Online Proofing – Lengthy approval times and inefficient communications between marketers and approvers are the two biggest reasons for missed deadlines. So, suppose you can effectively make the approval process more efficient. In that case, you can significantly improve your marketing team’s turnaround time, which, in turn, can increase the effectiveness of your marketing workflow. One of the best methods in streamlining your approval process is to implement online proofing in your workflow.

In the past, the only way to review and proof a marketing document was via pen-and-paper, and when the internet arrived, we moved to an email-based proofing process. However, as we know, both often result in time-consuming, lengthy processes.

Now, however, online proofing can quickly eliminate unnecessary steps and back-and-forth emails. Everyone can collaborate effectively in a single platform, resulting not only in a faster approval process but higher quality deliverables.

What Is Online Proofing?

Online proofing can refer to two things: a discipline or a more effective, fully-online proofing process and the software solution used to achieve the online proofing process. The two can be thought of as inseparable since you can’t perform online proofing without the right software, and vice versa; the software won’t reach its fullest potential without the right practice.

An online proofing software like Aproove, for example, enables us to upload, leave comments/feedback, and interact with everyone involved in the approval process in a single, cloud-based platform. Everyone involved in the project can easily view different versions of the deliverable (according to the number of revisions), leave feedback with the available markup tools, and communicate on the same platform.

When a deliverable is approved, the reviewer can also leave a digital signature, making the whole process transparent and everyone involved accountable.

Why Online Proofing Is Necessary For The Marketing Department?

Marketing processes often involve many approval processes between the marketing team and the marketing manager/higher-ups, between a marketing agency and a client, and between a business and an outsourced marketing agency.

With these approval processes in place, there are a lot of ways online proofing can benefit a marketing team, including but not limited to:

1. Searchability

In an email-based proofing process, we are often faced with situations where we need to search for emails. Thus, we received weeks or even months ago to look for a specific version of content or deliverable, for example, to resolve a dispute. This can be a time-consuming and annoying process, and we might end up spending the whole day tracing the emails.

With online proofing software, on the other hand, everything is easily searchable. All your digital assets, design products, content, and collaterals are stored securely in a cloud-based platform. Also, when there are different versions of the same file, we can easily search and keep track of the changes made, as well as different comments/feedback left on each version.

2. Transparency and Accountability

With online proofing, everything can share in one place, all team members and stakeholders can log in to the platform at any time to leave feedback, ask questions, and explain their points. Everyone can track the status of the project and know who is doing what at any time.

In short, more transparency for the whole project and accountability for everyone involved. Everyone can log in at any time to track the project’s progress and whether approvals are already in place.

Aproove, for example, comes with various useful markup tools where you can highlight sections and leave explanations, so no one misses the important points. This will minimize the risks of miscommunications, which will, in turn, decrease the chances of compliance errors.

3. Fewer Revisions

With a more streamlined and accurate approval process, fewer revisions are necessary.

For example, suppose you have five different reviewers involved in a project, and one of them has left feedback regarding font selection. In that case, the other four will either contribute to the discussion or focus on different parts of the project; instead, so no two revisions about the same aspect of the project will be in place.

As a result of the fewer revisions, your team members can finish the project in less time and meet their deadlines.

4. Security

Online proofing software also provides an extra layer of security for your files and digital assets. With espionage and cybercriminals running rampant in today’s competitive environment, protecting your data from theft and data breaches is now very important. For example, we can configure access policies and authorizations for each file uploaded on the online proofing software.

Conclusion

With various approval processes necessary in multiple marketing activities, online proofing is a powerful solution for marketers to streamline the data management and approval process. Everyone involved in each marketing project can easily communicate and collaborate in a single platform, eliminating the need for back-and-forth email interactions while also providing more transparency for the whole workflow and accountability for everyone involved in the process.