What marketing workflow management actually means in MLR
Marketing workflow management in a regulated environment is fundamentally different from general project management. It requires balancing competing priorities: commercial urgency and regulatory rigor, creative iteration and compliance documentation, stakeholder input and decision authority.
Effective marketing workflow management in life sciences involves:
- Defining who reviews what and when feedback is required versus optional
- Establishing clear handoffs between marketing, medical, legal, and regulatory stakeholders
- Building workflows that adapt to different content types and risk profiles
- Allocating review resources where they matter most
Leading teams do not force every piece of content through the same process. They design workflows that match the risk profile and complexity of the material. A website update with new product claims follows a different path than a minor revision to an approved email. This differentiation is not about cutting corners. It is about allocating review resources where they matter most.
How benchmark-leading teams approach workflow differently
The data reveals consistent patterns among top-performing organizations. These teams move faster and with greater confidence because they have invested in the foundational elements of marketing workflow management.
They define roles with precision
High-performing teams do not leave review responsibilities ambiguous. They establish clear roles for every stakeholder involved in the promotional review process.
Clear role definition means:
- Marketing owns content strategy and creative execution
- Medical ensures scientific accuracy and fair balance
- Legal reviews claims substantiation and intellectual property considerations
- Regulatory confirms adherence to industry codes and submission requirements
This clarity eliminates confusion about who makes final decisions. It prevents bottlenecks caused by unclear authority. It ensures that reviewers focus on their areas of expertise rather than duplicating effort or second-guessing one another.
They build compliance into the process
High-performing teams do not treat compliance as an afterthought. They embed it directly into their workflows through systematic approaches to claims substantiation, reference management, and audit trail documentation.
Top-performing teams design workflows that:
- Require claims to be linked to supporting references before content enters review
- Attach source documentation directly to promotional materials within the review system
- Capture compliance decisions and rationale in real time rather than retroactively
- Maintain complete audit trails that connect approved content to substantiating evidence
This approach does more than satisfy regulatory requirements. It accelerates the review process by giving reviewers immediate access to the information they need to make decisions. When compliance is built into the workflow rather than layered on top of it, teams spend less time gathering information and more time on actual review.
They distinguish between mandatory and suggested feedback
One of the most powerful workflow optimizations benchmark-leading teams implement is the distinction between mandatory changes and suggested improvements. This simple shift dramatically reduces recirculation rates.
When every comment carries the same weight, content creators face an impossible task: satisfying every preference while meeting deadlines. When reviewers clearly indicate which feedback is required for approval and which is optional, decision-making becomes faster and more transparent.
This approach delivers:
- More thoughtful feedback from reviewers focused on what truly matters
- Greater clarity for marketing on where flexibility exists
- Fewer review cycles and faster time to approval
- Improved quality of reviewer feedback overall
They use data to drive continuous improvement
Excellence in marketing workflow management is not a one-time achievement. It requires ongoing attention and iteration. Leading teams track their performance against benchmarks and use that data to identify opportunities for refinement.
Organizations making more than five enhancements per quarter achieve an average review duration of 9.3 days compared to 12.9 days for those making fewer than one enhancement per quarter. These enhancements are not just technical upgrades. They include any modification that keeps the review process responsive to changing business needs: building new workflows for emerging content formats like social media, updating requirements to reflect new regulations, clarifying reviewer roles, or adopting new platform capabilities as they become available. Whether customer-initiated or delivered through regular platform updates, each enhancement creates an opportunity to improve efficiency and alignment.
These teams monitor metrics like:
- Job duration and review duration
- Number of circulations per piece
- Reasons for recirculation
- First-pass approval rates by reviewer role
They analyze patterns to understand where delays occur and why content gets sent back for revision. They experiment with process changes, measure the impact, and scale what works.
The hidden cost of inefficient workflows
When marketing workflow management is poorly designed, the consequences extend beyond missed deadlines. Inefficient workflows create hidden costs that accumulate over time.
Every additional day a piece of content is in MLR review adds an average of 42 minutes of work per piece, according to Vodori's analysis. This extra effort reflects the overhead of reopening files, re-orienting to feedback, rescheduling tasks, and coordinating with stakeholders all over again. Over time, these minutes compound into hundreds of wasted hours that could be spent on strategic initiatives, new campaigns, or product launches.
Inefficient workflows also create friction across the organization:
- Marketing teams feel blocked by compliance
- Reviewers feel overwhelmed by volume
- Leadership lacks visibility into where content sits and why approvals take so long
- Morale erodes and innovation slows
This friction ultimately impacts the ability to compete effectively in the market.
Why purpose-built systems matter
Generic project management tools were not designed for the unique demands of promotional review. They lack the structure, compliance controls, and visibility required to manage regulated content at scale.
Purpose-built marketing workflow management systems are architected specifically for life sciences. They:
- Enforce role-based access controls to ensure only authorized users can approve content
- Maintain comprehensive audit trails to demonstrate compliance during regulatory inspections
- Provide real-time visibility into review status for all stakeholders
- Support conditional routing based on content type, risk level, or geographic market
- Distinguish between required and optional feedback
- Integrate with digital asset management, content management, and other commercial systems
Organizations using purpose-built systems consistently outperform those relying on generic tools. They achieve faster review cycles, higher first-pass approval rates, and greater confidence in the compliance of their promotional materials.
How to start improving your marketing workflow management
If your organization is struggling with slow review cycles, unclear accountability, or content that requires multiple rounds of revision, the opportunity for improvement is significant. The path forward begins with a clear understanding of where you stand today.
Step 1: Benchmark your current performance
Measure your average job duration, review duration, and number of circulations. Compare these metrics to industry standards. Identify where your process breaks down most frequently.
Step 2: Map your workflows in detail
Document who reviews what, in what order, and with what level of authority. Look for redundancies, bottlenecks, and unclear handoffs. Identify content types that would benefit from differentiated workflows.
Step 3: Engage your stakeholders
Marketing, medical, legal, and regulatory teams all have valuable perspectives on what works and what does not. Build consensus around principles like role clarity, risk-based workflows, and the distinction between suggested and mandatory feedback.
Step 4: Commit to continuous improvement
Excellence in marketing workflow management is not a destination. It is a discipline. Track your metrics over time. Experiment with process changes. Learn from what works and iterate on what does not.
What excellence looks like
Excellence in marketing workflow management is measurable. It shows up in faster review cycles, fewer recirculations, higher first-pass approval rates, and greater stakeholder satisfaction. It shows up in the ability to launch campaigns on time, respond to competitive threats quickly, and scale content production without sacrificing compliance.
But perhaps most importantly, excellence shows up in the confidence of the teams involved:
- Marketing knows their work will be reviewed efficiently and fairly
- Reviewers know they are focusing on what matters most
- Leadership knows the organization is balancing speed and compliance effectively
The 2025 State of Promotional Review Benchmarks Report makes clear that this level of performance is not theoretical. Leading life sciences organizations are achieving it today. They are doing so through intentional investment in marketing workflow management, purpose-built systems, and a commitment to continuous improvement.
The question is not whether excellence is possible. The question is whether your organization is willing to do what it takes to achieve it.
Ready to see how your promotional review process compares? Download the 2025 State of Promotional Review Benchmarks Report to understand where leading teams are setting the standard and what it takes to get there.