Using Process Documentation Software To Track Your Marketing Tasks

Last Updated on March 1, 2024 by Owen McGab Enaohwo

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Marketing is becoming more sophisticated as there is an increasing need to adopt new strategies that will help brands stay relevant constantly. While these changes are essential, failing to track and document the processes involved will negatively impact your business productivity.

For example, content marketing is revered as one of the most productive strategies for lead generation. However, this strategy comprises several steps, from setting expected goals to agile objectives and execution. If these steps are not tracked and managed, it becomes very easy for you and your employees to make detrimental mistakes that can disrupt your business processes.

And that’s where process documentation software like Sweetprocess comes in. With a tool in place to help you create, track, and manage your tasks, you can eliminate guesswork and execute projects with ease.

In this article, we will discuss the other importance of using process documentation software and which marketing tasks you need it for.

What Is Process Documentation In Marketing?

Process documentation in marketing is the process of creating a highly detailed record of your marketing processes. These include your goals, objectives, steps to take or those already taken, current progress, procedures, and tools needed. Others include process timelines, deadlines, capital allocated, and some KPIs (key performance indexes) to measure.

Technically, a process document shows you and your marketing team the WHY, WHEN, HOW, AND WHERE. And this is very important for marketing success because it saves you time from repetitive tasks. Imagine having to educate every new employee about how to execute certain assignments when you could have just given them a guide containing the richly written steps.

Besides using it to onboard new talents, a process document also helps existing employees complete their tasks error-free by simply looking at and following a preset document. For instance, sketching a graphic prototype with Procreate brushes for creatives and including it in your design guideline gives your design team a holistic direction for other similar designs.

The problem, however, is that only a few businesses utilize process documentation for their daily marketing operations. A study showed that only 4% of brands documented their processes in 2016. While we are now years ahead, there is still no evidence of a convincing increase in the percentage.

Of course, a likely possibility could be that organizations find creating a process document not essential or perhaps cumbersome. But if you want a smoother workflow and increased efficiency for your marketing campaigns, you must adopt the process documentation approach.

Benefits Of Using Process Documentation Software For Marketing

Process documentation software is a digital tool used mainly for creating process documents, managing, and effectively keeping tabs on task progress. It is more like a central hub that keeps all the vital processes for your marketing tasks in one place while communicating it across all members.

Here are some of the main benefits of using a process documentation tool.

Track Assigned Tasks

The sole purpose of marketing is to build awareness, generate leads, and make sales. While that sounds effortless, there are actually tons of steps and strategies that go into place. And it’s very easy to get lost in the process or make minor mistakes that add up and negatively impact your workflow.

But with a process documentation tool, you can keep track of your assigned tasks and see how far each team member has gone for certain assignments. Monitoring each task’s progress also ensures your employees are in sync with each other and prevents overlapping.

Time Efficient

Process documentation software makes creating process documents and working guidelines for your marketing needs less demanding. Moreover, you can easily access your documents since they are all centralized.

Some process documentation tools also offer real-time updates and comments, allowing team collaboration. Your team can work simultaneously on the document, provide edits, suggest modifications, etc. This, in turn, prevents the need for frequent meetings and prolonged offline communication.

Less Prone To Human Error And Loss

Process documentation software is automated to an extent. And this helps you handle basic tasks prone to errors when done manually. For example, standardization is a significant concern when creating process documents.

To eliminate this error, process documentation software will help you generate standard editable templates to guide your documentation. That way, you can easily avoid errors due to omitting necessary details in your documents.

Also, since most documentation tools are cloud-based and serve as a storage hub, you have guaranteed data security and accessibility.

Two Vital Marketing Tasks To Track With A Documentation Software

There are several marketing tasks you need to track with documentation software. But we will only discuss the vital ones like content marketing and advertisements.

Content Marketing

Content marketing involves creating and distributing valuable content for lead generation and customer retention. And the first stage is content planning.

In the content planning phase, you define the goals you want to achieve with your content and the objectives to meet. Also, you need to figure out your target audience, build a buyer persona, conduct keyword research, create a content calendar, and graphic designs with advanced resources like Procreate monoline brushes.

Now, that’s a lot of tasks, and it’s very easy for you or your team to mix things up or lose track of time. So the best thing to do is to document the processes involved, including the role of your marketing team members. Afterward, assign a task to each team member and ensure everyone reports their progress with the documentation software.

Content Creation

The content creation stage mainly focuses on creating outlines, researching the topic, and writing the content. So after you assign this task to your writers, ensure they keep the whole team updated.

With process documentation software, you can add timelines and due dates for the assigned tasks. Some documentation tools also allow integration with third-party notification tools that automatically sends an alert once a team member updates their progress.

Content Review

The review phase involves your editors working with the writing team to flesh out a well-edited piece. And sometimes, the graphic designing team might step in to create relevant visuals to fit inside your content.

You need to ensure each party involved is tagged on the task board. Another party to consider in the review and approval stage are your stakeholders. Ensure they have access to the task or document board and can drop their comments in real time.

Content Distribution

Once you have the finished piece, distribute it through your preferred marketing channels. Content distribution should, however, not be done randomly. Assign a team to research the best channels for your content and ensure they keep tabs on the performance of each piece distributed.

At times, there can be multiple finished contents available. So your distribution team must know which content to publish. Content calendars link each piece to a specific date. Most process documentation software has a built-in calendar that you can access directly. Alternatively, you can integrate third-party calendars like Calendly.

Once your distribution team is done, they should update the project’s progress. If the task is not completed in time, you and the person assigned will receive an overdue notification.

Advertising

Advertisement and promotion are other aspects of marketing that are crucial to the success of every organization. Here are some ways to track them effectively with process documentation software.

Create A Process Document

As always, you should create a process document that will guide all the tasks you want to execute. This keeps your team in the loop and eliminates a significant percentage of human error.

The process document must contain the steps you will take when running your campaigns. It must also state the roles of each member of the team. Most importantly, your goals and objectives should be on the fore page so everyone has a holistic target.

Assign Teams To Execute Function

To run high-yield campaigns, you need the assistance of your team members in creating ad copies, graphics, and video visuals, setting up KPIs, and reporting back. Your process document should already explain how they will go about these tasks.

Then ensure each task assigned is given a due date for completion. Your visuals should be ready in two weeks. The timeline for your ad copies might span around. As soon as the assigned works are completed, update your progress and move to the next stage.

Most campaigns last a very long time. So you might need to constantly create new ad copies and visuals. However, with proper tracking and management, you can guarantee a consistent flow of materials to continue your promotions.

Evaluate Outcomes And Update Document

Marketing campaigns have variable results. And that’s why most businesses prefer to run A/B testing to see which content or promotional strategy works best for them. Once there’s a deviation in your preset processes, especially if it yields better results, ensure you include them in the process document.

These changes are tabbed, and your team members will receive a notification to review them. That will keep your process documents flexible and always updated.

Conclusion

Gone are those days when you had to manually document your processes and update project progress with paper checklists. With the recent emergence of process documentation software, you can now automate your processes and boost your brand’s productivity.

Integrating process documentation tools into your marketing plans will help you create a streamlined workflow. Moreover, you will be able to create, assign, and monitor task progress from a single board.

Author Bio

Ayomide Olabode is a professional B2B analyst at Techiebode and the senior SaaS content writer for Digital Gratified. He is so enthusiastic about digging out new market strategies that work. And aside from writing during the day, you can find him trading the forex chart at night.