The Ultimate Guide to

CREATIVE
AUTOMATION

HOW SMALL MARKETING AGENCIES COMPETE

AND WIN IN THE DIGITAL ERA
Automation is at the heart and soul of business. Every time we innovate, we automate. Through
automation, we can turn painstaking, hands-on tasks into smart operations that run in the
background — leaving us to focus on the things we do best.

But in this world of rapidly changing tech, it can be intimidating to figure out exactly what and
how to automate your existing processes. Sometimes, it can even feel easier to just stick with
your current workflows, clunky though they may be.

But listen — easier now doesn’t mean easier in the long run. With the right process and
automation solutions, you can demolish bottlenecks and become more productive than you’ve
ever dreamed! if you aren’t embracing automation with open arms… then you aren’t taking the
opportunity to make work work for you.

But can you automate the creative process? Are creativity and automation compatible?
Yes you can, and yes they are!

Here are three easy ways how you can use automation to speed up your content development
process, break through design bottlenecks, and make the creative process work for you.

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 WHAT IS AUTOMATION?
Automation is the use of technology to speed up complex business processes.
An automated process is designed to remove bottlenecks, minimize errors,
reduce costs, increase transparency, and — everyone’s favorite — make
work faster.

Automations can track and manage files, automate repetitive tasks, and integrate
or reconcile data from multiple sources. According to Reuters, all companies are
tech companies now — and indeed, solutions are at your fingertips!

Automation is great for creative work. The traditional design process is

cluttered with many micro-operations that can overwhelm marketers and
entrepreneurs — tasks that don’t involve actual designing! Fortunately,
there are ways to trim the administrative workload so that you and your
designer can focus more on simple creativity.

01 Determine what (and what

not) to automate
Setting up design automation comes with a few challenges and, of course, costs. You may have
to pay for (or even build!) the tech you need — then you have to train your team to use it. In the
end, will your efforts be worth it? Or are you taking a shortcut that has long consequences?

That’s why the first question you should ask yourself is: How much time will you save by
automating and what will you do with that time?

Money is not the main consideration when you’re building an automation. Your first goal should
be to increase time and decrease human error. It’s possible that your new workflow is going
to cost a few big bucks. But if the time you save boosts your productivity and ramps up your
income, then you’re a winner in the long run.

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WAYS TO IDENTIFY AUTOMATION OPPORTUNITIES:

A Does it pass the 15-1-1- Litmus Test?

less than IF A TASK TAKES… more than

15 minutes 1 hour 1 hour

a day a week a month

… to do it yourself … to teach someone how to do it

… then it’s NOT ready … it’s time to AUTOMATE!

for automation.

B When are you sending manual notifications?

Typically, you’re sending notifications when work is ready for the next step. We’re
guessing today you send emails, add entries to spreadsheets, post comments in a project
management tool, hop on a video call, or send messages to a Slack channel. There’s room
for automation here to kick that manual time-suck to the curb.

Consider automating notifications for:

• Creative work that is ready for review

• Creative work that needs revisions
• Creative work that has been completed and filed
• Creative work that is ready to publish

Automated notification can be especially great for inter-department collaboration, driving

efficiency and moving projects forward faster.

PROOF POINT: Agency owner and CEO Adam Kopp reports that he saved
between 15 and 20 hours per week by plugging in a subscription graphic design
service into his agency, which helped him automate his creative processes.

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C Where do you need to reduce human error?

Examine your creative workflow for processes that are tedious and prone to
human error. These are tasks like:

• Record-keeping and data collection

• File backup and organization
• File naming and date tracking
• Tracking multiple revisions for a project

CASE IN POINT: This Design Pickle user automated his design process for social
media design requests to save time.

THE ZAP:
Add headshot Instant request submission
to Airtable for multiple images!

Now you should ask yourself, why haven’t you done this yet?!

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WHAT NOT TO AUTOMATE:
Real-time collaboration. Nothing beats the power of multiple minds. While
collaboration and ideation can be simplified and streamlined, this is not the place for
automation.

Creative feedback. This is where human input is key, because those revisions aren’t
going to write themselves! Fortunately, Design Pickle has taken one step toward
simplifying this process with a visual annotation tool that allows you to mark up a
design right on the file. (Genius, we know!)

