{"id":15501,"date":"2022-02-21T11:36:05","date_gmt":"2022-02-21T11:36:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/02\/21\/5-helpful-ways-b2b-marketers-can-achieve-content-approval\/"},"modified":"2022-02-21T11:36:05","modified_gmt":"2022-02-21T11:36:05","slug":"5-helpful-ways-b2b-marketers-can-achieve-content-approval","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/02\/21\/5-helpful-ways-b2b-marketers-can-achieve-content-approval\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Helpful Ways B2B Marketers Can Achieve Content Approval"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\"Exasperated-looking<\/p>\n

The \u201cWild West\u201d of content marketing stuck around longer than we may have imagined, but COVID-19 well and truly brought it to a close. These days, 82% of marketers<\/a> use content marketing, over 40% of marketers say content is a very important part of their strategy, and 70% plan to actively continue investing in it in the long term.<\/p>\n

If content marketing is such big business now, however, why does so much of it still feel distinctly lawless? Nowhere is that more true than when it comes to actually getting either client or internal approval for your content. You go to all the work of producing your stuff, send it to the people in charge, and then\u2026 you\u2019re at their mercy. And often, your content disappears then and there.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a better way to work content approval, and it\u2019s all about process building. Securing content approval is a part of your workflow like everything else, and like everything else, it\u2019s more effective when you have a plan.<\/p>\n

Follow these five steps to create your own plan for content approval, and you\u2019ll find yourself spending a lot less time bitterly running down approval and a lot more time actually planning for your team\u2019s next big splash.<\/p>\n

1 \u2014 Standardize the Lead-Up<\/h2>\n

The last few times your content got trapped in pending purgatory, was it really because your approver got picky about back-and-forth edits? Sometimes, sure, but usually the issue is simpler\u2026 and, unfortunately, closer to home.<\/p>\n

Chances are, in fact, you don\u2019t know <\/i>exactly where the bottlenecks are that hold up your content approval process. THAT is the biggest problem.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re not alone, either. According to a survey by the Content Marketing Institute, 42% of content marketers<\/a> said that content production flow was one of their biggest challenges for the upcoming year. Meanwhile, a DIFFERENT survey by the CMI found that only 42% of content marketing teams<\/a> have a formal content workflow in place.<\/p>\n

When you don\u2019t know what you need to see a piece of content from conception to publication, a lot of your content never reaches the approval phase at all. Instead, it gets wrapped up in \u201cwhere were we at with that piece, again?\u201d territory\u2026 until everyone forgets about it. Then, if it DOES see the light of day, everyone\u2019s forgotten what it was for\u2026 and you\u2019re back to square one.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a straightforward solution: a content workflow<\/a>. Create a tight, simple game plan for publishing and follow it for every single piece of content you create<\/i><\/strong>. At every turn, you should know:<\/p>\n

A: Where a piece is in the process<\/p>\n

B: Who\u2019s in charge of the next step<\/p>\n

C: When they plan on completing the next step<\/p>\n

D: Who they will send their finished work to<\/p>\n

E: Repeat<\/p>\n

The more you can standardize and streamline your content creation process, the more consistently a clear, relevant piece of content reaches an approver who knows what they\u2019re looking at at. Making that moment happen is the single best way to improve your approval rate.<\/p>\n

\u201cCreate a tight, simple game plan for publishing and follow it for every single piece of content you create.\u201d \u2014 Harry Mackin <\/a><\/span>Click To Tweet<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

2 \u2014 Simplify & Assign Workflow Deadlines \u2014 Internally & Externally<\/h2>\n

Ok, so you\u2019ve got your workflow established. Great, that\u2019s the easy part. Now you actually have to commit to using it\u2026 every. single. time. That means two things: you have to keep it simple, and you have to keep it moving.<\/p>\n

85% of CEOs blame internal complexity<\/a> for their failure to grow and deliver sustainable performance, and it\u2019s the mindkiller of many a content workflow, too. As a general rule, you should be able to write out your content workflow \u2014 with the names, positions, content info, and description of the role of each participant at every step in the process \u2014 for each piece of content you produce.<\/p>\n

Next, you have to avoid the dreaded \u201ccontent by committee.\u201d<\/a> Keep as few people plugged into the process as possible. Have these people work closely together to understand each other\u2019s processes and get to know their roles.<\/p>\n

Assign concrete deadlines for each of these steps, whether the person in charge of seeing them through is internal or external. Assign a project manager to keep track of these deadlines and ensure everyone is on pace. Remind your client or approver of these deadlines, why they matter, and why they need to keep up with them.<\/p>\n

