Why Do You Need a DAM?

When company leaders think of assets, they may only think of financial statements, equipment, and buildings. They may not immediately look at their digital holdings. Yet, digital assets, such as product images and how-to-videos, have significant value.

Digital assets are media, data, or content stored in digital formats for use. Most of a company’s digital assets are created by a marketing team. Although organizations have thousands of digital assets, they often fail to capitalize on their value because they are poorly managed. Digital asset management (DAM) software can help manufacturers realize the full benefits of their digital assets.

Why Are Digital Assets Important?

Digital assets are unique to the business that creates them. They can differentiate a brand from its competition providing a competitive edge when properly managed. Types of digital assets that have value may include:

• Logos: Companies can spend millions developing the perfect logo, so all uses should adhere to the same standard.

• Images: Organizations can spend hours at a photoshoot, trying to capture the perfect image to showcase a product.

• Videos: Training or how-to videos require hours of production time to achieve the right steps and tone for the intended audience.

Unless businesses have a way to control their use, the quality of their digital assets can decline with each unauthorized use.

Manufacturers create digital assets continuously. Engineers build design specifications. Trainers produce instruction videos. Marketers create ads, lead gen campaigns, and sales collateral. With a DAM, digital creations can be used and reused in innovative ways. Encouraging innovation is just one of the benefits of digital assets.

What Is a Digital Asset Management System?

DAM solutions let companies collect, organize, retrieve, and store digital assets. They secure them in a central location with controlled access and versioning to maintain their integrity. Manufacturers can maintain the value of their digital assets using digital asset management tools.

DAM software ensures that each asset is of the best quality. For example, marketing creates a series of product photographs, labels them according to size, and places them in a DAM. Anyone with access to the DAM can use the image that is most appropriate for the intended audience. Mobile applications have different size requirements than websites. Printed materials use different resolutions than websites.

Having access to the right digital assets allows manufacturers to increase customer engagement, acquisition, retention, and satisfaction. As customers grow to expect more product interaction, the value of digital assets will only increase.

Who Uses Digital Asset Management Software?

Marketing is the primary user of a DAM solution. The department organizes the assets and provides curated media. They may extend access to other employees, external agencies, and channel partners. Sharing approved digital assets ensures a consistent customer experience. Contradictory information or suboptimal content is eliminated.

Marketing may appoint a digital asset manager to maintain control of the software. The manager would assign access rights so only authorized personnel could make changes. Managers would track change history and establish a taxonomy for searchable content. They could develop workflows that ensure all assets are properly vetted before being placed in the DAM.

Reducing production costs and improving customer experiences are two other benefits of digital asset management systems.

Why Do You Need a DAM?

The importance of digital asset management to manufacturing begins before the product hits the market. For example, Company Z wants to showcase its latest product at an upcoming trade show However, the product just completed beta testing and is not in production. Pulling together the information for a major trade show is hectic enough without adding a not-in-production product.

Marketing, product management, and sales are rushing to pull together data in weeks instead of the typical months. They pay a premium to get product photos and an expedited printing fee for booth handouts. Product information needs to be added to the mobile app and website. The online catalog needs an update to let visitors know when the product will be available. Marketing thinks it has hit all the channels, but they won't know for sure unless a potential customer or client says something.

A DAM would address the above scenario through:

Better Resource Management

Resources would not be spent tracking down existing digital assets. Marketing would access the DAM to see what product data was available. From that assessment, they would determine what needs to be done.

For example, photographs were taken when the product entered beta testing. With editing tools, graphic designers can improve the photo quality, avoiding the time and money of a last-minute photoshoot.

Increased Transparency

DAM systems serve as a single source of truth, so no one has to verify data accuracy. Marketing trusts that the approval process has verified the data. They can have multiple teams accessing the same information at the same time to update a mobile app, website, and online catalog.

Lower Costs

Fees for rush photoshoots and expedited printing are no longer necessary. Employees are not paid to duplicate existing images or data. Digital content can be used in multiple applications simultaneously. Product information reaches the market faster, at a lower cost, and with fewer errors.

Improved Customer Experience

Whether digital assets are used internally or externally, the information remains consistent once it is in a DAM. What is displayed on a website is consistent with what shows on a mobile app. Marketing doesn't have to wait until a customer lets them know of an inconsistency. Less friction and more seamless interaction helps strengthen relationships and increase customer loyalty.

Other Features of Digital Asset Management

Some DAMs, such as the one included in Lumavate's platform, automatically update digital experiences when an asset is updated. Marketing knows that the product catalog, website, and mobile app will be updated. Many DAMs allow manufacturers to create portals that are accessible by others while maintaining secure control over the assets themselves. DAMs provide a centralized location that allows users to search for specific items instead of looking through directories and files.

Lumavate incorporates its digital asset management solution into its product experience management (PXM) platform. Using its digital experience platform (DXP), marketing can pull product data from a DAM or product information management tool to deliver end-to-end digital experiences. Best of all, non-technical users can build an experience using a drag-and-drop interface. Schedule a demo or take a product tour to see what a product experience platform can do.