• by Aaron Smith , April 10, 2008

Most anyone who's driven an email program would agree: it's a volatile, high-speed, NASCAR-style ride. As you zoom along the racetrack -- avoiding the potholes of ever-changing business goals, competing stakeholders, deliverability issues and rendering errors -- keeping the wheels on requires precision, a tough hide, plain old elbow grease and dumb luck.

In NASCAR racing, the folks in the pit crew determine the race winner just as much as the driver does. Each person has a specific set of responsibilities; it's the group effort that keeps the racecar running at the peak of efficiency. If anyone in the pit is off their game, odds are the team won't win the race - or even worse - the car could crash.
Just as effective pit strategy is essential to a successful NASCAR racing team, effective production strategy is essential to a successful email team. Let's take a look at three ways you can create production efficiencies and inspire the kind of teamwork essential to keeping the wheels on your program.

(1) Schedule pit stops. Following a detailed production schedule is the only way to stay on-track. The creation of each and every email message must follow a specific timetable from start to finish, with regular milestones along the way. While every organization has its own way of doing things, a simple 4-week schedule might look like this:
Creative Brief - 4/1
Creative Proof I - 4/8
Creative Proof II - 4/15
Creative Approval - 4/18
Files Coded and Tested - 4/24
Files Staged for Launch - 4/28
Creative Test Sent to Test List - 4/30
Message Sent to Entire List - 5/1
 
Planning milestones around days of the week - for instance, distributing Creative Proof II on Tuesdays - is a great way to secure your process, making it easy for stakeholders to know what to expect, when. And remember: a good, workable schedule doesn't need to be complex. In fact, the easier it is to update, the better; otherwise no one will ever use it ;)! It can live in a simple Excel spreadsheet.

(2) Create pre-race checklists. A good creative brief is the ideal vehicle for communicating a business teams' goals to a creative team. As with schedules, briefs needn't be complicated; a simple Excel spreadsheet or Word document will suffice. An effective creative brief should include the following:
(A)    A high-level summary of message topics, objectives, milestone schedules, stakeholder approvals, audience demographics and size.
(B)    Specific direction including - for instance, in the case of a retailer - primary and secondary message requirements, featured products, copy and subject line recommendations, proposed creative templates, relevant previous campaigns, and creative version and testing requests.

(3) Planning to win. In addition to creating production efficiencies, instituting a set library of creative templates puts marketing, business and creative teams on the same track from the get-go, cutting down on swirl and churn from message-to-message.

When establishing your template library, enroll all team members involved in your regular production process, from business and marketing through to creative.  That way you won't be in for any surprise pit crew protests once you start leveraging the template structures for real emails. The initial involvement of the whole group establishes a common language all team members can speak going forward.

A good template library should accommodate 95% of your messaging needs. If a message doesn't fit into one of your templates, you might want to go back to the drawing board. It may be that your message doesn't make sense, or that you're attempting to achieve too many things within one communication. Come production time, let your cool scheduling, brief and template planning keep you on-course in the heat of the craziest race.

Enjoy the ride!