Every day, marketing and communications teams share materials that go through some kind of workflow or approval process before they are published. Often these workflows and approval processes are made up of many disconnected parts. Sometimes they are put together at the last minute because there may not be an established policy for the approval process within the company. A single process may use many different tools that do not work well together, and information has to be manually transferred between them.
In this article, we will discuss content orchestration and how it can help you avoid the pitfalls of cluttered content production. Content orchestration is an ongoing process of optimising tools and workflows to increase your organisation’s productivity. Successful orchestration connects people and tools to make it easy and smooth to create, manage and share quality content.
Content puzzle complicates work
Studies show that marketing and communications teams spend more than a third of their time searching for the right material, and even then the right material may not be found. Workflows without a clear structure or alignment with the business are not efficient. Without clearly defined workflows, content will flow blindly between different systems and teams. This can be called content lag, which describes the disconnectedness of processes, lack of organisation and unclear points of content production.
Content fragmentation increases pressure on both creative professionals and clients. It increases errors and delays, leading to stress, poor output, and dissatisfied and even lost customers.
What is content orchestration and what are the benefits?
Content orchestration describes the process of getting people and tools to work together so that work is smooth and efficient. It is not a complete solution, but an ongoing process of adapting tools and workflows to meet changing business needs. Workflows become consistent and seamless, and unnecessary steps are eliminated.
Content orchestration puts the pieces of your processes in order, so your activities become more organised and you can use the time you used to spend scooping content baggage for productive work. Indeed, content orchestration has enabled many marketing agencies to increase their efficiency and continue to grow their business despite financial challenges.
A higher level of customer experience sets you apart from the competition
Have you ever sent the wrong file to a client? Or have you ever missed a customer’s comments due to an email snafu? When content is orchestrated with DAM (Digital Asset Management), digital assets stay organized. DAM can be integrated with other tools used in workflows to make processes more self-directed. When internal and external stakeholders have access to the right files, communication between stakeholders is seamless. When the customer experience becomes smoother and more pleasant, it also becomes more sustainable.
Content orchestration can become an important part of the sales process. Your trump card is a functional and integrated digital working environment where approval processes run smoothly and all stakeholders are aware of the status of projects and assets. A more efficient way of working, standardised workflows and integrated tools will set you apart from your competitors.
Reuse of previously created content and fewer errors
Content orchestration helps you improve efficiency even if you’re still working the same number of hours. Orchestration makes work more efficient by streamlining workflows and eliminating unnecessary steps.
Reusing previously created content is a challenge if it has not been properly archived, or if its exact history is unknown. By carefully archiving content and its information – ownership, access points, permissions – it can be used to create new content. This brings significant savings by reducing the need to redo the same work.
If workflows are disconnected, the potential for errors at gaps in processes increases. Content may be replaced with an outdated version, changes may be lost, or communication at the approval stage may go wrong. When the tools in use are integrated, the potential for error is reduced.
With the Project Management System and DAM’s metadata and precise search functionality, you can access the material you need in seconds, instead of searching for a file on your desktop, email or file-sharing service. You’ll also always know where you are in the content approval process and can easily find feedback that’s targeted at you, so you can continue to improve your work.
Solutions for content orchestration
Project management: Wrike – the most integrable, flexible and cloud-based system for managing marketing processes.
DAM (Digital Asset Management): WoodWing Assets – an infinitely scalable, highly integrated cloud-based production system and repository for all digital content.
Multi-channel publishing: WoodWing Studio – a digital-print publishing platform for all types of publications.
Automations: Enfocus Switch and PitStop, Wrike Integrate, Axaio MadeToPrint, Elpical Claro – with smart automation you free up time, standardise processes and ensure a high quality output without surprises.
All our solutions work with Adobe Creative Cloud software.
Download our free guide: the marketer’s guide to Content Orchestration