Simplifying content approvals with Adobe Express.

What is a content approval process?

A content approval process ensures that there are different stages where content is reviewed and checked before it goes live. The relevant people will need to be pulled in at each stage to assess the content and confirm that it meets the requirements of the business.

We’ve pulled together a typical breakdown of the recommended stages below. This could be used to shape your content approval process as needed.

1. Ideation
2. Briefing
3. Content creation
4. Quality checks
5. Legal reviews
6. Design stage
7. Final quality check
8. Staging check
9. Live review

Different business and content types require varying forms of approvals. In some cases, you may need to obtain budgetary approval before work can begin to cover the cost of studio shoots or paid voice overs.

Adapt the list of approval stages above to your business and needs to ensure content is reviewed, approved and adjusted to match the expectations of key stakeholders and executives.

What types of content need approval?

There are a huge number of content types out there now. Here, we’ve listed some of the ones that should go through a content approval process:

• Blog posts
• Product descriptions
• Social media posts
• Imagery – for sites and social media
• Videos
• Podcasts
• Thought leadership – external
• PR expert commentary
• Alt text
• Paid advertisements.

Who should be involved?

Who is involved at each stage depends entirely on the type of content being created, its focus and message.

Content that covers any technical or legal terms and conditions will need to be checked by your legal or risk team, for example.

A typical social media post may need to be reviewed by a content creator and digital marketing manager before it can be approved.

It’s a good idea to consider the types of content you intend on creating or typically create, then create tailored content approval processes for each of these to ensure the right people are involved.

Teams and individuals to consider for content approvals typically include:

• Brand managers
• Product experts
• Legal teams
• Senior executives
• Marketing managers
• Editors
• Risk managers.

Why are content approval workflows important?

The benefits of a strong content approval workflow being in place greatly outweigh the time it takes to set them up and implement them. Content approvals can help you:

Avoid miscommunication.

There’s nothing worse than something being put live that doesn’t match the brief because someone didn’t quite understand the requirements. An approval process gives everyone the opportunity to check in throughout the creation stages to make sure everything aligns.

Prevent live errors.

We’re only human and mistakes happen. An unfortunate typo, an out-of-date message or price, the wrong image being used… all of these can be avoided with a content approval workflow.

Ensure timelines are met.

If you’re working to tight deadlines, a content approval process lays out the expectations for when reviews and approvals are needed by. If these are set from the start, there should be no excuse for delayed content that could impact other areas of the business.

Move content between departments as needed.

If there is no set workflow to follow, sometimes approvals and reviews can quickly bottleneck across departments. An approvals process that spells out who has what to check and when can help alleviate this stress.

Stick to budget.

It’s easy for costs to mount up but setting these clearly at the start of the approvals process can help ensure everyone is aligned so things don’t get out of hand later.

5 top tips for a streamlined content approval process.

Keep momentum going and move that content from ideation to live with a streamlined content approval process. Tailor yours to your business needs and stakeholder requirements for a workflow that everyone can jump into and use.

Here, we’ve considered some of the key things to refine in your approval process to make sure everything and everyone works together as needed.

1. Define your content goals.

It’s imperative that everyone is working towards the same end goal.

If your content is being created to capture audience attention, everyone from the copywriter to the designer needs to be motivated by this. Define your goals and ensure these are conveyed at every stage of the approval process.

2. List the different stakeholders involved at each stage.

At each stage of the approval process, the key stakeholders should be identified and have the content shared with them.

This ensures that the content is seen by the right people and all considerations are covered. How the brand team looks at content will be different to how the legal team checks it but it’s important they are both included in the process.

3. Keep everything in a central place.

A content approval process is only successful if everyone is using the right documents. It’s easy for things to get missed or the wrong files to be shared when edits are being made along the way.

Adobe Express’s collaborator function is a great tool for this. You can keep everything in one place and simply share people into the project as needed, then they can add comments and recommendations at each stage of the approval process.

4. Ensure briefs are watertight.

Briefs should be always created with the overall goal in mind, and they also need to be checked by a senior lead overseeing the content.

Briefs need to cover all bases, even the things you’d consider to be self-explanatory. It’s important to never assume when creating a brief – include everything you can think of so that anyone can jump in and understand what’s needed from the content.

5. Map out the approval process on a timeline.

Key dates and deadlines for reviews should be communicated from the start. Map out the approval process in the form of tasks, assigned to each key person at each stage. This allows people to see from start to finish when things must happen and align as needed.