One of the most common uses of digital content today, and for much of the last 25 years, has been online. Every brand has a website, and these sites have increasingly become more visual as the years go by. According to Sproutworth, webpages featuring images receive 94% more views than those without, and those featuring videos can boost the number of visitors who take a desired action (such as making a purchase) by 80%.
For brand website managers, quick and easy access to the best content the brand offers is key to their success. However, this is easier said than done. Digital content must be accessible, correctly formatted for web use, consistent across all digital channels, and approved for use on the web.
How can a web manager effectively do their job while keeping information and data organized? By implementing a Digital Asset Management (DAM) program alongside a Content Delivery Network (CDN), brands can provide their web teams with approved, on-brand, and consistent content in the correct format —without the headache of sorting through Content Management System (CMS) libraries.
In this article, we’ll explain what a CDN and DAM are, how they contribute to content management, and how they work together to support the day-to-day operations of your brand’s digital strategy.
What Is DAM?
Digital asset management (DAM) is made up of all the people, processes, and platforms involved in a brand’s digital content management efforts. To explain this in more detail, let’s break down each letter of DAM. For a more in-depth analysis of the definition of DAM, click the link below!
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- “Digital” - DAM manages all the content stored on a computer or hard drive, not in a physical file cabinet. “Digital” data is made up of what’s known as “binary data,” which simply means it’s composed of information that a computer can process and understand. Just as our eyes need light to see shapes and colors, computers need binary data to do the same.
- “Asset” - Assets are items that hold intrinsic worth. They're important because they can be used to create value in other ways. For many brands, digital assets refer to those used in creating ads, marketing campaigns, or other branded materials for the organization’s marketing channels.
- “Management” - Management focuses on differentiating and organizing these digital assets according to their value to the organization and the ways that they create value. This is where the people, platforms, and processes involved in utilizing digital assets come into play.
Putting these components together creates what we at Stacks define as a “DAM program.” Every organization’s DAM program is unique. For example, a global consumer packaged goods brand focused on driving value through its funny social media ads will build a DAM program that looks far different from a fast-food chain delivering content to franchisees across the country.
Regardless of your industry or specific use case for DAM, its role should be as the hub of your organization’s content management ecosystem. It needs to be the central source of truth for all digital assets and should ideally be integrated with other platforms like your Product Information Management (PIM) system, CMS, or creative tools.
What Is a CDN?
As mentioned, DAM should be the hub of an organization’s content management ecosystem. However, other tools are necessary to ensure assets are delivered efficiently, securely, and in the right way across the organization. One of these tools is a CDN or Content Delivery/Distribution Network. Let’s break down the definition of a CDN, just as we did for DAM.
- “Content” - While it would be easy to treat the terms “asset” and “content” as interchangeable, they're not the same, especially in the context of CDNs. Here, “content” doesn’t simply refer to visual assets like images or videos. CDNs manage the entire structure of a website, including both static elements (such as images, logos, font styles, etc.) and dynamic elements (like chat messages, news feeds, login statuses, user preferences, etc.). All of these pieces of content work together to create a compelling user experience and drive conversion events for the brand.
- “Delivery/Distribution” - So, what does a CDN do with a website’s content? Well, it delivers it! We’ll explore the specifics of how shortly, but let’s concentrate initially on why efficiently delivering the proper content to a website is so important. First, attention spans are short. According to a study by Microsoft, people typically lose focus after about eight seconds. This means that if a website has a longer-than-average load time, it’s less likely to keep users on the site. Second, the right content must be delivered to the website in the proper format. If images are formatted incorrectly, branding is inconsistent, or usage rights aren't properly tracked, it can negatively impact the effectiveness of a website’s messaging.
- “Network” - Have you ever wondered how the internet works? If not, here’s a quick rundown. Every website on the internet is connected to a physical server that stores all the site’s content in the form of binary information. A website’s load time is influenced by how physically close a user is to the server. For a global brand with users located thousands of miles away or retailing partners spread across the country, this can pose significant challenges. A CDN is a network of servers spread across a region or the globe, all connected to a central hub (sound familiar?) that supplies content across the network. This setup ensures security, quick load times, and consistent content delivery across every part of the network.
Now that we understand what a CDN is at a high level, what isn’t it? First and foremost, a CDN isn't the same as a CMS. A CMS provides an interface for web managers to use when changing or updating a website’s content, whereas a CDN works in the background to ensure that the content a web manager accesses through the CMS is the right content.
3 Reasons Why You Should Pair Your DAM and CDN
Since this article has been very technical so far, let’s shift to some more practical information. Namely, how do these two seemingly unrelated systems work together? At a high level, the DAM program serves as one of the content hubs that a CDN pulls from to feed its network of servers. All assets are stored in a central repository that dynamically sends the right assets to the right sites through metadata and approval workflows.
In the rest of this article, we’ll discuss the key reasons why pairing your DAM program with a CDN can benefit your organization. To discuss this in more detail, or to learn more about the broader content management ecosystem, contact Stacks today by clicking the button below.
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- Creates a more seamless content publishing experience
Without a centralized DAM program that keeps current assets readily available to users, web managers have two options. They either have to build and manage their own digital asset library within the CMS—meaning that each website, storefront, or marketing channel has different content governed by siloed teams—or they must request the proper content from another team whenever they need to make a change. It’s easy to see the downsides of both approaches.
With a centralized and integrated DAM and CDN, digital assets relevant to web teams are instantly distributed across the network, ensuring that every site uses the same set of approved, on-brand, and current assets. Content is often updated automatically, allowing employees to focus on improving the user experience.
- Keeps the site up-to-date and secure
There are many risks associated with websites, servers, and digital assets. On the DAM front, one of the most common threats to brand identity and consistency is the proper management of usage rights for digital assets being used across the organization. Tracking the complex web of permissions—who is allowed to use which assets on which platforms—can be challenging. DAM programs streamline this process and allow users to automatically archive or lock content that's no longer relevant.
Coupled with a CDN, which also works on a technical level to ensure web security, this setup means that as assets expire or brand approvals change within the DAM (based on metadata), web managers are notified, and outdated content is automatically removed from the site.
- Scales operations effectively
Finally, a DAM program and CDN work together to ensure organizational scalability. Growth is good for almost any organization, but it also puts pressure on internal people and processes.
An announcement about your brand expanding into a new region, serving new customers, or acquiring a new product should excite your team, not throw them into a spiral of panic. Pairing your DAM program with a CDN ensures that by providing scalable platforms and processes that can grow alongside your organization. They provide a level of standardization that makes launching a new initiative simple instead of chaotic since assets are already in one place and available to the right people quickly.
Discover How Stacks Can Improve Your Content Management Strategy
Building a digital asset management (DAM) program that effectively supports a content delivery network (CDN) is easier said than done. It requires that processes, metadata taxonomy, integrations, rights, and permissions are set up properly and governed over the long term. Each system needs clear ownership and dedicated resources to scale and evolve as needed.
If you need help building or growing your DAM program to accomplish your content management goals, contact Stacks today! We help brands of all shapes and sizes execute their DAM vision and achieve their goals.
