How to use the global editorial system

How to use the global editorial system

What is MAILINGWORK's global editorial system?

MAILINGWORK's global editorial system solves a typical problem for many companies: Imagine you have ten locations, all creating their own newsletters - with different designs, colors, and even different logos. The result is an inconsistent external appearance that weakens your brand and unnecessarily wastes resources.

The editorial system acts as a central interface for all newsletter content and combines central content provision with your decentralized structures. It works like a well-organized library - all important materials are centrally available, but each location can specifically access the content it needs.

The most important functions at a glance:

  1. Bundle marketing resources through content sharing
  2. Ensure consistent corporate identity
  3. Avoid quality differences between locations

The global editorial system offers you comprehensive content management:

  1. Easily distribute templates and images between accounts within the client system
  2. Create and maintain newsletter templates centrally
  3. Account constants for consistent local customizations
  4. Share complete mailings
  5. Create and distribute landing pages, survey templates, and campaigns centrally
  6. Provide content blocks, image personalizations, and subscription/unsubscription setups

For these contents you use the editorial system

The spectrum of available content ranges from simple design elements to complex marketing campaigns. Your newsletter templates form the heart of the system and already contain all important design elements of your corporate identity. For example, you can provide different template variants for different occasions for your client system - from product launches to customer magazines.

Basic equipment (all variants):
  1. Newsletter templates and corporate design templates
  2. Images, graphics, and content from media management
  3. Account constants such as imprint, addresses, contact persons, logo variants
Account constants are ideal for the editorial system as they automatically insert location-specific information such as imprint, contact persons, or language versions into the email templates. As soon as a local team uses an email template, the appropriate data is directly and correctly adopted.

Extended content (Advanced variant):
  1. Complete newsletters and mailings as templates
  2. Landing pages with templates for consistent design
  3. Survey templates for professional surveys
  4. Content blocks with text, image, and call-to-action elements
  5. Campaigns and target groups
  6. Image personalizations and organizational folders
  7. Registration/unregistration setups for standardized processes


What you must consider before distributing content

Careful preparation is crucial for the success of your global editorial system. Rights management forms the foundation and deserves special attention.

Plan rights management strategically:

You must first determine which employees should receive the "sharing" right. This authorization determines who can create new content and distribute it organization-wide. Find a balance between flexibility for content creation and necessary control over quality and brand compliance.

You can edit your users' rights under Administration > User Roles, under the "Permissions modules" tab you will find the sharing right.


Set up folder structure:

A logical folder structure significantly facilitates daily work with the editorial system. Create a central sharing folder as the main hub and structure subfolders by locations, teams, or topics.

It is important that the central sharing folder can be used across accounts, thus acting as a target folder when content is distributed in a sub-account, for example. To make a folder usable across accounts, first open the desired folder under Administration > Folder Management and switch to the Access tab. Here you can share the folder across accounts accordingly.

  1. Create central sharing folder for shared content
  2. Organize structure by locations, teams, or topics
  3. Consistent naming convention for better findability
  4. Develop logical and comprehensible hierarchy


Systematically collect account constants:

Preparing account constants requires a systematic collection of all location-specific information. Ensure that all data is current and legally correct.
  1. Compile all local imprint data and addresses
  2. Professionally translate different language versions
  3. Adapt local logos and color variants in brand compliance
  4. Store privacy policy links according to local legal requirements

Define workflow processes:

Determine which content requires central approval and define clear responsibilities for content creation and approval.
  1. Determine content requiring approval (especially brand or legally critical content)
  2. Establish responsibilities for content creation and approval
  3. Define quality standards for shared content
  4. Establish escalation paths for problem cases

Success tips for daily practice

The long-term success of your global editorial system depends on more than just technical implementation. Train all editors comprehensively in using the system and create internal guidelines for content standards. Regularly review and update shared content to ensure timeliness and relevance.

Continuously collect feedback from local teams - they are the daily users and often have valuable improvement suggestions. Develop a unified content strategy for all locations that considers both global consistency and local relevance. This way, your global editorial system becomes a real success factor for your newsletter management.