Our latest update adds an expanded marketing content search feature. You can already search within each subject in the Library, and with the new search option, you can now search the entire exercise library from a single query.

From any screen in the Library, click on the new Exercise Search link in the upper right.

Enter your search criteria in the search box and your results will display in the panel to the right. You can download exercises here, modify the description and title, update with a new default and view the exercise subject.

This search feature indexes all exercise titles and descriptions, including any you’ve customized. Here I’ve changed Build Your House List to Growth Panel House List. The changes appear right in the search results, and when I search again for Growth Panel, my change is displayed.

This is helpful because this exercise is accessible from the Direct Mail section, but Email Marketing content also refers to it but doesn’t contain it, as we don’t list duplicate exercises in multiple subjects.

As you customize the exercises and descriptions, make sure to update the titles and descriptions with succinct details to make the search function more powerful.

This post is Part 5 in our series of different ways to get started in Growth Panel. In previous posts we’ve covered: 

• Tackling an immediate business challenge
• Managing an existing marketing project
• Expanding marketing expertise in a specific subject 
• Moving your entire marketing management to Growth Panel

Today I’ll show you how to train your team on a task using Library exercises and the Projects section.

The first question to ask is What am I training my team to do? Do you want to focus on a single task, such as preparing a campaign ROI projection? Or do you want to cover an entire subject, like Brand Strategy?

Either way, you’ll start by using exercises from the Library and the Projects section. Let’s take the latter example from above - training your team to develop brand strategies.

Review and Customize the Brand Strategy Exercises

Step 1 is to review the content and add any custom steps, description or instructions to the content.

From Library>Brand Strategy, download each exercise:

• Audit Your Current Brand
• Choose Your Brand Type
• Confirm Your Value Proposition
• Develop Your Brand Architecture
• Define Your Brand Strategy
• Develop Your Brand Story
• Define Your Visual Requirements
• Define Your Operational Requirements

You may want to create a folder on your desktop/network called “Growth Panel Exercises” and save them there for easy access. Open each exercise, review it and customize it as you wish. Then, set it as your new default (see instructions in this article).  Continue doing this until you’ve covered all the content your team will need.

Apply the Exercises to a Task 

Since the exercises are written to help users complete a task, the best way to train your team is to have them apply it to a real task. From Projects, create a new project titled Brand Strategy Training. (Note: Be sure that you’ve added your team members as users from the My Account section).

After saving the project, click on the Brand Strategy Training link from the main Projects view to enter the project details. Manually add a milestone (call it something like Brand Strategy Proficiency), and enter your target date for completion.

Then, click into the Library>Brand Strategy section and download the first exercise you’d like your team to complete.  Before you download the exercise, a new window will give you the option of attaching it to your project. Select your Brand Strategy Training project, and, since you don’t need to work on the exercise yourself, select Cancel when Word prompts you to open it.  This will attach the exercise as a task to your project so you don’t have to manually do it yourself.

After you’ve completed this for each exercise you want your team to complete, move back into your project area and you’ll see each exercise set as a task. Click on the task name to open the details, assign it to a team member and add the rest of the details. Be sure to attach it to your milestone to keep everything organized.

When you’re done, select the Comments icon and send a message to your team members notifying them they have new tasks. Have them complete each branding exercise using your own company as the target.  They should then load the completed exercises to each corresponding task.

Give Feedback and Repeat

Review your team’s completed work, and discuss the results. Some managers prefer to add comments directly in Word and upload the revised files; others prefer to meet face-to-face. It’s your call.

Have your team apply the same exercises to different targets/scenarios for repetition, comprehension and varying perspective. After completing a task/subject a few times, your team will start to feel comfortable applying it to any target.

In previous posts we’ve covered how to get started in Growth Panel for a few different business needs: 

• Tackling an immediate business challenge
• Managing an existing marketing project
• Expanding marketing expertise in a specific subject 

Today I’ll show you how to start adding your own marketing files and assets so you can use Growth Panel as your single marketing platform. 

