Defining someone within your organization who has the final word in approving content will drive your content marketing program forward.
Many organizations are excited about the ROI (return on investment) opportunities associated with content marketing programs. However, one of the biggest pitfalls companies face in implementing their program is failing to determine who will have the final word in approving content.
Having a defined individual within the organization tasked with approving content is critical to scaling up your content marketing program. Find out why it matters.
Who should have the final word in approving content?
- In small B2B companies ($2 million or less in revenue), the final authority is likely the CEO of the company or the top marketing executive.
- For mid-sized B2B businesses (between $2-10 million in revenue), this responsibility falls to the head of marketing or a comparable role.
- With large B2B enterprises (greater than $10 million in revenue), this role falls to the head of content marketing.
The exception to all of the above is content that requires a compliance review or regulatory review. In those instances, the final approver is ultimately going to be the chief compliance officer.
How should you craft content approval guidelines?
When establishing a content approval framework within your organization, set up a two-step process:
- Approve the proposed content outline.
- Approve the final article.
By creating a detailed article outline and submitting it to the executive sponsor for approval, it allows the sponsor to understand what is going to be written and how it will be conveyed before the first word of content is even created.
The final content approval should really just be a quick review. to ensure that the content reflects the outline. It also should serve as a spot-check to ensure that the writer used the proper style, structure and language (e.g., spelling/grammar errors).
How long does it take to approve content?
There’s the gold standard of approval times. Then there is reality.
Most organizations take too long to approve content internally. There are many reasons why this happens:
- No one has the final word in approving content.
- The content must go to different departments for review.
- The content marketing program is missing an executive sponsor, and as a result, content approvals are de-prioritized.
Regardless of the issue, your company should establish and strive to meet the gold standard. This means that no piece of content should remain in review for more than a business week – assuming that one or two people within the company are doing the content reviews.
If your organization is taking more than five business days to review a piece of content, you likely have internal operational problems that need to be addressed immediately.
It’s those operational problems that directly affect your company’s ability to scale up your content marketing program.
What can help speed up content approvals?
We have a few recommendations:
- Name an individual as the content approval king. That person should have both the authority and the responsibility to approve content.
- Establish (and document) a service level agreement with that approver. The approver needs to be able to commit to a specific turnaround time.
- Implement a periodic internal meeting. Schedule the meeting at least weekly (more often depending on how much content you create). The meeting should include the executive sponsor, or more specifically, the individual that’s approving the content.
By using a regular cadence, the meetings will allow the content marketing program to stay on track. More importantly, it’ll be a mechanism to ensure that the appointed approval person commits to and delivers on their responsibilities.
In summary
If you have a content marketing program and it is taking your company more than five days to review and approve content, then you have to step back and fix the problems first. Otherwise, you’re not going to be able to scale.
Establishing a final content approver with sole authority, having a regular reporting process and implementing an SLA are all critical components to ensure that a content marketing program can scale and achieve the results that the CEO is looking for.
Need help?
Determining who will have the final word in approving content is only one part of implementing a successful content marketing program. If you have a content marketing program or are planning one, download our ebook 100 Mistakes Businesses Make When Starting, Optimizing and Scaling Content Marketing Programs.
This ebook will walk you through the mistakes of hundreds of other companies and the challenges they faced in implementing their content marketing programs. To learn more about how Tempesta Media can help you streamline your content creation process and deliver quality content at scale, contact us today.
