A deeper dive into a powerful tool that can be home for your digital assets.
The digital age is transforming every aspect of the consumer experience. Every day, photos and videos, ads and animations, games and other digital media convince us to purchase and scroll more.
According to an eMarketer study, US adults spent an average of over 10 hours a day with digital and television media in 2019.
With stats like that, companies must meticulously plan and expertly manage how they are connecting with potential clients.
Are you finding that social media like Instagram is your main lead? Do your consumers look forward to your daily email push? Does your business depend on the traffic driven by your stunning product images and videos? No matter the channel, small businesses and enterprise brands alike must invest in digital outlets to stand a chance at being seen.
As this external demand for digital content grows, the high volume of digital assets being produced can become an organizational nightmare. Whether a digital asset is being used on its own, or many assets are being combined to create a more complex product, each must be properly managed and distributed to properly fit its intended channel. Users can download, circulate, and save various formats and versions of the same asset at their discretion. If you have a large team this unmanned free-for-all can get messy very quickly.
Without proper digital asset management (DAM) system in place, servers will become clogged, time will be wasted, and valuable content will be lost. To avoid consequences like these, a DAM platform is a useful resource for the management of digital media throughout its lifetime of use.
Digital Asset Management
– The tools, standards, and processes involved in the effective utilization of digital and creative assets.
WHAT IS A DAM PLATFORM?
DAM Platform
– A third-party software program that includes features that allow for the management of a high volume of assets using complex workflows
Simply put, the DAM platform is where all of your digital assets could live, but it’s way more than just a home. DAM platforms give your brand access to and control of all of your digital assets in one central location. DAMs increase the security and organization of your files and offer powerful searchability and data-driven tracking.
Many DAM platforms offer such features as:
Metadata Tagging
Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning
Permissions Management by Asset, Folder, or User
Advanced Data Analytics & Reporting
Approval Workflows & File Download Templates
External Sharing & Version Control
File Previewing & Editing
Implementing a DAM platform into your company’s workflow is a great start to getting your assets organized, but creating effective processes and standards around it unlocks its potential. At Stacks, we like to say that digital asset management isn’t a platform or a project, but a program that involves people, processes, and platforms working together to capitalize on the value of assets.
WHAT A DAM CAN BE
There’s no one-size-fits-all way to manage a DAM Platform. While implementing a new tool into your workflow, take the time to customize its structure and processes. This way, it is perfectly tailored to your team culture. We recommend using this time to think through several questions:
Who will be using the DAM?
What is their department structure within the company?
What folders, filenames, and keywords would fit seamlessly into their workflows?
We’ve explained the importance of standardizing company language here to get the ball rolling. This is an important first step in developing effective processes around your DAM platform. Once that has been established, it is also important to determine what kinds of assets will live on within your library, as well as who will have access to them.
Need more help getting started? Contact us or check out this webinar on How to Effectively Manage Your DAM to learn how to plan for and set up a DAM program that is easy to manage.
WHAT A DAM CAN BE
CUSTOMIZABLE
When digital assets sit on a local, structureless server, content gets lost and time gets wasted. If this continues long enough, vital information such as usage rights is forgotten and a brand’s identity wavers.
With the use of a cloud-based DAM platform, your content will never be lost or re-created again. Backed by organizational standards, your team’s searches grow more precise and accurate. As staff members search for and find assets for upcoming campaigns, they can download and share them in the ideal format while the original file remains safely within the system. On the flip side, your team can also identify any assets your company might not already own. Your organization can then invest in the creation or purchasing of those that are needed.
PROTECTED
If you purchased an asset through a third-party, copyright laws may apply. Using an image that goes against the terms of the agreement could get your team in real trouble. Adding crucial information such as usage rights to files within your DAM library can help your team avoid the misuse of digital files and the consequences that could result. Because your DAM can be so easily customized, important information such as copyright can be added to metadata or the folder structure.
Also, use your DAM platform to make sure your marketing materials always portray the most up-to-date version of your brand. Company photos, logos, and color schemes all allow your brand to be recognized by consumers. If an outdated version is distributed, it could be confusing to current and potential clients. If your brand has recently been refreshed, we suggest archiving any off-brand assets into folders that have restricted access. Then, your team always has the latest versions at their fingertips.
CONCLUSION
With a proper DAM system in place, finding that perfect asset within minutes is not out of the question.
You do your clients and staff a disservice spending hours scrolling through digital files. Take the time to organize your files now to save valuable time down the road.
We sometimes see a, “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it” kind of mentality in our first conversations with clients. Brands spend so long with cluttered and decentralized libraries that their staff almost adapts to the “this is just how we do it” standard. If your staff is accustomed to a certain workflow and it’s efficient for them, adding a new tool is a legitimate question.
The time is now to begin changing those standards, however is now. With the help of intuitive processes and a powerful platform, you will exceed client expectations and your team can get back to doing the tasks they thrive at.
