Marketing agency workflow: one job from brief to delivery
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In a marketing agency, the workflow is the path one piece of client work takes, from the moment a brief comes in to the day you deliver it. Each step has one owner, and each step ends with something passed to the next person. When every job follows the same path, jobs stop stalling between people and fewer details slip.
What does a marketing agency workflow look like from brief to delivery?
It looks like a short row of steps that every job moves through, with one owner at each step and a clear thing that moves on. Here's one job, a landing page for a client, from start to finish.
| Step | Who owns it | What moves to the next person | What gets checked |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brief in | Account lead | The written request, files and due date | Is the goal clear, and is everything attached? |
| Scope check | Account lead | A yes, or a note on what's out of scope | Does this fit what the client pays for? |
| Assign | Project lead | The job, with a named maker and a date | Does that person have the hours this week? |
| Make | Designer, developer or writer | The first version | Does it match the request, line by line? |
| Internal check | Project lead | A checked version, ready for the client | Would you send this with your name on it? |
| Client review | The client's one approver | One set of notes, in one place | Are the notes clear enough to act on? |
| Changes | The maker | The revised version | Was every note handled, and nothing new added? |
| Deliver | Account lead | The final files, or the live page | Did the client get what the request asked for? |
A few things make this table work in real life:
- One owner a step. Two owners means nobody owns it.
- Nothing moves on half done. If a request is missing a file, the job waits at step one, not at step four.
- The internal check comes before the client sees anything. A mistake caught inside the agency never reaches the client.
Writing these steps down once lets the work run the same way without you in every step. For every process at once, see the processes a marketing agency runs.
Here's one example of the assign and check steps from outside help. When DeskTeam360's team takes a task, its North American account manager picks the right person for it, runs the schedule and checks the work, all before it lands with you.
A step-by-step list of what to hand off is a good place to start. DeskTeam360's free task delegation template includes a video on how to use it, and you get it by giving your email.
How do digital marketing agency workflows handle reviews and approvals?
They handle reviews by naming one approver on the client side, setting how many review rounds a brief allows, and keeping all feedback in one place. That keeps the changes step from turning into an open loop.
- Name one approver. Ask the client who gives the final yes. Other people can comment, but one person signs off.
- Agree on the rounds up front. Put the number of review rounds in the request or the scope, before work starts.
- Keep notes in one place. Use one thread or one tool for comments, not email, chat and calls all at once.
- Send one version at a time. Label each version, so nobody comments on an old one.
- Close the loop in writing. When the approver says yes, note it where the job lives.
Questions to settle with each client before the first review:
- Who signs off, and who only comments?
- Where do comments go?
- What counts as a change, and what counts as a new request?
- What happens when notes from two people disagree?
A project tool can hold the steps, the approver and the notes in one spot. For setting the project tool up, see setting up a project tool for a marketing agency.
Once your workflow is steady, you can have it written up instead of typing it yourself. DeskTeam360's team can write up a process as process documentation, as one task among many it takes.
The template fits owners at any stage, even if there's no team yet. It's free, and you get it with your email.
More on Process, time and capacity
- Agency time tracking software: why and how to track hours
- Creative agency resource management: planning next week's work
- Agency utilization rate: the number that says you're full
- All guides
Sources
- DeskTeam360's founder, Jeremy Kenerson, on running an agency, from his own notes (not published)
- DeskTeam360, home page, deskteam360.com
- DeskTeam360, AI workflows page, deskteam360.com/services/ai-automation, and the post on tasks a team can take off your plate, deskteam360.com/blog
- DeskTeam360, Ultimate Task Delegation Template page, start.deskteam360.com/ultimate-task-delegation-template
What changed
- : first version.