Updated on May 15, 2024
As a seasoned marketing professional, you are well-acquainted with the never-ending stream of ad-hoc demands coming from your local teams, sales representatives, and various stakeholders.“Can you resize that ad for our local newspaper?” “Urgent: Need a social post for tomorrow's local event!” These ad-hoc demands can feel like death by a thousand paper cuts, slowly draining your team's productivity and morale.
But there's hope. By implementing the right strategies and tools, you can take control of one-off requests and unlock your team's potential. In this blog, we'll share four proven tactics for minimizing ad-hoc demands and empowering your local partners.
Before we dive into solutions, let's take a closer look at the toll these requests can take:
Lost productivity: Every hour spent on an unplanned request is an hour not spent on critical campaigns and initiatives. For a team of 10 marketers, even 5 hours per week per person translates to 2,600 hours per year - that's 325 lost workdays!
Opportunity cost: When your team is bogged down with one-off requests, they can't devote their full energy to high-impact work like developing your marketing strategy, analyzing campaign performance, or exploring innovative tactics.
Inconsistent local messaging: Without proper guardrails, one-off requests often lead to off-brand messaging and visuals in local markets. This drip-drip effect slowly erodes your brand identity and confuses customers.
Strained relationships: The constant back-and-forth between the central marketing team and local partners can breed resentment on both sides. Local partners feel unsupported, while HQ feels unappreciated.
To crystalize the challenge, here are some common examples of one-off marketing requests:
Ready to take action? Here are four tactics to minimize ad-hoc demands and empower your local teams:
Eliminating one-off requests entirely isn't realistic. But you can reduce their impact by proactively allocating time for them.
Tools like Asana or Monday can help you track planned vs. unplanned work to strike the right balance.
Chasing down requests across email, Slack, sticky notes, and hallway chats is a recipe for missed deadlines and duplicate work. Consolidating all requests into a single intake system is a game-changer.
By designating one place for housing all incoming requests, your team can efficiently prioritize and assign work without missing a beat. An additional benefit is that your stakeholders will be kept informed of the ongoing status and the designated person responsible for managing the request.
What if local partners could get the assets they need without bombarding you with emails? Enter the self-serve marketing portal.
A self-serve brand portal streamlines communication, allowing local teams to swiftly access, personalize, and distribute the necessary content without the hassle of endless email exchanges.
Editable templates are a powerful way to maintain brand standards while giving local teams the flexibility to personalize content either manually or (partially) automated. Look for a brand templating tool that supports:
With smart templates, one-off requests for routine localizations become a thing of the past. Local teams can create on-brand, customized assets in minutes, not days.
→ Dive deeper into the ROI of dynamic brand templates
By implementing these four strategies, leading brands have seen significant results like:
But the value goes beyond hard numbers. When you minimize ad-hoc interruptions, your team is free to focus on the strategic, proactive work that drives real business growth. And when you empower your local partners with efficient self-service tools, you build a positive culture of trust and collaboration across your organization.
Managing one-off requests can feel like an uphill battle, but it doesn't have to be that way. By balancing planned and reactive work, centralizing intake, enabling self-service, and automating with templates, you can dramatically reduce ad-hoc demands.
It's not just about efficiency - it's about unlocking your team's full potential and building more authentic connections with local customers. When everyone has the tools and processes to create effective, on-brand marketing, your entire organization wins.
Ready to take control of one-off marketing requests? Use this checklist to get started:
✓ Analyze your current ratio of planned vs. reactive work
✓ Choose a request intake and management tool
✓ Set up a self-service portal for approved assets
✓ Implement dynamic templates for key content types
✓ Train your team and local partners on the new systems
✓ Regularly review and optimize your process
With the right strategies and tools, you can transform one-off requests from a drain on resources to an opportunity for growth. Embrace the change and watch your team thrive!
Ready to take control of one-off marketing requests and unlock your team's potential? See how Marvia's platform can help you streamline workflows, empower local partners and drive better results.
> Request your free demo today and start working smarter, not harder!