diff --git a/.github/workflows/release-build.yml b/.github/workflows/release-build.yml
index bbad4904235..6d1543e917f 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release-build.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release-build.yml
@@ -34,4 +34,4 @@ jobs:
         run: echo ::set-output name=VERSION::${GITHUB_REF#refs/tags/v}
 
       - name: Publish
-        run: make IMAGE_TAG=$VERSION publish
\ No newline at end of file
+        run: make VERSION=$VERSION publish
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/CREATE-NEW-SCALER.md b/CREATE-NEW-SCALER.md
index df5fd329373..d15b4c77c77 100644
--- a/CREATE-NEW-SCALER.md
+++ b/CREATE-NEW-SCALER.md
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ In order to develop a scaler, a developer should do the following:
 6. Run `make build` from the root of KEDA and your scaler is ready.
 
 If you want to deploy locally 
-1. Run `export IMAGE_TAG=local`
+1. Run `export VERSION=local`
 2. Open the terminal and go to the root of the source code
 3. Run `make build`
 5. If you haven't done it yet clone the charts repository: `git  clone git@github.com:kedacore/charts.git` 
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 4e5f4d8150a..0e4ba887b04 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
 ##################################################
 # Variables                                      #
 ##################################################
-IMAGE_TAG      ?= master
+VERSION		   ?= master
 IMAGE_REGISTRY ?= docker.io
 IMAGE_REPO     ?= kedacore
 
-IMAGE_CONTROLLER = $(IMAGE_REGISTRY)/$(IMAGE_REPO)/keda:$(IMAGE_TAG)
-IMAGE_ADAPTER    = $(IMAGE_REGISTRY)/$(IMAGE_REPO)/keda-metrics-adapter:$(IMAGE_TAG)
+IMAGE_CONTROLLER = $(IMAGE_REGISTRY)/$(IMAGE_REPO)/keda:$(VERSION)
+IMAGE_ADAPTER    = $(IMAGE_REGISTRY)/$(IMAGE_REPO)/keda-metrics-adapter:$(VERSION)
 
 ARCH       ?=amd64
 CGO        ?=0
@@ -49,6 +49,20 @@ publish: build
 	docker push $(IMAGE_ADAPTER)
 	docker push $(IMAGE_CONTROLLER)
 
+##################################################
+# Release                                        #
+##################################################
+K8S_DEPLOY_FILES = $(shell find ./deploy -name '*.yaml')
+
+.PHONY: release
+release:
+	@sed -i 's@Version =.*@Version = "$(VERSION)"@g' ./version/version.go;
+	@for file in $(K8S_DEPLOY_FILES); do \
+	sed -i 's@app.kubernetes.io/version:.*@app.kubernetes.io/version: "$(VERSION)"@g' $$file; \
+	sed -i 's@image: docker.io/kedacore/keda:.*@image: docker.io/kedacore/keda:$(VERSION)@g' $$file; \
+	sed -i 's@image: docker.io/kedacore/keda-metrics-adapter:.*@image: docker.io/kedacore/keda-metrics-adapter:$(VERSION)@g' $$file; \
+	done
+
 ##################################################
 # Build                                          #
 ##################################################
@@ -66,12 +80,12 @@ build: checkenv build-adapter build-controller
 .PHONY: build-controller
 build-controller: generate-api pkg/scalers/liiklus/LiiklusService.pb.go
 	$(GO_BUILD_VARS) operator-sdk build $(IMAGE_CONTROLLER) \
-		--go-build-args "-ldflags -X=main.GitCommit=$(GIT_COMMIT) -ldflags -X=github.com/kedacore/keda/version.Version=$(IMAGE_TAG) -o build/_output/bin/keda"
+		--go-build-args "-ldflags -X=main.GitCommit=$(GIT_COMMIT) -ldflags -X=github.com/kedacore/keda/version.Version=$(VERSION) -o build/_output/bin/keda"
 
