The Essential Guide to Choosing the Right Online Proofing Software for Your Marketing Team

Amid increased competition in today’s fast-paced digital marketing world, marketing teams must collaborate extensively to develop, review and approve an abundance of digital content in different formats. A successful marketing team can produce everything from social media graphics and video ads, to blog posts and landing pages, and do so at a pace that mandates an efficient workflow to facilitate the task of delivering high-quality content on time. For this reason, online proofing software has become a fixture for numerous marketing teams. 

Using an online proofing tool allows content creators and clients to collaborate in real-time, efficiently proofing and approving content before it goes live. With a plethora of solutions available, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed when it comes to choosing the best software for your specific needs. On the Aproove blog today, this guide will break down the features of online proofing tool, as well as the main considerations when choosing the right tool for your marketing team.  

Why You Need Online Proofing Software 

Long before you even begin to consider what the best tool is, it helps to understand why online proofing software is such an important resource for marketing departments: 

Lean Collaboration: Great marketing content seldom comes from just one person. You might have to work with graphic designers, writers, managers, clients – and keeping track of their feedback usually involves long email threads with countless notes. Proofing software centralizes feedback, eliminating the disarray of emails and notes.  

Version Control: No more tasks that involve managing four different file versions through an email conversation. Everyone in the team reviews the same content, which is the most up-to-date version of a document based on the online proofing tool. 

Faster Approvals: Online proofing expedites the feedback process and standardizes approvals, helping marketing teams meet tight deadlines. 

Better accountability: Proofing software’s workflows and task features hold team members accountable for their feedback, revisions and approvals. 

As you can see, already the huge value of online proofing software is made clear.  

So, let’s look at how you can find the right one for your marketing team… 

Key Features to Look for in Online Proofing Software 

For a team that is online proofing, there are several features that should be kept in mind to select the best proofing software. Here’s an overview of the key ones that can help you get your marketing up to speed. 

1. Compatibility with Different File Types

Marketing teams work with a wide range of media, from text to video or image. Your proofing tool should support the following file types:  

• Images (JPEG, PNG, TIFF) 

• PDFs 

• Videos (MP4, AVI) 

• HTML and web designs 

• Interactive documents and more 

Make sure the online proofing can handle the file types your team usually works with, whether you’re reviewing a blog post or approving a video ad for YouTube.  

2. In-Depth Annotation and Markup Tools

One of the most important features of most online proofing tool is the ability to provide in-depth feedback on content. Ensure that the tool you select allows for extensive annotation and markup, such as:  

• Commenting on specific areas of the content (e.g., drawing circles, adding arrows) 

• Highlighting text or design elements 

• Time-stamped comments for videos 

• Text suggestions and inline edits for written content 

This will enable your team to supply crisp feedback and minimize ambiguity, as well as reduce the number of iterations required. 

3. Automated Workflows

If your marketing team is busy, you can’t have an efficient system that requires everyone to constantly check what other people from the team have to review. Make sure the online proofing tool has automated workflows that you can configure with stages such as:   

• The design team reviews and provides feedback. 

• Then, the marketing manager approves the content. 

• Finally, the client signs off before the content goes live. 

These workflows can be encoded in the software so that nobody can block the process, and everyone knows who’s supposed to do what. 

4. Real-Time Collaboration and Feedback 

Collaborative real-time working is a key advantage of online proofing – particularly important for time-critical projects. Check that your online proofing tool enables team members to:  

• See comments and annotations instantly 

• Respond to feedback in real-time 

• Track changes as they happen 

This real-time collaboration no longer creates bottlenecks and dramatically accelerates the entire review process to ensure your marketing campaigns go out on time. 

5. Version Control and Comparison

In any review of content, changes will need to be made and the ability to manage multiple versions due to the iterative process can be a challenge. Your online proofing software should have a version-control feature that allows team members to:  

• Access past versions easily 

• Compare different versions side by side 

• See a history of changes made to the content 

This way, everyone knows whom to defer to on the latest versions and what has been approved or changed. 

6. User Permissions and Roles

Not everyone on your team will need access to all functions. The right online proofing tool will give you the option to assign roles and permissions to users, such as:  

• A designer might only need to upload and annotate designs. 

• A manager should have the ability to approve content. 

• A client may only need access to give final approval. 

Assigning roles ensures a smooth review process and avoids any unauthorized changes or confusion.  

7. Mobile Accessibility

It’s also important to choose an online proofing tool that is accessible on mobile devices because marketing teams are always on the move and, even if your team is 100% office-based, team members frequently work remotely between meetings or when travelling. Having access to the proofing tool and the ability to review, add comments and approve content from a phone or tablet can be a true advantage. A touch-friendly responsive design or a dedicated mobile app can go a long way.  

8. Reporting and Analytics

Understanding how long something takes to progress through review can be essential for managing workflow. Some online proofing tools offer reporting and analytics that show:  

• Time taken for each review stage 

• The most frequent bottlenecks 

• Who is approving content quickly and who is causing delays 

These insights can help you fine-tune your processes for greater efficiency. 

9. Integration with Other Tools

Chances are, your marketing team is already using a number of other tools, (maybe such as Aproove!), design software (Adobe Creative Suite) or communication tool (Slack, Microsoft Teams), and it is crucial to find online proofing that can integrate with your existing workflow so as not to affect the smooth running of your team. 

Some offer direct integrations; others offer application programming interfaces (APIs), which provide a bridge between software programs, allowing for plug-and-play or custom integrations. Either way, the integration will smooth processes and increase productivity. 

10. Security Features

In particular, if you are dealing with sensitive marketing materials (say in finance, insurance, healthcare or tech), you need to ensure that the online proofing software you use has security features, such as:  

• Encrypted data transmission 

• User authentication and password protection 

• Compliance with industry standards like GDPR 

The ability to control who can see which files and restrict sharing of the data is required to protect intellectual property and information sources with sensitive client data. 

Considerations Based on Team Size and Needs 

For Small Teams 

If your marketing team is lean, you might not need all the features – excellent version control is a must, as is annotation, plus an advanced workflow automation system might be helpful; but if you have a small company, cost might be a particularly important consideration, in which case find software that has multiple pricing plans for smaller-tier teams. 

For Large Teams 

Larger marketing teams might have more complex workflows and produce more content, and then you’ll want to pare down your shortlist to see which products have features that will help with advanced workflow automation, role-based permissions and detailed reporting; also, consider how easy it will be for the software to scale with your team.  

For Agencies 

If the marketing agency has many clients, you will want online proofing software that can manage multiple jobs at the same time. Client portals are useful too, as they allow each client to see only their content, rather than having to skim over everyone else’s. Reporting facilities can be very useful to keep your clients up to date and increase the transparency of the whole process. 

Investing the time upfront to find the right online proofing for your marketing team will create a frictionless feedback loop that will expedite approvals, improve collaboration, and deliver accurate marketing content on time. Knowing how your team operates and what is most important (file compatibility, collaboration, a secure place for feedback, integrations) will help you navigate towards a software solution that delivers efficiency and improves time to market. As your company grows, your proofing tool should too.