<div class="gn-article"><div class="gn-hero gn-reveal"> <div class="gn-hero__image"><img src="https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/687a235da6861294eec73166/69089aa8ae506c6f198b9d10_651d7ecf173724960a01cf5f_650d6e8bcc2c95fdeb226140_MicrosoftTeams-image%252520(1)%252520(1).png" alt=""></div> <div class="gn-hero__head"> <span class="gn-kicker"><span class="dot"></span>Event · Expression</span> <h1 class="gn-title">Deep Dive - Streamlining your Multi-Channel Product Marketing and Management with Telescope</h1> <div class="gn-meta"> <strong>The GO Network</strong> <span class="pip"></span> <span>17 October 2023</span> <span class="pip"></span> <span>1 min read</span> </div> </div> </div> <div class="gn-event-meta gn-reveal"><div class="gn-event-meta__block"> <span class="gn-event-meta__label">When</span> <span class="gn-event-meta__value gn-date">Tue, 17 Oct 2023 · 09:00</span> </div><div class="gn-event-meta__block"> <span class="gn-event-meta__label">Where</span> <span class="gn-event-meta__value">Online</span> </div><div class="gn-event-meta__block"> <span class="gn-event-meta__label">Status</span> <span class="gn-event-status gn-event-status--recording">Past · Recording</span> </div></div> <div class="gn-body"> <h2>Why Product Data Management Breaks Down at Scale (And What Agencies Can Do About It)</h2> <p>For agencies working with fast-growth product-led clients, one operational headache surfaces again and again: the digital product data problem. Images living in five different folders. Pricing spreadsheets that no one trusts. Spec copy that contradicts itself across channels. The moment a client's product range hits a certain scale, the cracks in their asset management process become your agency's problem to navigate around.</p> <p>In a Deep Dive session hosted by <strong>The GO Network</strong>, marketing delivery specialists <a href="https://telescopegroup.co.uk/" target="_blank"><strong>Telescope Group</strong></a> shared hard-won lessons from building their own internal product data infrastructure, known as <strong>The Hub</strong>. The session was led by <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/clairehepburn/" target="_blank"><strong>Claire Hepburn-Hughes</strong></a>, Business Development Manager; <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/ileach/" target="_blank"><strong>Ian Leach</strong></a>, Managing Director; and <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/jane-day-8784871b3/" target="_blank"><strong>Jane Day</strong></a>, Studio Account Director. What follows are the core takeaways for agencies advising clients on, or directly managing, multi-channel product marketing.</p> <h2>The Real Cost of Poor Digital Asset Management</h2> <p>Most agencies understand that disorganised product data creates friction. Fewer quantify what that friction actually costs. When product images, specifications, pricing, and copy are scattered across disconnected systems or held in the heads of individual client-side team members, the downstream effects compound quickly.</p> <p>For agencies, the practical toll includes:</p> <ul> <li>Time lost chasing the correct version of assets before campaign delivery</li> <li>Errors introduced when product specifications are manually copied between documents or platforms</li> <li>Delayed campaign launches when a client's internal approval process is tied to fragmented data sources</li> <li>Reputation risk when out-of-date pricing or incorrect product details go live on a client's behalf</li> </ul> <p>Telescope's session focused specifically on the challenges that emerge inside fast-growth businesses, where product ranges expand faster than the processes meant to manage them. For agencies embedded in those accounts, this is not a client-side problem to observe from a distance. It directly affects your team's capacity, your delivery timelines, and ultimately your ability to demonstrate results.</p> <h2>Building a Better Digital Inventory: What to Consider</h2> <p>Telescope built <strong>The Hub</strong> as a bespoke solution to centralise product data and digital assets, enabling their team to get products to market faster, reduce manual errors, and update product information in real time across channels. The detail of their build offers a useful framework for any agency evaluating options for clients or for their own production workflows.</p> <p>Before recommending or implementing any solution, Telescope's team outlined several key strategic considerations:</p> <ul> <li><strong>Single source of truth:</strong> Any system worth investing in must function as the definitive record for product information, not one of several competing sources. If teams continue to maintain parallel spreadsheets alongside a new platform, the problem persists.</li> <li><strong>Real-time update capability:</strong> In multi-channel environments, the ability to push a product data change once and have it propagate correctly across all channels is the difference between a manageable workflow and a firefighting exercise.</li> <li><strong>Internal adoption:</strong> Technology choices fail when they are not embedded into day-to-day processes. The right solution is the one your team and your client's team will actually use consistently, not the most feature-rich option available.