Blog

From marketing operations best practices to industry insights, the Simple blog delves into all things relating to managing marketing projects, brand assets and technology.

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De-Risk your Marketing Risk and Compliance Process with Simple Admation

What is the biggest problem most marketers face when it comes to meeting marketing risk and compliance requirements? The complexity of the regulations? The length of time it takes legal to get back to you? Failure to insert the relevant disclaimer? In fact, an inconsistent marketing risk and compliance workflow or process that results in out-of-date documents being referenced is one of the most common problems enterprise marketing teams face. Workflow is where many marketing teams fall down on compliance. But imagine if there was a way to automate your marketing risk and compliance process?

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AI in Marketing Approvals: A Powerful Assistant, But Not a Replacement

Artificial intelligence (AI) has become a game-changer in marketing, but its integration into the world of marketing approvals requires a thoughtful approach. While AI offers undeniable benefits, navigating marketing compliance, streamlining marketing approval workflows, and ensuring the human touch remain paramount. Let's explore how AI can enhance marketing review and approval processes while adhering to regulations and leveraging marketing project management software.

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Building a Lasting Legacy: Strategies for Effective Brand Management

Building a brand that consumers trust and remember is critical in today's crowded marketplace. A recent study by The Institute of Customer Service found that 81% of consumers prioritize brands they trust. Another study reveals that 88% of buyers value authenticity. But building a lasting legacy requires more than just selling products. Consumers, especially Gen Z, seek brands that align with a greater purpose. This article explores effective brand management strategies for building a lasting legacy, using real-world examples and actionable insights to help you create a brand that resonates with consumers for years.

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Choosing the Right Marketing Project Management Software

Stakeholder Collaboration: Selecting the Perfect Creative Project Management Software Across the marketing industry, efficiency and collaboration are king. Creative Project Management Software or Marketing Project Management Software has become an essential tool for streamlining workflows, boosting team productivity, ensuring brand consistency and managing marketing compliance across marketing projects. However, selecting the right solution isn't a one-size-fits-all approach. This in-depth guide dives into the importance of stakeholder collaboration when choosing Creative Project Management Software. We'll explore the benefits for each department involved, delve into strategies for navigating differing priorities, and equip you with the knowledge to make an informed decision that empowers your entire team.

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Streamlining Marketing Operations: Admation's Proxy User Feature

In an industry driven by deadlines, creativity, and the constant push for innovation, the introduction of Admation's Proxy User feature marks a significant advancement in marketing project management. As marketing landscapes evolve, requiring campaigns to be more dynamic and distributed across various channels, the efficiency of marketing approval workflows has never been more critical. Admation's latest feature is specifically designed to address and streamline these challenges, ensuring that projects progress seamlessly, even in the absence of key personnel.

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PIM vs DAM: Navigating the Right Solution for Business Growth

Today's digital marketplace, the precision and consistency of product information across various channels are critical. Missteps, such as outdated prices or incorrect product images, can significantly impact customer satisfaction and tarnish your brand's reputation. This highlights the importance of Product Information Management (PIM) and Digital Asset Management (DAM) software in maintaining data integrity, as well as the sheer volume of products, assets and channels that retail marketing teams need to manage. Understanding the distinct features and benefits of PIM and DAM can guide businesses toward the right tool for their unique needs.

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Tips To Create and Refine Your Marketing Approval Workflow

Welcome to a world where customer satisfaction takes the spotlight, and competition is fierce. In this dynamic landscape, marketing isn't just important; it's the key to thriving. However, juggling multiple projects adds a layer of complexity. That's where the magic of a marketing approval workflow comes in. It's not just a process; it's your secret weapon, making sure your team consistently delivers excellence in the ever-changing market. Ready to dive into the ins and outs of a marketing approval workflow? Let's explore and unlock the secrets of success together.

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The Ultimate Guide to Marketing Project Management Software

You’re a creative pro with more work than hours in the day. Your team churns out gorgeous campaigns, but keeping all those moving parts going takes serious project management skills. Without the right processes and tools, your creative fire gets bogged down in messy workflows, missed deadlines, and feedback chaos. But what if there was marketing project management software designed just for creative teams like yours? Let’s look at how the right marketing project management platform can help you streamline workflows, hit deadlines, and spend more time creating. Get ready to ignite your creative potential and keep your best ideas moving.

