Platforms designed to facilitate online proofing – that is, web-based review and approval of files – usually focus their efforts towards creative agencies, marketing teams for brands or printers who do custom print jobs. The proofing process is not confined to these creative individuals and teams, though. Proofing software shouldn’t be either.
The proofing process is something most of us are familiar with, whether you work in marketing, sales, human resources, education, community outreach, research and development and a whole host of other professions. If you have to make collateral of any kind that requires a second or third pair of eyes to look over it for you, online proofing software can be a huge asset for you.
Take Advantage of Online Proofing No Matter What You Do
As a proofing software, Ashore was designed with an emphasis on simplicity and flexibility. As a result, it hasn’t been pigeonholed into only fulfilling one particular task for a specific type of user. Ashore serves those both in and out of the creative industry in surprising ways.
Newsletters
Newsletters, the darlings of email marketing. Even if your business doesn’t have an email marketing strategy, the majority will still do periodic newsletters on a weekly, monthly or quarterly basis. From manufacturing to healthcare, they’re a key communication tool to share news and updates with customers, prospects, employees and other stakeholders. They keep your company name and brand at the forefront of people’s very cluttered brains.
Proofing a newsletter can be a long process, depending on how communicative employees are with the goings on at a company. In most cases, it usually involves sending several test emails and asking for feedback until you get it right, not the most efficient way to do things.
A proofing platform provides a much simpler way to review and collect feedback on your newsletter campaigns. On Ashore, you can easily send out each newsletter to the necessary approvers – either all at once or in an organized workflow – and they can leave their comments and suggestions right on the webpage. You’ll save time and the process will run a lot smoother.
Once you aren’t dragging your feet about your scheduled newsletter, you may just find you have time to expand your email outreach into developing other campaigns.
Websites
A website is the first impression for a prospective customer. It needs to hit all the right notes and communicate the value proposition to a T. Webpage design needs to consider many things: messaging, brand alignment, visual hierarchy, customer journeys and more. You’ll find when you show your website to different people, each person will focus on a different component of the design. That’s a good thing; that’s what makes their varied first impressions so valuable.
Proofing websites can be a confusing process. Do you just send your approvers a screenshot through email? Do you send them the link? But how will you know what precisely about the design is bothering them? By using a software that allows you to send a web page to your approvers – and allows your approvers to comment directly on the page – will give the process much more clarity.
You also need to consider how users will interface with it, no matter what device their on: desktop, laptop, tablet or smartphone. On Ashore you simply input the URL for the webpage you need to proof and Ashore will display it at different pixel widths, giving your approvers an idea of how the site will look on different screen sizes
Presentations
Presentations come in many shapes and sizes. You have short presentations for staff meetings, long, educational presentations for employee training, informative presentations for conferences, persuasive presentations for prospective investors or clients…you’re getting the idea. No matter what kind presentation you’re preparing, messaging and optics are key. That’s why it’s a wise move to shop your presentation around and get feedback.
Whether you’re the one doing the presenting or not, having a second, third or fourth opinion along with feedback on the presentation materials can only help you improve. Your approvers can markup directly on the presentation slides to let you know that you misspelled something or that they really have no idea what’s happening on slide twenty. And, if your presentation is long, Ashore offers a nifty feature where you can click a comment and go directly to that page – no need to search through all 200 slides of your software pitch deck.
With Ashore’s review links, you can drop a link to review your presentation in your family text chat and get everyone from your mom to your third cousin’s dog’s feedback, or simply share it in a Slack chat with your trustworthy coworkers to get their opinions. At no point will your approvers ever need to sign up for an account to review your proofs, not even the dog.
Everyone Needs Feedback
Let’s be real, do you make something – anything – and know that peer feedback could make it all the better? Then you’ll find online proofing to be a beneficial exercise for your work. We’ve only mentioned a few use cases above, but Ashore has been known to aid in proofing videos, podcasts, photography, training materials and more. Rather than conforming to the needs of a specific industry or organization type, our specialization is in streamlining approval and improving the quality of feedback regardless of your business.
In fact, our specialized proofing features can help you in novel and surprising ways. Automatic reminders save you a ton of time by keeping your proof at the top of your reviewers’ inboxes, and checklists help your approvers to remember what they need to be looking for before they hit “Approve”. This doesn’t even begin to cover organization; it’s easy to find all of your projects sent out and view the comments left a month from now, no need to dig through email or computer drives.
Don’t take our word for it, though. Try out Ashore today and see how our features make your online proofing process a breeze no matter what project you’ve gotten yourself into.
