Today’s topic: How to improve marketing agility with content staging and version control?
Marketing agility is essential because so much relies on the digital marketplace. The ability to seize a marketing opportunity or a trending shift before the competition does a well-timed campaign release or an immediate change in messaging can put a brand in the lead (or trailing) position.
However, marketing agility can also contradict operational complexity. For example, multiple teams are tasked with the same campaign across multiple channels. That is why content staging and versioning are critical.
These two functionalities, found primarily in modern content management systems (particularly headless CMSs), offer the framework and oversight necessary to ensure adjustments can be made on the fly without sacrificing quality, uniformity, and branding.
Staging is the method by which content can be seen before it officially goes live in a not publicly accessible space. This added layer of a staging environment allows marketing teams to see how changes look in context, test on different devices and platforms, and ensure that messaging fits within the larger campaign scheme. Meet the team at a Storyblok event to learn how top brands leverage staging environments for faster, safer content deployment.
For example, with a staging environment, a marketing team can feel confident about moving quickly because new assets, changes, and edits to layouts are only viewed by themselves first, instead of by any customers, allowing them to determine if they like the change.
The second, however, is that the pressure is still alleviated because the protective layer exists. Staging is the space where things exist before they go live, and it’s critical to reduce risk but maintain speed.
Agile Marketing means campaigns need to happen rapidly and are often adjusted during their time. But where time is lacking, time isn’t the only thing that is lost. Increased risk is seen relative to mistakes and issues.
Staging reduces risk opportunities for failure because it gives the opportunity to edit in a closed environment. Projects come and go at a rapid pace, and things don’t get broken if custom pages don’t work or if live experiences clash.
When the time comes to launch a new product, pivot a seasonal promotion, or respond to industry trends, content staging allows teams to do so without any fear. When things can be seen behind the scenes first before a later publication, there’s no reason to risk crossing a live page.
In addition to staging, having version control over content assets allows even more room for nimbleness. Version control tracks edits over time so any one editor at any given time can see what was done and when, comparing edits against previous versions.
This allows for great transparency, and in this fast-paced world where marketing messages come and go, it’s good to know that previous versions still live attached to the assets as opposed to being deleted completely, since an editor doesn’t want to see what they don’t want to see any longer.
With staging and version control, teams can feel free to experiment and adjust their campaigns and their content to their hearts’ desire without concern that they’ll get lost or overwritten.
Marketing campaigns are never deployed by one person. Writers, designers, developers and more stakeholders help create the messaging for any one campaign. Without a means to stage and version track, collaboration can easily devolve into a quick mess.
Yet with content platforms that offer staging and tracking as features, multiple users can edit the same assets simultaneously without overlapping. Assets can be drafted, reviewed, and staged for edits so that everyone is on the same page and the final product is a collective effort.
Agile marketing doesn’t mean foolish marketing, but planned initiatives executed in a timely manner. Staging and version control enhance this planned capability by allowing content teams to better time and publish their work.
For example, teams can craft drafts ahead of time and stage them for internal review just as easily as they can get them pushed live on a determined timeline.
If changes are needed at the eleventh hour, it’s easy to grab a previous version quickly and push it live with little to no fanfare. This helps marketing teams better balance proactive and reactive initiatives.
Agile marketing is contingent upon testing and optimizing content in real time. Staging and version control allow for this ease as well by making it simpler to test more content variations, understand performance, and make changes in the moment.
Agile teams can easily stage A/B testing, leverage performance data, and publish the winning version while still keeping the others on the back burner for potential use later. This provides continual iterations, feedback, and optimization opportunities to keep content aligned with what the public wants.
Brand consistency shouldn’t suffer for the sake of speed. Content staging and version history ensure brand teams have the proper visibility into each piece of content edit, validating against established best practices. This type of automated governance means projects can go fast without concerns of tone, aesthetics, or compliance issues.
For example, if a brand steward doesn’t want a placeholder to go live, she can deny the staged content and revert changes easily, ensuring brand equity and consistency remain across all channels.
One of the most apparent advantages of being able to execute something quickly is in response to cultural changes, competitive moves, or timely opportunities.
So, whether it’s alignment with a trending hashtag or a well-timed PR rebuttal, being able to stage and go live within a day and do so without disrupting other campaigns provides a competitive advantage over those who are slower.
