Digital Asset Management Pricing

Your digital assets play a key role in bringing in consumers and building brand loyalty. The engagement rate for posts that include images is 650 percent higher than it is for posts that do not include images. Posts with video content get 300 percent more links than text-only posts. Consumers are 85 percent more likely to buy an item after viewing a product video than they were before watching the video. However, to use your digital assets to their fullest potential, you need an efficient storage and organizational system. This is where DAM (digital asset management) comes into play.

What Is Digital Asset Management Software?

DAM software is specifically designed to make it easy for companies to maintain a single source of truth for all product information. These systems are usually coupled with a product information management (PIM) platform, so you can keep product information such as SKUs, descriptions, and benefit/feature lists together with product images, videos, warranty policies, and assembly instructions. Filters and tags allow you to sort through and find information with ease. What's more, DAM software allows authorized users in multiple locations to access the system. This makes it easy for a company to keep information up to date at all times.

What Is the Value of Digital Asset Management?

Why is digital asset management important? There are several answers to this question. Digital asset management platforms make it easy for your employees to find the information they need to answer consumer questions, create promotional materials, and more. It prevents mistakes that could put off potential customers or anger current customers who are either looking for a new product or need information about a product they've already purchased. 

DAM systems make it easy to maintain brand uniformity across multiple channels as these platforms allow you to easily share promotional materials with sales partners. What's more, DAM systems also have tools and features to help you automatically update digital product catalogs and your online product listings. With a few clicks of a mouse, you can share product images and videos that will grab consumer attention, improve product experiences, and generate sales.

How Do I Choose a DAM?

There are scores of digital asset management companies in USA. You can find some of the best-known ones listed on the Gartner Digital Asset Management Magic Quadrant website. However, knowing which one is right for you takes some forethought. Listed below are some questions you should ask yourself when looking at DAM vendors:

• What is the primary problem or problems you're trying to solve with a DAM platform? Do you need to find images easily to create printed advertising materials, or are you looking for a system that helps you share your assets with third-party vendors and/or social media? Tools and amenities vary by platform. Thus, it's important to know what you need before you start shopping for a DAM platform.

• How many digital assets do we have and what types? Not all DAM platforms offer unlimited storage space and/or product entries, so you'll want to make sure that you purchase a system that can meet your storage needs. When in doubt, it's best to invest in a system that has a bit of extra space rather than the bare minimum. It can be a hassle to upgrade some DAM platforms so make sure you have what you need long-term.

• What other systems do you need to integrate with? Do you use Microsoft Teams, Slack, or a similar platform to share information? If so, you'll want a DAM platform that can integrate with these tools. If you use a catalog creation app, it's wise to make sure your DAM software integrates with the catalog creation tool of your choice. Online sellers will want to pick a DAM platform that connects with third-party e-commerce platforms such as Amazon and eBay. Productivity tool integrations, social media integrations, and marketing tools integrations are some other options that are worth consideration.

• Where and how will the digital assets be used? If you run a B2B business, your priority will likely be to share digital assets with sales partners to make it easy for them to promote your products. If you run a brick-and-mortar business, you'll likely use the DAM platform to post digital assets on social media and your website. On the other hand, a company that runs an online store and sells items on e-commerce platforms will want a DAM tool that can automatically update product information in order to improve product experiences.

Digital Asset Management Examples

The list of digital asset management companies includes well-known firms such as Canto, Bynder, and Brandfolder. There are also companies such as Lumavate, Catsy, and Acquia that offer an integrated product information management (PIM) platform with digital asset management functionality. These platforms enable you to store text information such as product descriptions, product SKUs, and benefit/features lists together with images and video files.

Does Adobe Have a DAM?

The Adobe Experience Manager includes a DAM platform. Experience Manager's assets are available in two package options: Departmental and Enterprise. Both packages include DAM tools with a host of other features. These include native integrations, tagging, and collaboration features to make it easy for employees across multiple branch offices to edit and share information related to digital assets.

Is Dropbox a DAM?

Dropbox is a convenient platform for storing images and videos, but it's not a DAM. It does not have digital asset management tools such as tags and a change log. It also can't automatically update product listings and social media accounts when you add new digital assets to your library.

Is Microsoft SharePoint a DAM?

Microsoft SharePoint is not a DAM. It doesn't integrate with other platforms to allow you to use your digital assets in product guides, catalogs, and on social media. It also doesn't have tags, search features, a change log, and other tools you need to properly manage your digital assets.

What to Expect When You Start Using a Digital Asset Management Program

You can start preparing to move over to a digital asset management program even before you find the best platform for your organization. The first step is to collect all the digital assets you'd like to upload into your system. Next, brainstorm a tag system that would work well for your business. While a DAM platform provides the tools you need to sift through images and videos with ease, it operates in accordance with your tagging system. This means that it won't work well if tagging rules aren't uniform.

