Leveraging an Alliance Partner
Contents
Who is an Alliance Partner & why do we work with them?
- Alliance partners are TSL’s select group of technically skilled, pre-approved resources who we can work with on digital production projects.
- TSL partners are able to complete high quality work and meet the needs of our project timelines. TSL may choose to use alliance partners when our full-time team members do not have availability to complete work according to our project’s timeline/needs.
- We also work with a group of alliance partners where we do not have dedicated skillset/hours internally for social media consultation and content management - "TSL Academy". This group consists of Paul Krappman, Denise Bahs, Victoria Bianchini.
Which projects can we send to our Alliance Partners?
We can send most projects to our partners if our internal team members are scheduled to capacity. If a project is more custom (in style, length, complexity) and does not follow a traditional example, or requires additional collaboration time with the internal team or customer, we must outline expectations in the initial project request to ensure the Alliance Partner is comfortable completing the work and can provide an accurate quote.
If you are unsure if a project can be sent to an Alliance Partner, contact Norma to evaluate it.
Who are our Alliance Partners?
| Alliance Partners | Services | Contracted Hourly Bill Rate | Phone Number | |
| ContentWriters | Copy | Varies; see full process documentation and pricing resources below. | n/a | katy@contentwriters.com |
| Kevin Lucca | Development | $125 | 847-910-0259 | kevin@luccaam.com |
| Christie Gunden | Marketing Strategist, for support on Broadcom projects only | $115 |
Personal business contact information: (Also available to connect via MS Teams) |
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| Accultura: Ysabel Viau & team | Translation: French, Spanish, Russian, Italian | Open rate card for TSL | 514-865-4646 | ysabel@accultura.com |
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TSL Academy group: Paul Krappman Denise Bahs Victoria Bianchini Mimi Meagher |
Social Media Consultation/Training and Content Management |
Paul Krappman: $250 Bill Rate and $125 Cost Rate to TSL. Note that 10% of any project budget would be allocated to Paul for admin fee. Others: $150 Bill Rate and $75 Cost Rate to TSL. |
How do I send a social media consulting project to our "TSL Academy" Alliance Partners?
Our social media consulting work is handled through our partner team "TSL Academy" led up by Paul Krappman. They are a more integrated group under TSL; they have @tslmarketing.com email addresses and are an extension of our team. Paul's team includes himself, Denise Bahs, Victoria Bianchini, and Mimi Meagher. Note bill and cost rates above. To initiate work the assigned project manager needs to:
- Open a PO for the TSL costs for the consulting hours, via the Clarizen Expense Sheets process.
- Receive PO approval.
- Email pkrappman@tslmarketing.com with the customer info and social media consulting scope overview and hours, and PO number.
- Receive reply email from Paul with an assigned consultant.
- Send calendar invite for kickoff call with the assigned consultant.
How do I send a project to other Alliance Partners?
Follow "PROC-1601 Leveraging an Alliance Partner" below.
The manager should communicate with Alliance Partners clearly in terms of calendar due dates for TSL to review and QA rounds of work submitted, and time allowed for their QA edits. The manager should confirm with them that enough time has been built into project plans for this workflow. TSL has no visibility into Alliance Partners' full workloads and schedules so this is a critical step to ensure we do not miss our client-facing work submission due dates.
- Download the TSL Marketing Alliance Partner Work Order form
| Step # | Owner | Time (mins) | Action |
| 1 | Project Lead | Determine that an Alliance Partner would be best option for the task/project. [Important note: Understand that their fee will impact the project’s overall profitability.] | |
| 2 | Project Lead | 10 | Collect all required information from the customer and/or internal team for delivery to the Alliance Partner. [Important note: We must have full request outlined for execution prior to contacting an Alliance Partner] |
| 3 | Project Lead | 3 | Send an email to the appropriate Alliance Partner with the project request, due dates, and inquiry about estimated fee. Copy Heather Wilson <hwilson@tslmarketing.com> and Norma Shepardson <nshepardson@tslmarketing.com> on the email. Was the project accepted?
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| 4 | Project Lead | 10 | Hold conversation with the Alliance Partner to clarify project request, negotiate fees, due dates, etc. Was project accepted?
