5 things to look at when considering a DAM solution
Vineetha
The pandemic has forced brands to go digitally native. Adopting the digital-first approach while also maintaining a strong foothold offline for when things go back to normal is anything but simple. Every brand with a multitude of channels to target, both online and offline, face a challenge to be consistent with their brand storytelling.
Coming to campaigns, to reach the right target audience the assets don’t just include final images and videos but the endless versions of them, campaign briefs, style guides etc. More so from the retail industry perspective with added product images to manage it’s important to have the right DAM solution in place. At the outset, effective management of digital assets is the focus of major brands to improve their business bottom line.
The importance of digital asset management solution
As the presence of the brand widens there are more customers, stakeholders, data, brand and digital assets to deal with on an everyday basis. This would result in an unprecedented amount of imagery, product descriptions, videos, podcasts, and documentation where DAM solutions are more than relevant. Going by statistics, by 2024, the digital asset management market is expected to reach $8.1 billion.
Why does your brand need a DAM solution?
The purpose of a digital asset management system for any brand is three-fold. First, it helps to keep a tab on the existing digital and brand assets, followed by collecting significant life cycle data of assets for effective tracking and finally, advanced solution help in calculating financials including costs, risks, forecasts, and budgets.
No matter how big or small the brand for teams running creative campaigns at scale a DAM solution in place is inevitable. But, it needs due consideration in terms of ROI. There is no match to the customer satisfaction obtained through campaigns that are on-brand, on-time with a clear understanding of the customer expectation.
Now that we’ve established the importance of a DAM solution, it’s time to breakdown the factors you should weigh in while choosing a DAM solution for your brand.
5 things to consider to pick the right DAM solution
As per need approach a DAM solution provider who has a brief onboarding and consultation process in place. Look for expertise that convinces you on the dividends of integrating the solution with your system in the long run. Based on whether you may significantly scale up or down in the future, the available IT support, features and most importantly budget should support the chosen DAM solution.
Integrations
Consider your web designers creating pages in your CMS and not being able to access assets from your DAM system. This lack of end-to-end creative lifecycle support might result in redundancy in tasks and unproductive utilization of creative minds.
Like I mentioned earlier, your DAM solution is at the core of your digital ecosystem connected with both upstream creative processes and downstream customer experience tools. Hence, ensure that the DAM solution you pick enables integrations as a feature to collaborate across teams with the latest version of assets. You might already have collaboration tools such as Slack or Trello, project management tools such as JIRA or Asana, and several other marketing tools like HubSpot. All you need is a solution that can bring them all on one platform to operate smoothly right from creation, collaboration, review and distribution.
Multiple vendors offer marginally different types of integrations. As you evaluate the workflows of your organization, identify opportunities to connect your tools to reduce redundancy of tasks and bring forward the visibility of assets across teams.
Automation and Rich media
The highlight of any DAM solution is its capability to automate tasks thus enabling the team to work faster. But, automation usually promotes the duplication of generic content that may not be aimed towards your specific target market. Modern-day solutions have personalization at its core as customers demand a more individualized experience. Thus, coupling automation with personalized rich media surely is the way forward for brands.
Security & Permissions
With an unparalleled amount of brand assets, monitoring proper on-brand creatives usage that follows set brand guidelines is essential for version control. A brand could potentially have thousands and millions of licensed assets with unique expiration dates and usage rules. Managing all of these annually can seem to be an impossible task. So, when looking for a DAM solution, make sure that the platform includes workflow features such as expiration, permissions, and approval to moderate risks and misuse of any asset.
Analytics and Insights
To close the loop on your marketing cycle, your DAM should provide insights to understand if the deliverables present value. Detailed data about an asset, such as a brochure, can give you granular insight into the effectiveness of the asset. Ultimately, your DAM should report on insights so that they can be translated into tangible action points. With these analytics, you can steer your marketing budget by understanding customer needs and reevaluate your strategy.
Incorporating gathered insights on engagement rates, best times, and channels to post on the internet, into your marketing strategy can have a great impact on your company sales.
Ease of use
Finally, it all comes down to how easy the software is to use. What’s the point of implementing a top-notch software that your team doesn’t actually use. While picking a DAM solution, ensure that it’s intuitive so that teams don’t require extensive training to adapt. Every team member should be able to access the DAM platform, easily search through, discover, edit, and download assets at ease.
Conclusion
It’s time to transform the way your brand manages its digital assets. By having complete control and access to the full lifecycle of your digital assets will help your team function smarter and faster. Make the most out of the DAM solution you choose to maximize your brand visibility and consistency.
Vineetha 
