Radio’s Digital Transformation BLOG – Part 3: The Importance of Workflow and Processes

In our second post in this series, we looked at steps to consider in creating a suite of digital products to ensure success and future growth. Next, we explore the workflow and processes that need to be in place for an effective digital advertising program.

If you have taken our recommended steps for building out your digital product offering with the perfect mix of owned and operated and third-party products, congratulations! You’re well down the path toward a successful transformation to digital advertising. Now it’s time to put into place the workflows that will ensure maximum success for your sales team as they execute digital orders.

Here are the logical steps for defining new workflows:

1. Develop an Account Strategy

A digital account strategy defines the key and target accounts your team will approach, and it also offers a tool for leadership to hold sales teams accountable. Start by defining a list of current customers (these are the low-hanging fruit) that sales reps should approach with new digital opportunities. Next, identify new customers who are already purchasing digital from other vendors in the marketplace (these are the ones that will really drive revenue). Then, you will need to set expectations for sales teams regarding their approach to current versus new customers and track performance.

2. Map Out Campaign Execution

A fine-tuned execution workflow will allow you to scale your digital offering quickly. The challenge here is to come up with a process that will balance the workload, assign clear objectives, define communication and hold employees accountable. The most effective execution plan takes into account the following elements of the digital campaign lifecycle: proposal creation, order approval, order entry, project management, inventory placement, reporting and optimization, and finally, recap and renewal.

3. Design Proposal Templates

If you have not set brand standards and created a standardized proposal template for your sales staff to deliver proposals, now is the perfect time. Proposal templates ensure your staff will deliver a consistent look for your brand and will provide the most current information about your products. More importantly, proposal templates minimize the time it takes for your sales team to develop a proposal and close the deal. Broadcasters that offer digital products have clear advantages for advertisers by providing a one-stop shop for both digital and broadcast products. By standardizing your proposal template, the sales team should become more competitive in both broadcast and digital media opportunities.

4. Set Up a Project Management System

Similar to broadcast inventory, digital campaign and order details must be communicated internally before booking the inventory. The difference is that digital inventory is more complicated due to multiple platforms, creative types and available targeting options. Therefore, a system for digital campaign management is critical for tracking inventory and managing details across organizations. If your teams currently use paper trails, Excel sheets and email to track projects, it is time to move to a software-based project management system. Inexpensive project management software will do the trick as a means of standardizing communication and managing volumes of campaigns.

5. Set Up Recap and Reporting

Reporting and recaps are essential to any digital sales operation, serving up the data and transparency advertisers need to assess their campaign ROI and ultimately setting your team up to renew business. Understanding digital campaign reporting is a skill salespeople need to learn through training and experience, because they will need to be confident in understanding and presenting the insights to advertisers. Similar to the proposal templates, the recap and reporting process can be templated to ensure accuracy and timely completion.