Successful digital marketing is effortlessly smooth on the surface – not to mention attractive and engaging – but this expertly conceals a complex machine underneath.
By Liane Baddeley (CE content project manager)
Managing digital assets to maximise efficiency http://t.co/TGCaItb7eP
— Will Corry (@slievemore) May 24, 2015
Many of our clients require campaigns which work across multiple marketing channels and a variety of locations, drawing together materials from several agencies. So how do we handle this level of complexity to produce a coherent result?
To start with, organisation, experience and specialist skills are absolutely essential. We believe in empowering people to work to their strengths, so every link in the chain of a project is managed by someone who really knows what they’re doing.
The right systems and tools are also invaluable, as they not only make our work consistently high-quality, but also keep our services cost-effective for our clients.
Below are a few of the challenges that CE’s teams regularly face, along with our solutions.
Gathering assets from multiple parties
The challenge: When creating a digital marketing campaign, we often deal with third parties as well as our client. Common assets include the original brief from the client; content to be produced by our specialist team; and creative input from one or more design agencies. Different companies often have different time-scales and approval processes, but development can’t proceed until all correct assets have been supplied.
Our solution: Good communication and clear correspondence are vital from the very beginning. We talk separately to different parties to establish their capabilities and expectations, as well as ensuring that everyone receives relevant briefing information and is notified of agreed deadlines. This minimises the risk of confusion and opens the door for queries. The sooner we know about a possible delay, the sooner we can tackle it – or bring clarity to an area of a brief that parties have interpreted in different ways.
Working across multiple channels for varied audiences
The challenge: Components of a campaign can include an email; a hidden page hosting a voucher as part of a promotion; a website news article; a Facebook application and related posts; and advertising through PPC campaigns. And more. All of these require eye-catching creative imagery, high-quality digital content and technical know-how to tie everything together. On top of this, each component needs to relate to the next, creating a smooth and engaging user journey.
Our solution: Our internal briefing systems are extremely detailed – and before starting work on a project, we go through stringent checklists to ensure every little requirement has been fully considered. If essential information hasn’t been included or part of the user journey doesn’t make sense, we iron it out long before it ever reaches the public eye. And we do it quickly.
Creating localised campaigns for national brands
The challenge: Local relevance is becoming increasingly important, as is mobile optimisation, as more and more people look to their local area for services – especially when on the go. Brands with multiple units need to consider this in their marketing strategy, but many fear high costs due to bespoke local requirements.
The solution: Our multi-location platform, Cerium, is a content marketing system that creates joined-up, customer-focused campaigns – but in a cost-effective way. It uses the scale of a brand’s operations to get much more value out of our clients’ marketing budget, while addressing consumers on a local level. How? Well, Cerium has a flexible content management system that allows changes to be made to all local sites (for example, chain pubs or shops), to particular groups of sites (defined by factors set by the client); or individual sites (for anomalies). It also links different channels and can be integrated with booking and e-commerce platforms. And much, much more.
If you feel as though you’re attending endless ‘big idea’ meetings without ever really getting anywhere, a more focused, details-based approach could be just the answer you’re looking for.
Complicated requirements? We can handle them – and get your vision up and running quicker than most. Just ask us to get started.
