Content Library: The Game-Changer in Your Proposal Creation Process

Picture this: you're working on an important business proposal that's due in 24 hours. You've won similar projects before, so you know you have the content you need - case studies, pricing tables, testimonials, terms - somewhere. The problem is, your content is scattered across various folders, email threads, and storage drives.

The last time you needed that detailed project timeline, it took hours just to locate it. Now, you've found yourself in the same frustrating cycle.

The clock is ticking. You feel a twinge of panic as you realize that, instead of focusing on creating a compelling proposal, you're stuck hunting down content from past projects.

Now, imagine a different reality - one where all your proposal assets are centralized, up-to-date, and easy to find. Everything you need is right at your fingertips, and you can pull it into your proposal in just a few clicks.

That's the difference a content library makes

Think of a content library as a central hub for all your best content. It's where you store, organize, and manage all your business proposal assets.

Most importantly, it allows you and your team to quickly access and repurpose the content that helped you close deals in the past. It gets your proposals out the door faster while ensuring consistency, accuracy, and professionalism at the same time.

If you're not already using proposal software with a content library feature, you should be. Here's why.

1. Centralized access to pre-approved content

Usually, creating a new business proposal involves reusing or repurposing content from past projects. If you don't have a content library, this means hunting down bits and pieces of past proposals scattered across local folders, cloud storage, or email attachments.

The more people you have working on proposals, the more places you have to search, and the bigger the problem gets. A content library fixes this by keeping all the content you want to reuse in one easily accessible location.

With Better Proposals, you can save content blocks, pricing tables, videos, full-width images, and entire sections into your Content Library. All you need to do is hover over the item you want to save and click on the disk icon.

2. Superior organization

Besides allowing you to keep proposal assets in one centralized place, a good content library also helps you organize them. That's why the Better Proposals Content Library comes with the option to sort your saved items into folders.

To start organizing your library, simply toggle on Sort my Content Blocks under the Content Library tab. Once you've done that, you'll see a new button that allows you to create folders appear.

Then, you can organize your saved assets by category (e.g., pricing tables, case studies, terms, etc.), industry (e.g., local business, SaaS, health, etc.) or any other way that works for you and your team. The categories you choose are completely up to you. Once you have assets organized in folders, you and your team can easily locate the content that needs to be added into a proposal.

To move items between folders, you can simply drag and drop them or move them in bulk by selecting all items you want to move. The selection method works for deleting assets as well. If you've added an updated asset or decided not to use several anymore, you can simply select and bulk delete them.

3. Access controls

Besides letting you organize your saved items, the Better Proposals Content Library also lets you control who has access to what. This means you can set up permissions based on roles within your organization. For example, your sales team could have full access to case studies and executive summaries, but only managers and legal departments have access to legal terms and pricing tables.

To edit access on your Content Library folders, simply click on the three dots next to a folder you want to limit access to. Then, click on Permissions.

A new window will pop up showing you all the users connected to your account. From here, simply untick the box next to a user's name to remove access or tick it to grant access. If you have teams set up, you can also remove or grant access to a folder for the entire team by unticking or ticking the box next to the team name.

4. Easy to reuse

Instead of looking for the right content, then copying and pasting it in, the Content Library lets you add it in just a few clicks. While editing a proposal or a template, click on the plus icon you use to add Content blocks.

From here, click on Content Library. A sidebar with all your Content Library items will appear on the right.

To make locating the asset you need easier, you have two options. If you've organized your assets into folders, simply select the correct folder from the menu. Alternatively, you can also use the search bar to look for an asset by name.

Once you've located the asset you want to add, one click of a button adds it into your proposal or template.

5. No more outdated content

One of the most important aspects of managing business proposal content is making sure that you're using the most recent versions, especially when it comes to legal terms. Without a content library, you might end up accidentally sending clients proposals with outdated content.

Let's say that your legal team needs to update the standard terms and conditions due to new regulations. If you aren't using a content library, you're risking team members accidentally using old legal terms that are floating around in their inboxes.

Instead of facing potential compliance and legal issues, you could add your legal team to Better Proposals. Then, they can simply edit the legal terms directly in the Content Library, making sure all your proposals are up-to-date.

And if you want to be extra safe, you can also lock the content. That way, your team can use the terms and add them into a proposal, but they can't accidentally edit the content.

6. Improved collaboration

Speaking of different teams working on different aspects of a proposal, your Better Proposals Content Library also helps improve collaboration. Everyone has access to the assets they need in real time, so there's no need for the "Do you maybe know where..." or "Can you share the file on..." back-and-forth.

Instead of waiting for someone to send over the project timeline from the proposal that won business last quarter or the latest contract terms, the Content Library makes them easy to find. This real-time access prevents delays and reduces miscommunication. It makes sure everyone is one the same page, literally.

8. Faster approvals

Have multiple people working on the same proposal or you've recently hired a new employee? Chances are you also have a manager approve a proposal before it gets in front of a client.

Using the Better Proposals Content Library makes that approval process go faster. Since most of the content in your Library will be either pre-approved by relevant departments or locked from editing, the approver doesn't have to check every detail.

Instead, they can focus on final tweaks, customization, and providing feedback to the team. Since they can trust that the legal terms are accurate and that the correct proposal structure was followed, they can approve faster. And the faster you get the proposal to the client, the faster you can close the deal.

More than just storage space

Your Content Library is more than just a space you use to store proposal content. It's a tool that helps create proposals faster, more efficiently, and with a high degree of consistency.

With advanced search and organization capabilities, it turns the chaotic, time-consuming process of searching for assets into a smooth, repeatable workflow. Most importantly, it frees up your time to focus on what matters - winning business.