Cre8via Case Study: Zoho CRM, Zoho Projects and Zoho Books

At a glance

Briefs quoted quickly

Bookings and costs tracked per campaign

Content approved before launch

Campaign margins visible

The challenge

What Cre8via needed to fix

Cre8via is a Riyadh marketing, influencer and experiential activations agency. Campaigns combine influencer bookings, vendors, content approvals and live events.

Budgets and quotesEach brief needed a budget and quote fast.
Influencer and vendor bookingsMany bookings per campaign had to be tracked.
Content approvalsContent needed client approval before going live.
Cost settlementVendor costs had to be settled before final invoicing.

Conference audience at round tables facing a speaker. Photo credit

Before and after

What changed for the team

BeforeAfter

Each brief needed a budget and quote quickly

Briefs, budgets and quotes are handled together in Zoho CRM

Many influencer and vendor bookings per campaign needed tracking

Bookings are tied to their costs for every campaign

Content needed client approval before it could go live

Client sign-off is recorded in Zoho Projects before launch

Vendor costs had to be settled before final invoicing

Costs settle in Zoho Expense before the Zoho Books invoice

How it works

The business process, step by step

01
Brand brief
Enquiries from lead forms land in the Zoho CRM pipeline, where the account team records the brand brief against the client account so it is ready for budgeting and a quote.
02
Budget and quote
The account team prepares a campaign budget and quote in Zoho CRM. Once the client approves the quote, the campaign moves forward to influencer and vendor bookings and campaign planning.
03
Influencer and vendor booking
The campaign team books influencers and vendors as tasks in Zoho Projects. Each booking is tied to its cost, which is recorded in Zoho Expense, so commitments are visible for every campaign.
04
Content approvals
Influencer content is stored per campaign and sent to the client for review. Approval tasks in Zoho Projects record the client's sign-off before any content goes live.
05
Execution
The campaign or live event runs with its tasks tracked in Zoho Projects. Digital results from the platforms are imported for reporting, so performance sits alongside the campaign record.
06
Settlement and invoice
Vendor and influencer costs are settled in Zoho Expense, then the client invoice is raised in Zoho Books. Zoho Analytics shows the margin for the campaign once it is closed.

The solution

What we built for Cre8via

Shyphan delivered the project on Zoho CRM, Zoho Projects, Zoho Books, Zoho Expense and Zoho Analytics, covering a 6-step process with 4 integration points.

Briefs, quotes and client accounts

Zoho CRM interface — Zoho CRM product screenshot, for illustration

Campaign tasks and approvals

Zoho Projects interface — Zoho Projects product screenshot, for illustration

Campaign margin

Zoho Analytics interface — Zoho Analytics product screenshot, for illustration

Vendor and influencer costs

Client invoices

Who uses it

Account managers

Record brand briefs, prepare budgets and quotes, and manage client accounts in Zoho CRM.

Campaign team

Book influencers and vendors, manage campaign tasks and route content for client approval in Zoho Projects.

Finance

Settle vendor and influencer costs in Zoho Expense and raise client invoices in Zoho Books.

Management

Review campaign margins and imported digital platform results in Zoho Analytics for each campaign.

Architecture

How the systems connect

InputsLead formsPlatform analytics

Delivered by Shyphan

OutputsDeliverables storageClient invoices

Integrations

Lead forms to CRM
Enquiries land in the pipeline.
Campaign tasks to PO and expense
Bookings tied to costs.
Deliverables storage
Influencer content stored per campaign.
Platform analytics import
Digital results loaded for reporting.

Reports and dashboards

Campaign margin

Client invoices against vendor and influencer costs for each campaign, from Zoho Books and Zoho Expense.

Brief and quote pipeline

Open briefs and quotes in Zoho CRM by stage, from first enquiry to client approval.

Booking costs

Influencer and vendor bookings for each campaign, with the costs recorded against them.

Digital results

Results imported from the campaign platforms, shown next to each campaign for reporting.

The results

What the system does now

Briefs quoted quickly
Bookings and costs tracked per campaign
Content approved before launch
Campaign margins visible

Delivery

Five phases, discovery to support

01
Discovery
Process mapping, documents and data reviewed with each team.
02
Design
Target flow agreed across 5 apps and 4 integration points.
03
Build
Apps configured, custom logic built and integrations connected.
04
Test and train
User acceptance testing with real scenarios and role-based training.
05
Go-live and support
Cut-over, hypercare and ongoing improvements.

Local rules built in

ZATCA e-invoicing

Fatoora-format tax invoices with XML and QR, cleared or reported as required.

15% VAT

Standard, zero-rated and exempt supplies mapped, with return-ready reports.

Saudi PDPL

Personal data kept to what the process needs, with role-based access.

Arabic and English

Bilingual documents where customers and authorities expect them.

FAQ

Questions about this project

How are influencer and vendor costs tracked?

Each booking is set up as a campaign task in Zoho Projects and tied to its cost in Zoho Expense. This keeps every commitment linked to the campaign it belongs to, and costs are settled before the client invoice is raised in Zoho Books.

How does content approval work?

Influencer content is stored per campaign and goes through approval tasks in Zoho Projects. The client's sign-off is recorded before the content is published, so the team has a record of what was approved for each campaign.

How is campaign margin reported?

Zoho Analytics brings together client invoices from Zoho Books and vendor and influencer costs from Zoho Expense to show margin per campaign. Digital results imported from the platforms are also loaded for reporting alongside the financial view.

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Cre8via

What Cre8via needed to fix

What changed for the team

The business process, step by step

Brand brief

Budget and quote

Influencer and vendor booking

Content approvals

Execution

Settlement and invoice