\u201cWrite out your content workflow \u2014 with the names, positions, content info, and description of the role of each participant at every step in the process \u2014 for each piece of content you produce.\u201d \u2014 Harry Mackin <\/a><\/span>Click To Tweet<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

3 \u2014 Make It About Them, Not You<\/h2>\n

Failure to get content approval usually stems more from communication breakdown than a problem with the content itself. Somewhere, the wires get crossed \u2014 either the client doesn\u2019t explain what they\u2019re looking for or the creators misunderstand intent and take the wrong tack \u2014 and then when the approver\u2019s handed the document, they don\u2019t know what they\u2019re looking at\u2026 or how it helps them.<\/p>\n

This failure may not rest with the content, but it does rest with the process. According to a recent Accenture survey, only 19% of marketing leaders<\/a> felt they had clear objectives when creating new content. According to another study, 43% of B2B marketers<\/a> only \u201csometimes\u201d define their content marketing KPIs!<\/p>\n

If your own content marketers don\u2019t know what they want to do with their content, how are the people in charge of approving it even supposed to know what to approve it for? Instead, they receive nebulous content that\u2019s disconnected from their business, their goals, and their ideas about how to propel their brand\u2026 and they\u2019re not interested in reading it, much less approving it!<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not enough for your team to know why they\u2019re producing their content (though, you know, they should) ; your clients need to know, too. What do they want this content to accomplish? Why is that the goal? How will this piece accomplish that? If you want content approval, you have to show your approver why they should care about your content. To do that, you need to show them exactly why your content marketing matters to them.<\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cIf you want content approval, you have to show your approver why they should care about your content. To do that, you need to show them exactly why your content marketing matters to them.\u201d \u2014 Harry Mackin <\/a><\/span>Click To Tweet<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

4 \u2014 Collaborate with Stakeholders From the Jump<\/h2>\n

In fact, goals are important for buy-in across the board, not just with your client. There are all kinds of stakeholders in any piece of content \u2014\u00a0from collaborators to contributors to subject matter experts to field sellers<\/a>. They all should <\/i>be invested in your content, because it stands to benefit all of them. But, as you\u2019re probably all-too-aware\u2026 that isn\u2019t always how it goes.<\/p>\n

If the only people who care about your content are the team members making it, you have a big problem. If your client\u2019s team or your approver doesn\u2019t understand why they should care about your content, why would they?<\/p>\n

Now imagine if, instead, everyone cared about your content. The sales and marketing teams are excited for the new narrative that informs their own strategies. The clients and approvers are excited to see how the content will move their own agendas forward. Your content producers are excited because they have enthusiastic buy-in and they feel like what they\u2019re doing matters.<\/p>\n

This kind of enthusiasm isn\u2019t as hard to achieve as you may think: you just need to get everyone involved. Ask all stakeholders what they want from the content at every point in the process. Figure out what would make them excited to speed the content through to approval, and then provide it!<\/strong> When your content finally hits the approver\u2019s desk, they shouldn\u2019t just know what it is \u2014 they should be excited to see it happen.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the only people who care about your content are the team members making it, you have a big problem. If your client\u2019s team or your approver doesn\u2019t understand why they should care about your content, why would they?\u201d \u2014 Harry Mackin <\/a><\/span>Click To Tweet<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

5 \u2014 Optimize Your Approval Process<\/h2>\n

When you\u2019ve got your goals locked-in and your whole team is enthusiastic about making them happen, you\u2019ve laid all the groundwork for the most impactful step of all: re-envisioning and optimizing the approval process itself<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Now that you have goals and KPIs established, you have something concrete to check your content against. Instead of approval being a nebulous process combining pitching, editing, revising, critiquing and a little begging, you\u2019ve given your approver definite goalposts to think about when reviewing<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

When your approver collaborated throughout the process, this new approach to approval becomes even more effective. Your approver already knows exactly what you\u2019re going for with this content, so they\u2019re free to critique how effectively they think you\u2019ll pull it off.<\/p>\n

Best of all, informed approval paves the way for truly meaningful feedback<\/strong>. Without a clear understanding of goals, feedback becomes nebulous, undirected, and often circular \u2014 just like the approval process itself. With goals in place, however, all feedback can focus on how you can better achieve what you\u2019re trying to do, which will make any edits far easier both to communicate and to implement.<\/p>\n

For more tips on how to bring your content marketing process out of the Wild West and into the age of business, keep up with the experts at the TopRank Marketing blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n