Background
Nectar First is a Toronto-based social media agency specializing in influencer marketing for medical clients and consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies. The agency manages comprehensive influencer campaigns and ambassador programs for US-based brands.
Before working with Ace Workflow, Nectar First's account managers spent significant time handling manual communications, searching for information across scattered email threads, and managing complex regulatory requirements for their medical clients.
Problem
Nectar First relied heavily on email, creating a fragmented system that impacted efficiency and client satisfaction. The lack of centralized information management affected both their influencer campaigns and brand ambassador programs.
Challenges:
- Scattered Information: Campaign briefs and critical documents were dispersed across numerous email threads, making information retrieval time-consuming.
- Regulatory Compliance Burden: Medical client requirements demanded meticulous documentation and compliance verification, all managed manually.
- Budget Surprises: Miscommunications in the fragmented workflow often resulted in unexpected costs for clients.
- Ambassador Program Inefficiencies: Manual management of brand ambassador briefings, content submissions, and incentive tracking consumed excessive time.
- Email Dependency: All stakeholder communications—from initial outreach to content approvals—required manual email management.
Solution
We applied our 'Minimize Manual' process to create an integrated workflow system that addressed Nectar First's challenges, with specialized solutions for both influencer management and ambassador programs.
Influencer Management Workflow:
- Automated Outreach and Data Collection: Implemented a system for mass email outreach with personalized magic links, allowing influencers to submit rates, media kits, and reach data through a dedicated portal.
- Contract Automation: Created a streamlined process displaying initial offers in the portal, generating unique contracts for each influencer, and facilitating digital approval and signing through PandaDoc integration.
- Compliance Management: Developed campaign-specific training modules with customizable compliance quizzes, attestation tracking, and automated regulatory documentation.
- Content Workflow: Built a centralized brief distribution system with structured treatment submission, multi-stage review processes, and final content approval workflows.
- Regulatory Export System: Automated the generation of compliance documentation for medical clients with notification systems and a dedicated client access portal.
Ambassador Program Workflow:
- Briefing and Submission System: Created backend templates for brands to create briefs with automated notifications to ambassadors, submission portals, and approval workflows connecting to legal review.
- Resources Hub: Established a centralized repository for brand guidelines, FAQs, creative examples, and self-service training materials.
- Incentives Tracking: Developed systems to monitor ambassador referrals, community engagement, and manage incentive approvals.
The Transformation
From: Managing campaigns through scattered email threads, spending hours searching for information, handling manual compliance documentation, and struggling with budget surprises for clients.
To: Operating through an integrated portal system with automated workflows for outreach, contracts, compliance, content management, and ambassador programs—creating a central source of truth accessible to all stakeholders.
Direct Impact
The implementation of the 'Minimize Manual' process led to significant improvements in Nectar First's operations:
- Time Savings: Eliminated hours spent searching through emails and managing manual processes.
- Budget Management: Prevented client budget surprises by improving communication and documentation.
- Compliance Efficiency: Streamlined regulatory compliance for medical clients through automated documentation.
- Resource Reallocation: Enabled the team to focus on higher-value strategic activities instead of administrative tasks.
- Stakeholder Experience: Improved the experience for influencers and brand ambassadors through intuitive portals and clear processes.
- Cross-Brand Integration: Successfully incorporated multiple brands (Heinz, Ore-Ida) into a unified system while maintaining brand-specific requirements.