Once you've collected your digital assets, it's time to start the process of moving over to a new DAM platform. Unfortunately, in many cases, the moving process can take days or even weeks. Many of the digital asset management system examples listed above have a lengthy initiation period. First, you would need to contact the DAM platform of your choice and request a custom price quote. Once you've paid for the platform of your choice, the company's IT technicians will get the program up and running on your IT system. You not only have to wait until the program is set up and running before you start using it but also pay extra for the DAM company's IT tech services. Lumavate is one of the few exceptions to this scenario, as the company offers service plans in three price points. You only have to pick the plan of your choice, pay for it, and start using it. Tech help from the company is available if you need or want it. However, the program is very user-friendly. This means that business owners don't need technical expertise to start using Lumavate and all that it has to offer.

How Much Do Digital Asset Management Systems Cost?

Cost should not be the main determining factor when choosing a digital asset management solution. Low cost digital asset management systems don't always offer all the features and amenities you need to grow your business to its fullest potential. If you purchase a system with minimal tools, it will take more manpower to upload, organize, and share your digital asset than it would otherwise. What's more, you'll likely need to upgrade to a new DAM platform at some point in the future. Moving all your files to a new system would not only be a huge job but may result in downtime and lost sales.

At the same time, if your business has a limited budget, cost will likely be a factor when picking a DAM system. A comprehensive DAM pricing comparison shows that digital asset management pricing per month varies wildly depending on the system you pick and the types of features and amenities you need. Brandfolder pricing starts at $1,600 per feature, making it one of the most expensive options on the market. Adobe's DAM is also quite pricey, although the exact cost varies depending on the size and needs of your company. 

Lumavate, on the other hand, starts at $499 a month. This makes it one of the most cost-effective DAM programs on the market. Even the Growth and Enterprise plans (priced at $999 and $4,999 per month, respectively) are very affordable compared to most other DAM platform plans on the market.

How Much Does a DAM Cost to Maintain?

The question, "How much does a DAM system cost" should not be confused with the question, "How much does a DAM system cost to maintain?" Once again, costs vary depending on your company's needs and the DAM system you purchase. In addition to paying for a DAM system, you'll also need to take storage capacity into account. If you pay for an on-premises system and the system needs additional space, you'll need to switch to another DAM platform or upgrade your IT equipment. There are also costs involved in adding integrations to your platform and customizing options to increase efficiency. Furthermore, you'll need to teach your employees how to use the new DAM software program.

Who's in Charge of the DAM Platform?

A digital asset management system is a huge plus for any organization. It saves time, improves consumer experiences with your brand, helps you generate brand awareness, and boosts brand loyalty. Even so, even the best DAM systems can't meet all your digital asset management needs on their own. Every business should have someone in charge of the DAM platform to ensure it's working well and being used to its fullest potential.

In most companies, the DAM platform is typically owned by the marketing department. This makes sense as your marketers are the ones tasked with creating and managing your digital assets. Other departments will likely need access to the DAM system, but your marketers will probably be the ones to use it the most. At the same time, there needs to be a single person who is ultimately in charge of the DAM platform. In a large company, that person could be the marketing manager. They would keep track of program updates to ensure accuracy, train new employees in using the new DAM platform, decide when and how digital assets on the platform should be used, etc. 

In a small or mid-size company, a manager or even the business owner would likely be in charge of the DAM system. This does not mean that the person in charge of the system would handle all DAM-related work; to the contrary, the DAM manager in a small or mid-sized company would likely outsource different jobs to various people in the company or hire freelancers to handle tasks such as taking quality images or providing DAM training to new staff members. However, the person ultimately in charge of the system would ensure that all DAM-related work gets done.

What Lumavate Offers

Lumavate provides a huge array of tools and amenities to empower any business owner to grow his or her company at the lowest possible cost. Lumavate's DAM program includes not only PIM functionality but also a digital product experience (DXP) platform that makes it easy for you to use your photos and videos to build websites, microsites, digital product catalogs, event forms, and other promotional materials. 

The DXP platform also offers helpful tools such as free templates and form builders so you can use your digital assets to create an array of uniform marketing materials that will showcase your brand in a positive light. Lumavate integrates with dozens of commonly-used programs to allow all authorized employees in your organization to organize, share, and edit product images and video files as needed, and it enables you to share the image and video files of your choice with marketing partners and your target audience. What's more, the DAM and DXP platforms can even be used to offer custom product recommendations to potential consumers based on their past history on your site. Our Growth and Enterprise plans include text messaging designed to boost any SMS marketing campaign. Instead of typing up text messages and hoping your audience pays attention to them, you can use Lumavate to send brand-new product images and videos to people who have already expressed interest in getting this information.

How to Get Started with Lumavate

Are you ready to tap into all that Lumavate has to offer? If so, consider our price plans, select the one of your choice, and start using our many DAM tools and amenities to grow your business. On the other hand, if you're not sure Lumavate is right for your company, feel free to schedule a product demo at your convenience or try out our 14-day free trial period. We take pride in helping companies of all sizes and from all industries grow their business, and we look forward to meeting or even exceeding your expectations.