B2B marketing teams must excel in crafting engaging and impactful content assets. Streamlining the production of marketing content can serve as a strategic advantage, enabling B2B organizations to swiftly introduce compelling content that drives engagement across the entire customer lifecycle.

A three-step approach for B2B marketing leaders to assess and improve content production processes

Assessment Phase

Define the objectives of your marketing team, such as achieving higher-quality assets, lowering production costs, and expediting time to market, to provide a clear framework for evaluating the production process. With this context, assess the following areas for potential deficiencies:

• Workflow: Optimal flow of tasks through the production process is crucial for driving efficiency. Timing issues, where jobs are submitted too early or too late, disrupt the production cadence. Additionally, efficiency is compromised when participants (e.g., copywriters, designers, marketing automation staff, web specialists) handle too many tasks simultaneously. Prioritizing one rush job over others that are put on hold exacerbates the impact. Analyze a sample of at least 30 jobs, encompassing various asset types, and collect data on task timing, concurrent task handling by resources, and jobs completed out of sequence (rush jobs) to quantify the level of system chaos. Address any inconsistencies in the recording and aggregation of workflow data before analysis.

• Defects/Rework: Nothing hinders a process more than the need to redo a task to ensure accuracy. If those executing the work poorly understand the definition of quality output, achieving high-quality results becomes a challenge. Utilize the same sample of jobs analyzed for workflow to record the number of jobs requiring rework and the fixes needed for each job, establishing a defect rate. Identify patterns of defect types and root causes. In addition to a vague definition of expectations, softer issues like a lack of skills, training, or communication can contribute to defects.

• Reviews: Evaluate whether the process involves multiple reviews by the same person or reviews by multiple individuals focusing on the same issues (e.g., grammar, brand adherence, technical accuracy). Determine the duration of each review. To document redundancies and misplaced resources, collect data on the number of reviews for each job, the people involved, and the aspects they reviewed. Compare this data with those who genuinely need to assess the asset and when. Common issues include VPs assigning themselves as mandatory reviewers, consuming a significant amount of time for their review, and insisting on content rewriting according to their personal writing style.

Improvement Phase

Develop a roadmap for improvement initiatives by prioritizing based on the impact versus the effort required. Utilize high-impact/low-effort opportunities to generate momentum. After publicizing these quick wins, proceed with more time-consuming improvements that promise substantial returns. Implement the following best practices to enhance efficiency:

• Simplify the Workflow: Process jobs on a first-in, first-out (FIFO) basis, and allow exceptions only in rare cases. Clearly communicate the expected time for completing standard jobs, adjusting expectations based on the job type (e.g., creating a new asset vs. repurposing an existing one). Mandate job submissions using these durations as lead times, ensuring jobs are received and processed in an efficient order. Leverage workflow technology to reduce the reliance on expediters and traffic managers.

• Develop Generalists, Not Specialists: Avoid confining copywriters and designers to specific business areas. Except for roles requiring translation and localization expertise, cultivating resources focused on specific products or solutions can create capacity bottlenecks. Encourage cross-training to build a versatile pool of resources capable of working across various subject matter areas. This approach not only ensures flexibility but also keeps resources engaged.

• Build Quality into the Process: Address issues of rework and lengthy review cycles by refining the creative brief review process. Proceed with production only when specific job elements are clearly detailed. Utilize insights from the assessment phase to identify areas lacking clarity in past jobs, incorporating these into the standard creative brief template or checklist. Ensure copywriters and designers are well-versed in the organization’s brand guidelines, editorial and visual style guides, persona-based messaging, and Google Search’s guidance about AI-generated content. Establish clear roles and responsibilities for the review process, including service-level agreements to minimize wait times. Lastly, set standards for high-quality assets and adhere to those specifications without unnecessary refinements. While it may seem counterintuitive, excessive tweaking in content production can consume valuable time without adding significant value to the end consumer.

Monitoring Phase

Improvements in processes often emerge during project execution. However, the benefits of these enhancements can dissipate if they are perceived as isolated occurrences rather than lasting transformations. Implement the following best practices to ensure the continual sustainability of efficiency gains:

• Set and Consistently Report Goals: Establish objectives for various activities within the process, aligning them with overarching content production objectives. Track the achievement of these goals, creating a baseline from past performance and setting new targets annually. Measure not only average performance, like the time taken to produce a new email, but also distribution to gain insight into outlier performance. Collaborate with other functional managers as necessary to ensure shared goals across the entire production team. Publicize the team’s efficiency gains to boost morale and hold the team accountable for its success.

• Institutionalize Feedback Loops: Foster a culture of continuous improvement by regularly checking in with stakeholders to gather insights on enhancing the process. Move beyond ad hoc feedback and actively seek formal feedback through periodic surveys and meetings.

While efficiency enhancements may seem straightforward on paper, real challenges arise when dealing with people. Optimizing content production requires altering ingrained behaviors and attitudes within your content team, who, due to their service-oriented nature, might be accustomed to prioritizing stakeholder preferences. To drive tangible improvement and instill order in a potentially chaotic environment, marketing teams must rigorously enforce new policies. Saying no to a job that isn’t ready to kick off becomes a positive step, fostering better behavior and yielding improved results in the long run.

Improve Your Marketing ROI | info@amrohadigital.com

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