 .PHONY: build-adapter
 build-adapter: generate-api pkg/scalers/liiklus/LiiklusService.pb.go
 	$(GO_BUILD_VARS) go build \
-		-ldflags "-X=main.GitCommit=$(GIT_COMMIT) -X=github.com/kedacore/keda/version.Version=$(IMAGE_TAG)" \
+		-ldflags "-X=main.GitCommit=$(GIT_COMMIT) -X=github.com/kedacore/keda/version.Version=$(VERSION)" \
 		-o build/_output/bin/keda-adapter \
 		cmd/adapter/main.go
 	docker build -f build/Dockerfile.adapter -t $(IMAGE_ADAPTER) .
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index da6d8e1f6e1..35123a3d15e 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -139,7 +139,7 @@ If you want to change KEDA's behaviour, or if you have created a new scaler (mor
 to deploy it as part of KEDA. Do the following:
 
 1. Make your change in the code.
-2. In terminal, create an environment variable `IMAGE_TAG` and assign it a value for your preference, this tag will 
+2. In terminal, create an environment variable `VERSION` and assign it a value for your preference, this tag will 
     be used when creating the operator image that will run KEDA.
     ***Note***: make sure it doesn't clash with the official tags of KEDA containers in DockerHub.
 3. Still in terminal, run `make build` at the root of the source code. This will also build the docker image for 
@@ -149,7 +149,7 @@ to deploy it as part of KEDA. Do the following:
 5. Still in terminal, navigate to the `charts/keda` folder (downloaded in step 4), and run the following command 
     (don't forget to replace the placeholder text in the command):
     ```bash
-    helm install . --set image.keda=kedacore/keda:$IMAGE_TAG,image.metricsAdapter=kedacore/keda-metrics-adapter:$IMAGE_TAG,image.pullPolicy=IfNotPresent
+    helm install . --set image.keda=kedacore/keda:$VERSION,image.metricsAdapter=kedacore/keda-metrics-adapter:$VERSION,image.pullPolicy=IfNotPresent
     ```
     This will use the images built at step 3. Notice the need to override the image pullPolicy to `IfNotPresent` in 
     order to use the locally built images and not try to pull the images from remote repo on Docker Hub (and complain 
diff --git a/RELEASE-PROCESS.MD b/RELEASE-PROCESS.MD
index eb563ba8f37..f231747ee9c 100644
--- a/RELEASE-PROCESS.MD
+++ b/RELEASE-PROCESS.MD
@@ -10,26 +10,12 @@ The next version will thus be 1.2.0
 
 **1) Update KEDA version in code and YAMLs**
 
-Update version string in:
-https://github.com/kedacore/keda/blob/master/version/version.go 
-
-Update sections related to images in these yamls:
-https://github.com/kedacore/keda/blob/master/deploy/12-operator.yaml
-https://github.com/kedacore/keda/blob/master/deploy/22-metrics-deployment.yaml
-
-Update sections related to the version label in these yamls:
-https://github.com/kedacore/keda/blob/master/deploy/00-namespace.yaml
-https://github.com/kedacore/keda/blob/master/deploy/01-service_account.yaml
-https://github.com/kedacore/keda/blob/master/deploy/10-cluster_role.yaml
-https://github.com/kedacore/keda/blob/master/deploy/11-role_binding.yaml
-https://github.com/kedacore/keda/blob/master/deploy/12-operator.yaml
-https://github.com/kedacore/keda/blob/master/deploy/20-metrics-cluster_role.yaml
-https://github.com/kedacore/keda/blob/master/deploy/21-metrics-role_binding.yaml
-https://github.com/kedacore/keda/blob/master/deploy/22-metrics-deployment.yaml
-https://github.com/kedacore/keda/blob/master/deploy/23-metrics-service.yaml
-https://github.com/kedacore/keda/blob/master/deploy/24-metrics-api_service.yaml
-
-Commit these changes.
+* Run the following command to update the version, setting the `VERSION` value to the next version, eg 1.2.0:
+    ```bash
+    VERSION=1.2.0 make release
+    ```
+    > Note: This will update the version labels and images in the yaml files located in the `deploy` folder as well as the version in `version.go`.
+* Commit these changes.
 
 **2) Deploy the new KEDA images to Docker Hub**