“The Golden Copy” is a term that is likely familiar to many marketers. Roughly defined as an official, master record of a piece of data, the Golden Copy is a crucial aspect of keeping any business running smoothly. However, we have learned from experience that many companies do not maintain a Golden Copy
Often when onboarding clients or speaking with prospects, we learn that there is not a central repository of business information for all locations. So, when online profiles need to be updated, the process can become confusing and inefficient with various team members updating information at different times. This can easily lead to disastrous listings with incorrect and mismatched information!
Whenever DSG onboards a client that does not have the Golden Copy, our first step is always to help them create it, before we begin any other marketing initiatives. Today, let’s talk more about Golden Copy and why it should be important to your business.
In the Words of DSG…
You might hear differing definitions of Golden Copy depending on who you ask. To illustrate, we asked a few of our team members at DSG “in your own words, what is Golden Copy?” – see their responses below:
Charles Austin, AdGeo President and DSG Partner states:
“The Golden Copy is the ultimate source of authoritative information on the business data and metadata you have, hold, produce and use. It is how you maintain and reference the correct information whenever you encounter discrepancies between people or systems and is indispensable in normalizing the myriad intakes of information from customers, staff, vendors, and automated systems; as well as generating reliable work products to support customers, satisfy internal business requirements, and feed other automated systems both internally and externally.
“In a complex, rapidly evolving environment, having a Golden Copy of the data you can rely on is the best way to efficiently define and execute business processes supporting everything from sales on the front end, delivery of products and services to the customer, and back-office accounting and compliance requirements.”
DSG Marketing Associate Rob Vitelli takes a more personal stance, saying:
“To me, ‘the Golden Copy’ is when DSG works with our clients to establish a list of locations and business information (names, phone numbers, addresses, hours, etc.) that will be published across the web by a listing management platform. It’s an exercise to ensure that the information being put on the web and the information that will be seen by searchers is accurate and up to date.”
Regardless of who you ask, it’s clear that the Golden Copy is a central piece of business knowledge that companies should regard as essential.
Why is it Necessary?
For single and multi-location companies alike, business information such as hours, address, phone number, services offered and even business name can change frequently. Whenever these changes occur, your designated team member(s) should be updating your Digital Business Information (or, online listings) accordingly.
For some businesses, the accuracy of the Golden Copy can be diminished when multiple team members update the information. It can be easy to make an error or forget to make a specific update.
When this occurs, your team may find themselves doubting the information on your digital listings, unsure whether it has been updated. This can create confusion. The Golden Copy aims to solve this dilemma as, by definition, the Golden Copy serves as your source of truth of business information – the place your team can go to for the most up-to-date data and be certain that it is correct.
How to protect and ensure the accuracy of the Golden Copy
The Golden Copy “master list” should be stored in a secure place, but also somewhere that your assigned stakeholders can easily access it when needed. You should set rules and expectations with your team regarding who is responsible for updating the Golden Copy, and who is not permitted to make changes to it. Edit access to the document should be limited accordingly.
Your business’ infrastructure for storing the Golden Copy comes down to preference. Some businesses simply keep an Excel file containing all master business information, which can work just fine. For enterprise and multi-location businesses, Excel can get messy – there are technological solutions that can provide a more organized, easy to use interface such as Yext.
How to Best Manage Golden Copy
It’s easy for Digital Business information management to get pushed to the back burner when so many other tasks take precedent. However, safeguarding the Golden Copy and managing your online listings is a crucial step towards gaining customers, and should be prioritized.
The best way to ensure your business information is always clean, accurate, and updated is to partner with an agency that specializes in Digital Business information, like DSG. Our specialized technology coupled with our expert knowledge means that our clients get peace of mind knowing that their business information is always up-to-date.
Interested in a customized plan for your business? Reach out to us.