Editorial workflow can be messy. There are too many stages involved, too many approvals, and often something like 15 interested parties getting out their red pen to make unnecessary changes. It shouldn’t be this hard.

So how do you streamline your editorial workflow processes to ensure they’re as efficient as possible while still remaining flexible?

This week James, Nic and Sarah go in search of some insights from traditional newsrooms. Their guest is long-time journalist and Lush – The Content Agency’s managing editor, Dan Hatch.

Here are some key take-outs:

•  The editorial process should be as linear as possible: Articles are assigned, written, reviewed and then published. Everyone on the team should have a defined role and as few people should be involved as possible (especially in the review process).
• The key to achieving this is trust; build a good team of writers and trust them to deliver. Build trust with your client to the point where they don’t feel they have to endlessly review every piece of content.

“It’s marketing’s job to get out of the way. If you want to have a good process then what you need is to allow your writers or brand journalists to do their jobs without constant interference from subject matter experts, boards of directors, executive teams, product managers… otherwise the audience will never be served. — Sarah

•  Communication is key. Have a clear editorial calendar and make sure all your team is working from it, so everyone is “singing from the same song sheet”.
• Have defined roles for everybody. Make sure everyone in the chain knows exactly what their responsibilities are and to whom they’re delivering their content.

“Once you know someone is good at the role you’ve defined for them. Trust them to deliver. They’ve got a deadline, they will deliver by that deadline.” — Dan

•  Your workflows and processes should support your overarching strategy. Clients will have more faith in you if they can see everything fits into wider plan.
• Give your writers enough time to produce quality articles. But be nimble and flexible when something comes up that requires a quick turnaround.

 “You have to be responsive. You have to be able to see opportunities and put your response together quickly to get the maximum amount of engagement. ” — Nic

Here are the links you might need

Here’s Brand Newsroom Episode 59 featuring James Dillon of Gorilla 360, who suggested this week’s topic:

• You can find James on Twitter here, too.
• You can also find Dan Hatch on Twitter here.

Have you heard the one about…

Recently James, Sarah and Nic took a close look at brand journalism versus traditional journalism.

And here’s a chat from a couple of weeks ago about how the major shake-up of the new industry is a real opportunity for content marketers.

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