I enjoyed the process of launching The Impact Files podcast. Partly because it was a new area for me to learn about, and partly because it aligns strongly with my sense of purpose.

I came up with the name, the creative and the branding (with help from Melissa Fretwell at White Camino). I devised the episode story arc, chose the theme tune and selected the podcast software (we use Riverside).

Then it was about researching and bringing guests on board, recording and editing episodes, and, when ready for launch in early 2026, starting to publish on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, promoting on various channels and committing to defined follow-up activities with our guests. And then going again.

I did most of this myself, brilliantly supported by my co-hosts Ruth Davis and Ally Dunnett. They also introduced some great guests and made the episodes wonderfully convivial and interesting.

A couple of months in, work got very busy. Luckily, Ally stepped in and took on a lot of the operational tasks. I knew what I needed her to do because I had developed some processes for things like guest onboarding, recording, editing, publishing and promoting episodes.

But they were in my head and each time I did them I had to remind myself what they were. This was time consuming for me and made them tricky to hand over to Ally.

The first thing we did was to write these processes down, following a templated approach. And wow did it make a difference! I could deliver the task in half the time – no time spent having to remember what to do. I could tweak the process a bit and then hand it over to Ally.

Since that point, with a clear and comprehensive process library, we’ve found it easy to refine or supplement the processes as we’ve gone along, either because experience has led to the identification of efficiencies or because I’ve become more ambitious about the podcast offering.

Documenting the podcast’s processes reminded me of something that applies to all business functions. A functional lead needs to know what her team is capable of, what it’s doing, and whether it’s working.

This isn’t just because it makes the team more efficient, but because it gives her the confidence to plan, to make her investment case to her board, and to lead.

This is particularly important for marketing because unlike most other business functions, marketing investment, certainly when seen through a more traditional lens, can be an easy target for cost-cutting. Reducing some parts of it doesn’t immediately halt production or operations. Longer term of course, cutting marketing spend can spell disaster.

Here are five reasons why it’s a good idea to document your processes:

1. Consistency and quality – documented processes mean tasks get done the same way every time, reducing errors and delivering more reliable outcomes regardless of who does the work.
2. Reduced key-person risk – knowledge held only in people’s heads leaves with them. Documentation protects the organisation when staff are ill, on leave or move on.
3. Faster onboarding and training – new starters can get up to speed more quickly with a clear reference, freeing experienced colleagues from repeated explanations.
4. A basis for improvement – you can’t reliably improve what you can’t see. Written processes make bottlenecks, duplication and unnecessary steps visible, and give a baseline to measure changes against.
5. Accountability and compliance – clear documentation shows who does what and when, supports audits and regulatory requirements, and gives trustees, funders or investors confidence that the organisation is well run.

Without documented processes, the hardest conversation isn’t with the team, it’s with the board. How is marketing activity translating into income? Is what we’re doing reliable enough to deliver the business plan? And can we scale it? The honest answer, without documented and measurable processes, is that you don’t know. You have activity, but you haven’t got a system.

Your board won’t need to, and probably won’t want to, see your process documentation, but the fact that it exists and can support a well-grounded budget case, is key.

Most marketing processes sit somewhere on a spectrum – from undocumented, ad-hoc and reactive at one end, to deliberate, measurable and continuously improving at the other.

The question isn’t whether your team is busy. It’s where on that spectrum their processes sit, and whether the ones that matter most – the ones directly connected to the business plan and revenue targets – have been defined at all. That’s where the board conversation starts.