Have you ever worked with outdated marketing collateral? Most brands have dealt with the issue of collateral having a limited shelf life. The offer, messaging or design that worked a few months back may be outdated or irrelevant today, prompting the brand to updated the materials.
But simply updating collateral isn't enough. How do you ensure your team is receiving new versions of your collateral (and more importantly, actually using it)? How about previous versions of the document sent in the past that still contain old messaging? Or what about one-off versions you may have co-branded for partners or sales reps?
Here are four tips for managing constantly changing marketing pieces to solve each of those issues:
- Ditch the attachments, use a link: Document sharing through links isn't a novel concept, but it largely solves the problem of new collateral versions. Instead of attaching a one-sheeter or a slide deck, store the file in the cloud and send it to recipients using a link. When the file updates, ensure your cloud storage has the ability to replace the document while not changing the structure of link pointing to that document.
- Automatic distribution and updates: Tied closely in nature to the first point, a newly updated asset must also aggregate out automatically. In other words, anyone who has sent the document via a link should not be required to take any additional action to ensure that link is pointing to the latest version, rather it's updated automatically and instantly.
- Allow controlled personalization to happen without your designer: It's not uncommon for documents to have one-off versions that are personalized or co-branded for sales reps and partners. This is hugely problematic when the core document updates and each one-off version requires the same updating. Choose a system that allows for the core document to be updated by a designer, but the co-branding or personalization on that document to be handled by the person who is requesting that customization. Putting all of this one-off work on your designer is a sure to waste time and money on needlessly manual design tasks. Instead, working with a system that allows the designer to control the core document and select the areas that can be personalized allow for that manual work to be automated at scale.
- Version-based naming metrics: Adding the version or date of update in file name of the newly updated document is a quick and easy way to help recipients understand if the material is fresh or stale.
As the old adage goes, it's easier said than done. At the center of each of these tips is the right software to help facilitate the actions. If managing changes to your marketing material is still a manual task, take a PieceKeeper demo to learn how one software solution can keep your sales assets current, compliant and cobranded.