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Identifying When to Switch Your Marketing Project Management Software

If you're pondering over the decision to upgrade your marketing project management software, rest assured, you're in good company. A significant finding from Capterra Management's User Research Report reveals that 44% of organisations have navigated through various project management solutions before settling on their final choice. The primary trigger for this transition? The lack of a comprehensive feature set in their former tools that could adequately cater to their operational needs. Understanding that the journey to selecting a new software could span from six weeks to a few months, it's imperative to arm yourself with the right knowledge to make an informed choice for your next creative project management software. However, before we delve into the nuances of selecting a new tool, let's address some preliminary considerations you should make. Is Your Current Software Not Cutting It? Recognising the need for new project management software can often be prompted by a series of unmistakable signs that indicate your current system is no longer serving its purpose effectively. Here's a look at some these indicators:

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Best Practices Session 5: Essential Tips for Meeting a Deadline

Building client trust is a journey that centres on reliability and the timely delivery of marketing campaigns. Clients have high expectations; they want to see their visions realised through impactful campaigns and insist on adherence to deadlines. This can become challenging when you're tasked with managing a portfolio of multiple projects and diverse client needs simultaneously. How can you ensure that each campaign not only meets the creative brief but is also delivered within the tight timelines expected by your clients?

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Admation Feature Spotlight - WIP Reports

Staying on top of project progress is essential for marketing teams, ad agencies creative teams and their internal and external stakeholders. With the increasing number of tasks, deadlines, and collaborations, the need for a streamlined, efficient way to monitor and report on work in progress (WIP) has never been more critical. This is where the updated Work in Progress (WIP) feature in Admation steps in, redefining how marketing teams and ad agencies manage their creative projects and workflows.

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The Hidden Costs of Inefficient Marketing Workflows: Impacts and Solutions

The efficiency of marketing workflows and processes stands as a pivotal factor in determining the success of a marketing campaign or even the business's success. Behind the scenes of every successful marketing campaign lies a web of processes that, if not managed efficiently, can lead to a myriad of hidden costs. These costs, often underestimated, can significantly affect a business’s financial health and its ability to stay competitive. This article delves deeply into the nuanced costs associated with inefficient marketing workflows, exploring their multifaceted impact on an organisation's bottom line and productivity. It also addresses the root causes of these inefficiencies and emphasizes the critical role of advanced tools like marketing project management software, marketing compliance solutions, and creative workflow systems in mitigating these challenges.

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Streamlining Cross-Organisation Approvals with Admation

Navigating the complexities of marketing compliance in regulated industries is a critical challenge for modern businesses. Strict regulatory frameworks demand meticulous management of marketing approvals, highlighting the need for robust and collaborative solutions. In this landscape, Admation's Marketing Project Management software stands out as a pivotal tool. It not only streamlines the cross-organisation collaboration but also ensures adherence to stringent marketing compliance standards. This blog explores the intricate features of Admation’s platform, particularly its cross-organisation approval capabilities, and demonstrates how it revolutionizes marketing project management and compliance in regulated sectors.

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20 Essential Efficiency Tips for Maximising Marketing Project Success

Do you regularly spend all day actioning tasks and managing your marketing projects, only to go home wondering what you actually achieved? You are not alone, and unfortunately it isincreasingly common among marketing teams. What's the solution? Marketing must keep up with a rapidly changing world and that often means doing things for the first time. In that environment,it can be really difficult to get marketing teams humming, productive and turning out creative, effective and fulfilling work.While we can’t change the landscape in which marketers are operating, here are somemarketing efficiency tips– personal, team-based, process-driven and technology-enabled – to help your marketing team run as smoothly as possible.

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Embrace the New Year: Time to Review and Revamp Your Marketing Workflows

As the new year dawns, it presents a unique opportunity to take stock of your marketing processes and tools. This period of reflection is not just about acknowledging the successes but also about critically evaluating the areas where goals weren't met. It's the ideal time to ask the hard questions: Are our workflows efficient? Did we manage creative projects effectively? What can we do better?

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Admation's Latest Product Update: Elevating Your Marketing Efficiency

With our latest product update, Admation continues to reshape how marketing teams collaborate and manage projects, ensuring our software remains an integral part of your marketing toolkit in an ever-evolving industry. Here's a quick run-down of Admation's latest improvements and new features. Ad Storage: A Marketer's Dream The new Ad Storage capabilities, particularly the 'In Market Now' feature, are a game-changer. Consider a call centre operative in a different time zone needing to know the current promotions or offers. With this feature, they have instant visibility, ensuring that the information they provide to customers is up-to-date and relevant. This level of accessibility streamlines communication across departments, enhancing both internal efficiency and customer experience.

