cause frustration among team members.
For creative teams, nothing is more frustrating than having a timely produced campaign getting delayed only due to countless rounds of reviews & approvals from their clients.
If your creative production cycle is losing speed because of an ineffective approval process, then don't lose calm as you are not the only one. According to a 2015 ANA report, clients and agencies are not in agreement that the client approval process works efficiently and effectively. Only 36% of agencies are in agreement (and only 2% strongly agree) compared to 54% of clients. In our March 2022 survey ‘Challenges for IHAs in a post-pandemic world’ 24% of UK IHAs say the biggest challenge for their team right is managing workflow.
Though we can’t deny the fact that we have surely come past the days of crazy episodes of Mad Men with mock-ups being moved around agency-wide with sticky notes for approvals. But, the campaign approval process still consumes a lot of time and effort.
As the whole creative industry is running with an undying demand for SHIFT TO SPEED, a scalable approval process has turned out to be one of the most important elements to have for matching up the pace of ever-evolving creative landscape.
Technology is the key to speed-to-market!
Approval process can get extremely chaotic, if not simplified. That is the reason why an automated, online, collaborative approval system is the most suitable way out. The streamlined process (including all the stakeholders) lessens the probabilities of any delays and errors.
By making the most of technology and automation, creative teams and their clients can easily request and make changes, track progress and set up alerts and actions. All of this enhances the efficiency of the approval process and ensures that deadlines are met and teams are happy.
Mediaferry is one such cloud-based workflow management system that helps creative teams in streamlining creative approvals, saving time and money in tandem.
Bring your creative team and clients in one place and bid adieu to the web of email back-and-forth with Mediaferry! It is a multi-functional tool for all your creative approval and file sharing requirements. The system allows users to share proofs with different stakeholders, mark-up changes, post comments, give and receive feedback and offer final approval in real-time with just a few clicks.
Following are some tips to simplify a complicated and time-consuming creative approval workflow using technology and automation:
Plan processes and assign stakeholders
Wrapping up a creative project is not a small achievement. With the requirement of inputs being collected and then moving it through various delivery channels for meeting the business goal, is undoubtedly a big endeavor.
To not leave your project in “In progress” or “In Review” dematerialized zones for long, first define the major stakeholders, their roles and hierarchy to be followed to complete the approval process. When you iron out these details, you get more time for execution, and better clarity for approvals.
Through Mediaferry, you can automate and manage multi-stage approval processes. Once a creative is rejected or approved, you can pre-determine what the following step would be and who will be responsible for its execution.
Streamline communication between stakeholders
Reminding a stakeholder by continuously pinging and emailing him for an approval is undoubtedly very frustrating for both.
Streamlining communication can enhance efficiency between the creative teams and their clients, especially if working as geographically remote teams. When everybody involved in a project are on the same page, it’s certainly going to be a success.
Through Mediaferry, you track all project related communication. You can also set up automated alerts for campaigns and the associated tasks. Automated alerts and unified communications keep all stakeholders informed about the progress of the project and the approaching deadlines.
Save time and energy using integration and collaboration
Filtering a particular email through long email threads just to track approvals and changes makes you waste a lot of your time.
Don't you think rather than creating a potpourri of emails for approvals, if all the assets are being saved, shared and communicated safely in one place in the cloud, it is surely an easy way out?
With Mediaferry in place, the documents, files, creatives or videos can be centralized in one location, enhancing your communication, and ensuring that nothing gets misplaced in the process. It also integrates with content repositories like Google Drive and other DAM systems so all your campaign assets are linked and are readily available when needed.
Don't let creative approvals become a nightmare for your team, switch to a smarter workflow system
To not let money and energy go wasted, have an automated creative approval process in place! Explore how Mediaferry can get you rid of all the review frustration by facilitating communication throughout the approval process and reach the target deadline right on time with the right quality. Satisfaction guaranteed!
If you’re already using a smart system to effectively manage your creative approvals, then let us know via comments. To explore Mediaferry, get in touch with us at enquiries@ekcs.co