Upload Your Own Files & Assets

When you upload your existing files to Growth Panel, you provide a centralized repository where your entire team can easily access all your assets.  This may take some time, depending on how your files are currently organized, but once you’ve arranged your Growth Panel Library, it will serve as a huge time saver. 

What types of files should you load? 

• Past work product referenced in new projects
• Articles, pdfs and how-to documents
• Marketing plans, past campaign plans & campaign projections
• Results from past campaigns
• ROI calculations
• Lists
• Proposals from vendors
• Strategy documents
• Campaign creative assets
• Corporate identity files
• Past creative briefs
• Sales tools, marketing collateral and presentations
• Revenue projections 

Upload your files to the File Cabinet, and tag each one so you and your team can view them there or in the Library>Our Files panel.

Start by creating a sub-folder structure in the File Cabinet. You can organize your subfolders as you see fit, but the simplest solution is to create one subfolder called Initial Uploads. Since you can tag your files for access from the Library, you’ll be able to also view them there from the Our Files panel within your tagged subject.

Decide whether this folder (and all the documents in it) should be accessible to your team, or just to you. If the entire team will need access, create the subfolder in Team Documents. 

Now it’s time to organize the files on your hard drive or network so you can use bulk file tagging to make uploading easier. I recommend creating a Growth Panel folder on your local drive/network and creating 29 sub-folders-one for each business subject. This allows you to upload 5 files at a time for a single tag. Open the Library to see a list of subjects.  A few examples are: 

• Competitive Positioning
• Brand Strategy
• Distribution Channels
• Other subjects

Next, organize your files into the folders on your local drive. When you’re ready, click Upload a File in the File Cabinet. From here you can upload five files at a time tagged for the same subject. Select the folder type, the sub-folder and the tag that corresponds to the designated sub-folder. 

When uploading is complete, you can view the files in the Library by the subject you’ve chosen with your tag. 

Add Your Own Intelligence to the Library Base Exercises 

Step 2 is to update and customize the base Library exercises with your own intelligence and processes. For example, let’s say you want to add some custom steps to Exercise 24 - Define Your Brand Strategy - and set it as a default exercise. 

The exercise in its current state focuses on shaping your brand strategy around your value proposition, your most powerful emotional benefits, your three brand means, your brand personality traits and your brand promise. But there are other approaches to branding. For example, if you prefer to use a custom brand strategy that’s focused around your dominant selling idea and your customer personas, no problem; simply add it to this exercise. 

To accomplish this, open exercise Exercise 24, save it locally in your Growth Panel folder on your network or desktop, and add your custom brand strategy process to the exercise Word document. When you’re done, save it, and open your File Cabinet. Create a subfolder in your Team Documents called Updated Exercises. 

Upload your file here, and then go to the Library, to the original Exercise 24 in the Brand Strategy subject area.  Select the Attach Custom File option on the right. This will open a window where you can select your updated file and set it as the default exercise. 

Once you’ve customized exercises and set them as new defaults, it’s a good idea to change the exercise descriptions in the Library using the Edit option. This way you can ensure the document names and descriptions match your new exercises. 

 Create Standard Plans for Your Common Marketing Projects

Step 3 is to create a set of custom plans in the Plan Creator for your most common marketing activities. If you’re a consultant, you may want to create a handful of custom plans that cover your core offerings. This will make it easier to create new proposals and project plans-you simply copy and modify them, rather than creating new ones from scratch. 

If you’re a marketing director, you may want to create a few standard plans for your most repetitive tasks. Examples could be: 

• Designing a new campaign
• Measuring campaign results
• Updating your website
• Hiring a new team member 

Here’s a video that walks you through creating a plan from scratch. After you’ve created your plan and saved it, copy the plan and save it under a new name. After saving the new plan, you might want to open it and add a client’s name and any language specific to that client’s project, but 90-95% of the work will already be done. 

And here’s a quick and valuable tip: An all-encompassing initial business challenge that will enable you to access any subject in the Library (delivering 57 sub-options) is the first option in option 5 - Learning:

 I want to learn about a specific subject I’ve never done 

In the next post I’ll show you how to train your team on a task using Library exercises and the Projects section.