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Optimizing Marketing Workflow with Admation's New Dashboard Charts

In the intricate world of marketing operations, having a magnified view of your processes isn't just beneficial – it's essential. It goes beyond just managing creative projects, it's about fine-tuning the mechanisms that navigate towards successful project completions. Bearing this beacon of enhanced efficiency and clarity, we are proud to unveil the newest feature in Admation's Toolbox – Dashboard Charts.

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Navigating the Tangled Web of Marketing Project Management

Picture this: you're an intrepid explorer, standing on the edge of a vast abyss known as Marketing Project Management. You're equipped with tools, a team, and the promise of treasure—successful campaigns and satisfied stakeholders. But the abyss is fraught with pitfalls like black holes that can suck in your projects, leaving them lost in a void of inefficiencies. Even when you think you're making progress, you find yourself on a merry-go-round, going in circles but never really moving forward. It's a disorienting, frustrating journey, and one that even the most experienced explorers find challenging. But don't lose hope; even the darkest abyss has its pathways of escape.

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10 Hidden Costs of Inefficient Marketing Processes: How to Avoid Them

When it comes to enhancing marketing outcomes, much emphasis is often placed on distribution channels and determining the ideal media mix. In the past, when media expenditure accounted for a larger share of overall marketing budgets, this approach was logical. However, during challenging periods, it becomes crucial to ensure that all marketing operations run efficiently. These days media spend comprises about 25.1% of total marketing budgets,according to Gartner. But labour costs — taking internal teams and external agencies and suppliers together — comprise about 48% of marketing budgets, according to the same study. Incidentally, martech spending is also on the rise, at 26.6% in 2021.

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A Guide to Excel at Managing Your Marketing Approval Workflow

Navigating the labyrinth of marketing approvals doesn't have to be overwhelming. From grappling with excessive artwork revisions to managing budget constraints and ensuring marketing compliance, the landscape is fraught with challenges. Yet, the solution often lies in adopting a well-orchestrated marketing project management approach coupled with efficient approval workflows. This comprehensive guide outlines seven actionable and in-depth best practices to elevate your marketing approval process. Whether you're looking to standardise project brief templates, streamline resource management, or stay abreast of industry best practices, these tips offer a roadmap to not only navigate but excel in managing your marketing approvals. lt;img src="https://20878613.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/20878613/Imported_Blog_Media/BestPractice.jpeg" alt="BestPractice.jpeg"gt;

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Avoid These Common Marketing Project Brief Mistakes

For many marketers, an array of tools like marketing project management software and creative workflow systems are go-to resources. However, according to Joe Talcott, a former global marketing director for McDonald’s, the simple project brief holds unmatched value. Talcott, the man behind the iconic “I’m lovin’ it” campaign, stresses the brief’s pivotal role in garnering effective results from creative projects. Surprisingly, this invaluable tool is often sidelined, falling victim to time constraints or a lack of focus on its importance. Our blog dives deep into the nine cardinal sins marketers commit when creating their briefs—mistakes that can compromise marketing approvals and overall project success. Whether you're concerned about marketing compliance or effective agency management, a well-crafted brief is your first step to success. Read on to discover the nine biggest mistakes you could be making in your briefing process and how to avoid them.

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Harnessing Data for Enhanced Marketing Project Management

In today's digital age, data has proven to be an indispensable asset for businesses worldwide. Especially in the realm of marketing, where projects evolve with market dynamics, effective data utilization is key to success. In this article, we delve into the significance of leveraging data for marketing project management, exploring its many facets and introducing Admation's latest new feature to enhance this process.

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Simple Asset Manager Shines Bright at Finances Online Awards

In a world driven by digitalization, the management of assets has become a pivotal task for businesses of all sizes. With the surge in digital content, challenges in overseeing valuable digital assets have grown more intricate, demanding innovative solutions. Among these solutions, one outstanding performer has taken center stage - Simple Asset Manager. Recently, this innovative software achieved a remarkable feat by clinching the esteemed Rising Star Award from Finances Online. This accolade not only acknowledges the software's prowess but also underscores its exceptional ability to navigate the complexities of asset management while safeguarding brand reputation, ensuring compliance with marketing regulations, and granting greater control over assets.