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| 5 | Project Lead | 3 | Create a Clarizen Expense Sheet to record the Alliance Partner expense on the related project work item and request the PO. [Refer to “Clarizen Budget & Expense Management Manual: Create and Submit an Expense Sheet for Approval”]
Notes:
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| 6 | Project Lead | 0.5 | Receive email alert that the Clarizen Expense Sheet was approved by the Finance Director. |
| 7 | Project Lead | 3 | Complete the DOCU-XXXX Alliance Partner Work Order. Save document as a PDF so it is not editable, and email to the Alliance Partner for signature. Include/CC Accounts Payable and Receivable Specialist (jlewandowski@tslmarketing.com) on the email. |
| 8 | Alliance Partner | 2 | Sign Alliance Partner Work Order and email to Project Lead. |
| 9 | Project Lead and Accounts Payable and Receivable Specialist | 0.5 | Receive signed Alliance Partner Work Order. |
| 10 | Project Lead | 3 | Assign related Clarizen work item(s) to the correct Resources. |
| 11 | Project Lead | 3 | Send a meeting invitation to the Alliance Partner for project orientation, to discuss request and review resources. If requested/as needed, include internal SMEs. Follow up with a corresponding email with resources attached for review in advance. |
| 12 | Project Lead | 15 | Hold project orientation call with the Alliance Partner. |
| 13 | Alliance Partner | Variable | Deliver work output to the Project Lead. |
| 14 | Project Lead | 1 | Mark the Clarizen work items assigned to the Alliance Partner resources as “Complete”. |
| 15 | Alliance Partner | 1 | Email project Invoice to TSL Project Lead and Finance Manager (Jen Lewandowski (jlewandowski@tslmarketing.com). |
| 16 | Project Lead | 1 | Reply to Invoice email to Finance Manager confirming status of project (complete or incomplete). |
| 17 | Accounts Payable and Receivable Specialist | 5 | Note in Alliance Partner budget tracking that project was fulfilled and pay invoice. |
Download the "TSL Marketing Alliance Partner Work Order" Form: https://www.tslmarketing.com/hubfs/TSL_Marketing_Alliance%20Partner%20Work%20Order.docx
Tips for Production Collaboration with Alliance Partners:
- PMs need to communicate with alliance partners via email (they don't use Clarizen for social/discussion communication and work routing), but it is still essential that the PM post rounds of revisions (client or internal) in Clarizen for internal team visibility. For example, proofreader needs to refer back to versions for QA, Traffic Coordinator needs to review status of deliverables for assigning internal team tasks.
- When routing a high volume of documents, PM should create a shared folder for the alliance partner and our internal team to view documents and post new versions.
ContentWriters
Background Information:
- TSL’s dedicated Account Manager: Katy Wong <katy@contentwriters.com>
- Responsible for training writer editors and proofers. They collect ratings and feedback on the team to ensure they meet our needs.
- Job requests can be submitted through the Content Writers portal to account managers to submit content briefs.
- Extra charge for CW to attend client-facing call (Derek can provide as needed)
- Attach recorded client intake call to email with content brief.
- Content briefs can include style guidelines and wireframes, so they know what they are working with.
- Writers are hand-selected depending on the client, industry, or target audience, content type, etc.
- Use of freelance writers to build their pool of a group that can be relied on.
- If the content we receive is great, we can request to keep them on.
- They have a strong policy against use of AI
Production Process & Timelines:
- First Draft: 5-7 business days. Expedited Option: 3-4 days for an additional fee (see pricing below)
- Edit Requests: TSL has 3 business days after receipt of the content to provide TSL Internal and/or Client edits back.
- The review/feedback window can be adjusted around holidays or OOO times with advanced notice.
- Unlimited revisions at no cost as long as within the scope of the original request
Pricing:
- We will be using “Self-Service” for our one-off projects
- They also create custom content, such as case studies, SEO blurbs, and FAQs.
- Common deliverables (base pricing + add-on SEO meta descriptions we should assign to CW by default)
- 300-500 words: $110 [$120 expedited]
- 500-700 words: $120 [$130 expedited]
- 700-1,000 words: $175 [$185 expedited]
- 1,000-1,500 words: $250 [$265 expedited]
- 1,500-2,000 words: $300 [$315 expedited]
- 2,000-2,500 words: $350 [$370 expedited]
- 2,500 – 3,000 words: $400 [$420 expedited]
- 1,500 words: $380 [$400 expedited]
- 2,000 words: $500 [$550 expedited]
- 2,500 words: $625 [$675 expedited]
- 3,000 words: $750 [$800 expedited]
- 300-500 words: $245 [$255 expedited]
- Included if needed: Topic ideation for blog, web articles, & more.
Initiating a New Project with ContentWriters:
- Within the Content Writers Dashboard, “Create New Project” or “Create New Job” to start the request to outsource a copy project.
- Fill out CW Content Brief Form [Blank] (either in the platform or form to send to Heather)
- If you have additional content that’s relevant to the form that was filled out, Click “Save Project” (ex: Multiple blogs per client, multiple website pages per client, etc.)
- In the “Projects” Module, click “ADD JOB” to the one created, and add any additional necessary details.
- When you are done with the project requests, click “Save & Create Job”
- Fill out blanks and highlighted areas in submission form
- Delivery Deadline
- Product Dropdown (Project Type)
- For Webpages – select “Web Article” with targeted word count and reiterate in the Content brief it’s a Webpage.
- For Blogs, select Blog with your word count
- Social Media posts, emails, white paper, custom etc.
- Enter title of content under “Topic”.
- Click “Order Now”
- Go to “Shopping Cart” to view final price of the order
- PM to open PO with Ken for price of content shown in shopping cart.
- Once PO is approved, Heather will “Place order”
- Send a screenshot of payment confirmation to Ken.
- Within 24 hours, expect an email from Content Writers stating “Your job has been assigned to one of our expert writers!”
Once project is in production:
- You can check on progress in the “Jobs” module.
- Once work is completed, an email is sent out that the “order is ready for your review.”
- Provide initial feedback (TSL internal/QA and/or client feedback) within 3 business days (deadline to work within for complimentary and unlimited edits).
- Once work is complete with no edits, (go in and “approve” jobs and rate their work with any feedback.
- If the 3-day review period ends before receiving edits, mark Content Writers’ work “approved”. Provide final feedback once we have it to keep the writer informed. TSL resource will have to make these edits.
