Pitfalls of Internal Creative Workflow Discoveries

When an organization makes a technology or process change, it is essential to conduct change management by assessing previous workflows, processes, and production trends in order to make informed decisions regarding how to move forward with these changes. However, when marketing discovery processes are conducted in-house, organizations run the risk of turning a blind eye to problem areas and opportunities for improvement. Internal team leaders can be inadvertently biased about the functionality of processes and operations, and these biases can result in missing opportunities to better optimize workflows. 

In this blog, we’ll identify the major pitfalls that may occur when discovery processes are performed internally and how working with external discovery service professionals can help avoid these pitfalls.

What Is a Marketing Discovery Process?

As businesses evolve, grow, and restructure over time, teams adjust their processes to meet the changing needs of the organization. When undergoing these changes, existing processes, workflows, and technology can be found wanting and unable to meet the requirements of rapidly developing teams. A marketing discovery process is an in-depth analysis of a team’s needs, workflows, technology, and individuals to assess areas for optimization. The marketing discovery phase breaks down every piece of creative operations to identify and better understand gaps, risks, and pain points experienced by different members of the team. The benefits of an in-depth discovery process include:

• Improving the workflows and processes of every team member
• Saving time
• Streamlining communication
• Assessing current technology for better, more integrated solutions

Challenges of the Internal Marketing Discovery Processes

When conducting a discovery process of creative workflows, it is common to do so internally, without the perspective of external partners or professionals. Teams may choose to perform the process in-house for a number of reasons, such as time constraints, budgetary concerns, or a wary mistrust of bringing an outside group into internal operations. However, there are certain challenges of working only internally that can minimize the positive impacts of your discovery process.

Too high-level   

In some cases, discovery processes are initiated as a result of new technology integration. Because of this, internal teams will typically start at a very high project level as close to the technology as possible, rather than on a more granular level where many other obstacles arise. In fact, 65% of organizations conduct their discovery processes at the tactical or project level. By starting the process at the most granular level, leaders can gain visibility into where the roots of the problems lie.

Not including key members 

Discovery leaders, in working at a very high level, may leave out key members of every team during the process. In order to evaluate every issue throughout your workflows, leaders need to conduct interviews with members of every single team. Different teams have different priorities, and different team members bring varied backgrounds that contribute to a wide spectrum of perspectives. These interviews can inform the marketing discovery process with considerations from every level, discipline, and point of view.

Untrained discovery leaders

In many cases, the leaders placed in charge of discovery processes are trained as the leaders of their respective creative teams, but untrained in the skills and processes of professional investigatory work. As a result, innocent missteps can, at best, cause missed opportunities for better workflow optimization and, at worst, wreak havoc on the entire discovery process. Working with external professionals with discovery services expertise can eliminate internal biases, investigate granular workflow issues, and ensure all members and stakeholders are included in the discovery process. Some discovery professionals, such as the team at IO Integration, are also equipped with industry experience to offer discovery insights unique to creative operations within your industry.

Lack of follow-through

The overall goal of performing a marketing discovery process is to make informed, effective changes to optimize creative workflows and operations. When conducting the process in-house, an internal team may go through the steps of the discovery but lack the planning and foresight to transform that discovery into actionable changes. Working with an external discovery partner ensures that your teams receive educated recommendations and a thorough plan of action to optimize your workflows and make your operations more efficient. 

Work with Discovery Experts at IO Integration

Spearheading a marketing discovery process is an essential tool for optimizing your creative team workflows, but conducting it with only internal perspectives can limit the productivity of the process. The discovery experts at IO Integration can see the full picture of your team’s workflows and technology by implementing tested, successful discovery services. 

To learn more about how IO Integration’s discovery services can significantly improve your productivity and efficiency, contact us today.