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Streamlining Approvals and Enhancing Communication: The Power of Admation

Things move quickly in the marketing world and managing multiple projects, staying organized and keeping all stakeholders informed is essential but a constant challenge. Questions like "What is due today?" and "Who are you still waiting on to approve that document?" can become a recurring source of stress and inefficiency. However, Admation understands the importance of efficient approvals and effective communication, which is why we provide a range of features that empower you to effortlessly manage approvals, meet deadlines, and collaborate seamlessly with all stakeholders. Juggling multiple projects and stakeholders while ensuring timely approvals can be a daunting task. Admation understands the pivotal role approvals play in project success and has made it our mission to equip you with the tools you need to navigate this complex terrain. We have taken strides in bolstering Admation's approval capabilities, particularly focusing on notifications, deadlines, and automatic reminders. Let's delve into the advancements that will revolutionize the way you manage approvals and keep everyone in the loop: 1. Flexibility in Stakeholder Management: Ability to Edit Recipients List Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you accidentally missed an important stakeholder while seeking approvals? Or perhaps realized that an unnecessary recipient was included in the approval loop? Worry no more! Admation's latest update grants you the power to effortlessly modify the list of stakeholders associated with a project. This newfound flexibility empowers you to add or remove stakeholders as needed, ensuring that your project's approval process remains streamlined and efficient. While certain conditions may apply to editing recipient lists, these adjustments provide you with newfound confidence in managing your projects. 2. Timely Action with Missed Deadline Notifications Time is of the essence, and missed deadlines can often disrupt the entire approval workflow. Admation's enhanced system now ensures that you are promptly notified via email if a stakeholder fails to respond by the designated deadline. This valuable feature arms you with the ability to take decisive action when a stakeholder's feedback is causing delays. Whether you choose to directly communicate with the user or adjust the list of recipients, you remain firmly in control of maintaining project momentum. 3. Real-time Updates with Approval Notifications Gone are the days of manually tracking the progress of approvals across multiple levels. Admation's revamped approval request system now sends you email notifications as each approval level is completed or changes are requested. This real-time feedback keeps you informed about the project's current status, eliminating the need for constant follow-ups or repeated logins. The power to stay on top of your projects is now at your fingertips. 4. Strategic Approvals with Leave Insights Collaboration can be hindered when key stakeholders are unexpectedly away on leave. Admation's forward-thinking enhancement allows you to seamlessly navigate this challenge by providing visibility into a user's scheduled leave within the next seven days. With this foresight, you can strategically plan approvals and avoid unnecessary delays, ensuring that your projects continue to move forward even when team members are out of the office. 5. Teamwide Awareness: Notifying Project Team Members Successful project delivery hinges on clear communication and collaboration among team members. Admation's New Project Wizard now empowers you to send optional messages to each Project Team Member, informing them of a new project's creation. This proactive approach fosters a culture of transparency and ensures that everyone is on the same page right from the project's inception. Efficient approvals and informed stakeholders are the cornerstones of successful project management. Admation's latest suite of enhancements empowers you to answer those critical questions, address challenges, and optimize collaboration effortlessly. With the ability to manage stakeholders, receive missed deadline notifications, stay updated on approval progress, strategically navigate leave schedules, and keep your entire team informed, you are poised to achieve new heights of project success. Embrace the power of Admation's improved features, and watch as your projects thrive through streamlined approvals and effective stakeholder communication. For further information about any of these features or if you have any queries, please don't hesitate to reach out to our dedicated Admation support team at support@simple.io. We're here to ensure your journey towards efficient approvals and seamless collaboration is a resounding success.

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Why It's Time to Ditch Spreadsheets for Managing Marketing Projects

Technology has revolutionised the way businesses operate, it might come as a surprise that a significant number of creative teams and marketers continue to rely on spreadsheets like Excel or Google Sheets to manage their projects, tasks, and resources. Spreadsheets have been a staple in offices for decades, offering a simple and familiar way to organize data. 2022 MarTech Career and Salary survey revealed 77% of marketers spend a significant amount of time (10+ hours/week) wrestling with spreadsheets.This reliance isn't uncommon,with another study showing44% of marketers still use Excel.The issue?Spreadsheets lack the visibility and collaboration features needed to effectively track progress and identify roadblocks.They hinder efficient project management,making it difficult to keep pace with today's marketing demands. However, as the landscape of project management evolves, it becomes evident that spreadsheets are ill-equipped to handle the complexities and demands of modern marketing projects.

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Boosting Brand Consistency with Digital Asset Management Tools

In today's highly competitive business landscape, maintaining a consistent brand identity is crucial for establishing a strong market presence and connecting with customers. However, with the increasing volume of digital assets and marketing materials, it becomes challenging to ensure brand consistency across various channels.