(Read part 1 of this series here.)

“Marketing workflow” has a long history. Marketing and advertising agencies rely on knowing the steps that get them from an idea to a deliverable marketing asset. Every print shop has the same needs. In fact, anyone who is trying to move a product to the market, whether it is a print product, an e-delivered product, or a piece of hardware or software, needs a similar marketing workflow to ensure that marketing messaging is consistent and the messages remain relevant.

If you joined us for part 1, you know that to get started you need to assess the collateral you have, and you need a way to track it. One way to do this is to put a spreadsheet in the cloud using an office tool like Office 365, Google Sheets, or an Airtable. For every piece of collateral, you need to identify the creation date, what is being marketed, versions, approvers, and media. It is always a good idea to track when and how the collateral is used. For example, seasonal campaigns might note a begin and end date for use, while capabilities pieces may not need an expiration date.