</li> <li><strong>Scalability versus speed to market:</strong> Fast-growth clients need a solution that can grow with their product range without requiring a full rebuild every 18 months. Balancing the ambition of the build against the urgency of near-term delivery is a genuine strategic call.</li> <li><strong>Integration with existing production tools:</strong> Whether your agency uses a DAM (digital asset management) platform, a PIM (product information management) system, or a more bespoke build, the solution needs to connect cleanly with the creative and distribution tools already in place.</li> </ul> <h2>Practical Takeaways for Agency Teams</h2> <p>The Telescope session was not a product pitch. It was a practitioner-led account of what the team learned building and iterating on a real internal system. For agency-side operators, the most transferable lessons centre on process design rather than platform selection.</p> <p><strong>Audit before you build or recommend.</strong> Before proposing any new system to a client or investing in one internally, map where product data actually lives today and where the handoffs between teams break down. The audit surface the real problem, which is rarely the one the client initially describes.</p> <p><strong>Define ownership clearly.</strong> Product data management fails when responsibility is diffuse. Someone has to own the master record, approve updates, and be accountable when information is wrong. Agencies often absorb this responsibility informally. Making it explicit in a scope of work or retainer protects both parties.</p> <p><strong>Treat product data as a production asset.</strong> The same rigour applied to creative assets, brand guidelines, and campaign briefs should apply to product data. Version control, sign-off processes, and storage conventions matter here just as much as they do in any other part of delivery.</p> <p><strong>Get products to market faster by removing the approval bottleneck.</strong> Telescope's experience with The Hub demonstrated that the speed benefit of a centralised system is not just about technology. It is about reducing the number of people a piece of information has to pass through before it can be published. Simplifying that path is often a structural change, not a software one.</p> <h2>Where to Start</h2> <p>If your agency manages product-heavy client accounts, or if you are building out your own multi-channel delivery infrastructure, the Telescope session provides a grounded starting point. The GO Network's Deep Dive series is designed precisely for this kind of peer-level, specialist knowledge exchange, bringing together agency practitioners to work through real operational challenges rather than surface-level strategy.</p> <p>The session with <strong>Telescope Group</strong> is a useful case study in how a delivery-focused agency identified a recurring operational problem, invested in a considered solution, and built the internal capability to manage it at scale. Whether your immediate priority is advising a client or improving your own production workflow, the questions Telescope's team raised are the right ones to be asking now.</p> </div></div> <aside class="gn-related gn-reveal" data-auto="related-reading"> <div class="gn-related__label">Related reading</div> <ul class="gn-related__list"> <li class="gn-related__item"> <a href="/articles/the-new-funnel-investing-in-an-effective-organic-content-strategy-in-2022" class="gn-related__link"> <span class="gn-related__category">Expression</span> <span class="gn-related__title">The New Funnel - Investing in an Effective Organic Content Strategy in 2022</span> <span class="gn-related__excerpt">Expert panel covers SEO, educational content, and channel investment to help agencies build a smarter organic funnel that delivers real ROI.</span> </a> </li> <li class="gn-related__item"> <a href="/articles/ai-in-marketing---how-your-business-should-be-using-it-to-get-ahead" class="gn-related__link"> <span class="gn-related__category">Expression</span> <span class="gn-related__title">AI in Marketing - How your Business Should be Using it to Get Ahead</span> <span class="gn-related__excerpt">Push Group&#39;s Deep Dive covers LLM models, prompt-building, and AI tool selection, so your agency can differentiate and drive performance in </span> </a> </li> <li class="gn-related__item"> <a href="/articles/go-marketing-strategy-workshop-how-to-build-a-media-strategy-that-cant-be-missed" class="gn-related__link"> <span class="gn-related__category">Expression</span> <span class="gn-related__title">How To Build A Media Strategy That Can&#39;t Be Missed</span> <span class="gn-related__excerpt">Agency media buying experts walk through goal-setting, channel selection, multi-channel activation, and scaling investment to maximise campa</span> </a> </li> <li class="gn-related__item"> <a href="/articles/round-up-organic-marketing-getting-the-best-out-of-your-channel-strategy" class="gn-related__link"> <span class="gn-related__category">Expression</span> <span class="gn-related__title">Round-up: Organic Marketing – Getting the Best out of your Channel Strategy</span> <span class="gn-related__excerpt">Expert advice on SEO, organic social, and content marketing: discover how to frame each channel, overcome common pitfalls, and build a retur</span> </a> </li> </ul> </aside>