Digital marketing workflow solutions help manage advertising processes. Many are built to be used internally by agencies. Very few are meant to be used by agencies and their clients.
Capabilities and features in digital marketing workflow software vary widely and range from simple task tracking — akin to using a fancy spreadsheet — to comprehensive process and goal management. Which solution a company picks depends on its unique needs.
Finch has been working on a digital marketing workflow solution of our own — Collaboration. We built it to fill the gaps in paid media workflow software solutions. The gap between client and provider and the gap between execution and strategy.
“The fact that Collab lets us communicate quickly and effectively is a great value-add.”
— Michelle Hannemann, EMP
In this post, we look at what Collaboration is and at a beta user’s experience using it.
More Than Simple Digital Marketing Workflow Software
Collaboration is built into the Finch Advertising Management Platform. It’s currently in beta. And it’s in a category of its own.
Collaboration is a digital marketing workflow management tool purpose-built for paid media. It does more than track workflows though. It facilitates creating a digital marketing strategy and the goals and objectives to achieve that strategy and then tracking every aspect of those goals through to completion to ultimately grow revenue.
Using Collaboration, Finch Strategists and clients work together to:
- Convert Insights reporting data into strategies and objectives to achieve business goals and grow revenues.
- Assign and track goals and related objectives and tasks.
- Schedule and track events and meetings, have discussions, leave notes, share documents, and share anything via email.
- Integrate reports and report data directly into goals, objectives, and tasks.
With Collaboration, all stakeholders easily work together in a single interface to increase efficiency, visibility, alignment, and goal attainment.
“Once you understand the structure with the goals, objectives, and tasks levels, it’s really easy to use.”
— Michelle Hannemann, EMP
A Real-World Beta-User View of Collaboration
To share a real-world perspective on Collaboration (aka Collab), we sat down with Michelle Hannemann, Sales and Marketing, EMP. EMP is a dominant multichannel retailer of music, entertainment, fashion, and gaming merchandise in Europe. EMP is also a beta user of Collaboration and a long-time Finch client.
Finch: How would you describe what Collaboration is?
Michelle: I would describe Collab as a digital marketing workflow solution. I think what makes it so special for me is that it’s transparent, it’s easy to use, and that I have everything in one place and can document it well. I can attach the Insights reports directly to individual tasks.
Finch: What was your impression of Collaboration after you’d been using it for a while.
Michelle: I think it’s self-explanatory. If you’re looking for functions, you find them quickly. The more you work with it, the faster it works for you. Together with Ben [EMP’s customer success manager], we created a basic structure from the start in which we work really well.
Finch: How does Collaboration make your work easier?
Michelle: The biggest benefit for me is the time savings. I only work part-time right now, so sometimes I miss meetings. And right now we’re working from home, so I don’t even see colleagues at the coffee machine, where they can bring me up to speed.
Before working with Collab[oration, I contacted my colleagues by email or called them. Now, I can just check Collab to see what was discussed. That helps me a lot. Everything is well documented.
We work in a complex advertising setup, are selling in several countries, and have both Amazon Sponsored Products and Amazon Sponsored Brands campaigns running. Collab is simply and clearly structured, so I can always see what the status is.
I especially like the fact that I can see how far along the task is at the moment. There is a progress bar that makes it easy to see where we stand and what due dates are defined. It’s a great way to assess and prioritize my tasks.
Finch: Does Collaboration make working with Ben and the Finch team more efficient?
Michelle: Yes, definitely!
Finch: How has working with Finch changed since you started using Collaboration?
Michelle: Before we started using Collab, we had regular calls where we discussed our numbers. We spent part of that time talking about to-dos.
Since we’ve been using Collab, the exchange takes place almost daily within Collaboration instead, I’d say. New tasks are created all the time, and anyone can add additional information using the comment function. If I have a question, it gets answered super fast. I really appreciate that Ben is super responsive, even if there are some short-term requests from our side.
Something like “We want to do a special promotion in two days. Can we get this done?” With Collab, it’s much easier to cover these short-term requests on both ends.
Before using Collab, I had to write an email and of course, I got an answer, but you know how many emails you get in a day. Sometimes you just overlook it. I see these short-term tasks handled much more efficiently with Collab.
That Collab lets us communicate quickly and effectively is a great value-add.
An example was the series release of Star Wars The Mandalorian. The second season came out somehow was lost in the Christmas hustle between Prime Day and Singles Day. But we have a lot of products around it and are the only seller with licensing rights.
“I think that’s what makes Collab so special for me, is that it’s transparent, it’s easy to use, and that I have everything in one place and can document it well.”
— Michelle Hannemann, EMP
We needed to promote it the day of the release. Only two days before the series came out I gave Ben a list of needs, and the promotion was implemented. That was short notice on our side, but with Collab and Finch, we pulled it off really well.
Finch: How are you using Collaboration today?
Michelle: Together with Ben, we’ve structured Collab so that we have different goals for the different countries we sell in. For example, optimizing our ACoS (advertising cost of sale) is a goal.
We also had a goal for Christmas deals and promotions, where we simply set different boosts on different days in the pre-Christmas period. And we used a goal to create the objective for The Madelorian release where we agreed on a budget. Under that, we put the tasks for needed items and started executing
Finch: How would you rate the integration of Insights and Collab within the Finch platform?
Michelle: I really appreciate that I have direct access to all reports and that they’re stored in the right place. In the past, I used to download the numbers from somewhere, and sometimes they got lost in the folder structure because I named them strangely or something.
It’s now so well integrated into the Platform that to find this quickly will definitely be a clear value-add.
Once you understand the structure with the goals, objectives, and tasks levels, it’s really easy to use.
Take a Look at Finch Collaboration
If your eCommerce company’s digital marketing team could benefit from an innovative, efficient digital marketing workflow solution integrated with automated campaign optimization and Insights reporting across all your channels and platforms, contact Finch for a demo. We’re happy to show you what Collaboration and the Finch can do for your business goals.