Social media strategy. Strategy feeds your design concepts. Unfortunately, we don’t
have a way to automate this yet, so while time consuming, the strategy still needs that
human element.

Before you invest in a large-scale workflow automation solution, ask

yourself: Could it be fixed with a Zap?

A Zap is an automated workflow using Zapier that connects platforms via

“triggers.” For example, when a new design is ready for review, this can
trigger an alert. There are dozens of time-saving solutions that can be
created when you’re able to bridge actions from different apps!

Other productivity tools you can use in your design automation journey:

AIRTABLE NOTION GOOGLE SUITE

Make lists, track projects, Create smart and A full set of productivity
and organize info with collaborative lists and and collaboration tools in
smart spreadsheets. databases. one place.

CALENDLY LOOM GRAMMARLY

Set meetings with less Create and send quick Write confidently with
conflict and instant and easy audiovisual this English language
calendar invites. messages. assistant.

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02 Elevate remote work with a
solid communication structure
The nature of design work means designers usually spend hours or even days with minimal
supervision. Factor in remote work, and communication levels can be impacted to the point of
affecting productivity.

There’s a time and place for emails and online meetings. But impromptu, real-time exchanges
are crucial and irreplaceable. The solution is pretty simple: messenger apps.

No, you don’t want or need to be chatting with your designer all throughout the day. But
sometimes, a quick back-and-forth discussion is all you need to move a project to its next stage.
Some conversations don’t need to be a whole email thread! Look into solutions like Slack,
Discord, Facebook Messenger, or Google Chat.

For certain major announcements, a written bulletin or company email is enough. But there
are times when communication needs to be more engaging and interactive. Webinars, video
messages, and video conferences are essential to your company’s communication structure.
For these, you can use apps like Zoom, Loom, Skype, or Google Meet.

At Design Pickle, clients can communicate directly with their designer via
Slack during working hours.

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03 Work smarter, not harder,
with inter-app integration
As much as we want to consolidate all our work in as few apps as possible, that’s not really what
happens and we know it. Good thing it’s possible to make different apps cooperate, create one
single, seamless workflow. The solution: app integration.

Zapier is a software that automates work by connecting different apps. For

example, if you’re subscribed to an integrable service like Design Pickle, you can
use Zapier in the following ways:

• Send completed designs straight

to your WordPress Media Library
• Set up Slack notifications to let
you know if designs have been
delivered
• Instantly create cards on Trello
based on actions like request
completion or design delivery
• Submit requests to Design Pickle
through Asana
• Add entries to Google Sheets
with links to completed design
files

You can create over 2,000 “zaps” to help you work the way you want to work! As the folks at
Zapier say, your imagination is the only limit.

Set up automations with platforms you already use, like Slack, Dropbox, Google
Sheets, or Asana. There’s no need to buy or install new software. Bonus! You can
plug Design Pickle right into your current workflow with minimal adjustments on
your part.

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How Design Pickle can help:
Design Pickle is a subscription creative services company powered by custom technology and
a global subscription workforce. Design Pickle’s all-in-one creative services include graphic
design, custom illustrations, presentation design, and motion graphics.

The guided request form makes life easy. Design Pickle uses AI to simplify and
streamline the design request process. Music to your ears?! When you build a request
with Design Pickle, you’re provided with recommended file sizes and formats and you
can search for royalty-free stock images right from the request form. Say goodbye to
hunting down file sizes for your multi-channel marketing campaigns.

File management is a piece of cake. Design Pickle stores all of your revision history,
final designs, brand assets, and source files in one place, so you can find what you need
in just a few clicks.

Budget fluctuations are a thing of the past. Design Pickle offers flat-rate subscriptions.
Maybe last month you needed a lot more designs than you do this month. With a
subscription workforce, you won’t be stuck with the costs of an overinflated roster of
employees or slow-to-respond contractors hired through a marketplace.

Communicate with your designer in real time during your business hours via Slack and
connect Design Pickle with your favorite productivity apps with Zapier. Choose from
our Graphic Design, Custom Illustrations, Presentation Design, and Motion Graphics
services on designpickle.com/pricing.

Learn more about how you can automate your creative process at
designpickle.com/technology.

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