With the capability of content staging, these messages can be created ahead of time and stored without affecting live campaigns; once they’re approved, they can go live in seconds.
Agility isn’t just about going fast; it also gives teams the ability to do things they may not have considered in the past. When protected by staging approvals and version control, marketing teams are free to get experimental without worrying about how things could go wrong.
Moreover, they can test out messaging, visual executions, and small campaigns without threatening what’s live currently. This type of experimental freedom breeds creativity and unique ideas that help brands distinguish themselves from others.
As businesses grow, so does their personnel and customer base, as well as the volume and frequency of marketing programs. What starts as one marketing team on four channels quickly diversifies into a decentralized effort across different departments, different regions, and marketing programs rolled out in various fashions based on local needs and business objectives.
In the chaos of it all, having the ability to cohesively manage content, however, becomes a differentiator, and that’s where staging and version control in a headless CMS come into play.
In addition, global teams have access to the same vetted, watered-down branded assets from hero images to copy decks to CTA modules, so all buyer interactions are on the same page. And while they can customize aspects to suit local needs, they’re still working from the same foundation to enhance branding opportunities.
As such, the marketing experience is scalable, where decentralized teams can work more rapidly and creatively while top-level management knows that governance and branded efforts are consistent across the larger enterprise effort.
Staging and version control create a more powerful experience to execute campaigns fast, flexible, and always on, ready for scaled opportunities in any market.
Digital marketers fight against the clock to ensure everything is pushed out on time. Knowing who’s changed something, how frequently, and when it’ll go live are all concerns that simultaneously challenge all teams hoping to push out products.
Thus, versioning not only saves content but provides a detailed history of edits that allow teams to know what worked to their advantage, what didn’t, and how, so they can improve and change better down the road.
For larger marketing teams, more complicated endeavors, and longer run timelines, relying on more well-organized efforts, versioning management, and staging workflows will make sure content gets out correctly, on time, and efficiently, moving forward.
Where contemporary headless CMS solutions provide flexibility in operating and managing modular content and output across channels, many possess staging and version control features that only enhance agile marketing engagements.
Where the headless environment keeps the marketer on task with drag and drop capabilities and previews as they go, trustworthy workflow solutions keep the marketer apprised of changes made, when, and help eliminate duplicate efforts.
Being in the CMS is also the best way to avoid slowdowns in launch since everything is on-site, not spread out across various solutions.
Content Staging and Version Control – This is how we work faster without losing our sanity. Without a creative process. Without branding. Without team collaboration or worse, without integrated access. Content Staging allows us to edit in a safe space and seek collaborative opportunities brilliantly.
Version control provides the opportunity to test and a safe haven should we fail. To fulfill the transitory needs of a dynamic, sustainable marketing operation, content staging and version control are imperative relative to speed, collaboration, and experimentation. Moreover, they’re vital facets of a contemporary content system, especially when functioning from a headless CMS.
Why? Because the headless CMS fosters the ability to work rapidly with modular content, it has no bounds or limits as to reuse and API output across channels with their decoupled front and back ends; thus, having staging and version control at their fingertips almost guarantees efficiency through reliability without budget-intensive variables and redundancies from excess reliance.
As audiences’ engagements change, competition brews, and regional flavors come into play, locality markings are needed, but global alignment is crucial. Operating in real-time with brand-centric intentions makes all the difference to those with brand goals on the line.
They need to deploy cross-regional campaigns for feedback and results ASAP. They need to reintroduce successful efforts as fast as they’ve been able to adjust to any gaps in success.
For teams already stressed out with too little time and too much effort, investing in the placement of updates for content staging and whitelisted prioritized areas for version control structure is not just an exercise in effective workflow; it positions the team as prepared for success going forward.
Because it’s no longer about actionable content; it’s about sustainably-focused operational content that will make excellent execution of excellent ideas over and over again every single day!
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Barsha is a seasoned digital marketing writer with a focus on SEO, content marketing, and conversion-driven copy. With 7 years of experience in crafting high-performing content for startups, agencies, and established brands, Barsha brings strategic insight and storytelling together to drive online growth. When not writing, Barsha spends time obsessing over conspiracy theories, the latest Google algorithm changes, and content trends.
