7 Reasons Your Marketing Team Needs Digital Asset Management Software

In the past several years, digital asset management (DAM) software has dramatically increased in popularity. Much of this rise is thanks to efforts by tech juggernauts such as Google and Amazon, which are encouraging Internet users to consume content in as many ways, and via as many channels, as possible. To keep running with the big dogs, marketers need to meet users’ new expectations that content will be instantaneous, relevant, and delivered right to their phones.

This demand can often put a strain on many organizations as they are tasked to not only develop more content, but also find effective ways to manage, share, and leverage these digital assets both internally and across all marketing channels. 

Regardless of why digital asset management software is growing among organizations of all sizes and industries, this article will discuss seven reasons why your marketing team can greatly benefit from a new DAM solution.

1. Easy Sharing and Collaboration

Whether it’s with your customers, internal employees, or third-party vendors, DAM software makes sharing and collaboration much easier. Both B2B and B2C marketers can benefit from using DAM systems. The enhanced tracking and visibility features of modern DAM solutions let you ensure that you’re showing the right files to the right people at the right time.

2. Reusing Images and Graphics

Many digital assets are reused not only in the same marketing campaign, but between campaigns as well. Faster searching and sharing of assets are two of the main selling points for DAM software, helping you relocate the content you need for your next campaign.

In addition, multinational corporations need to be sure that they use the right content for the right markets. For example, advertisements for car insurance need to show vehicles with the driver’s seat to the right in markets where people drive on the left, such as the United Kingdom, India, and Japan. DAM solutions make it easier to manage concerns such as these for different regions and languages.

3. CMS Integrations

DAM software typically consists of both a content repository and a metadata schema for organization and search. This is different from a content management system (CMS), which has more explicit uses within an organization ranging from document management, web-based publishing or as part of an inbound marketing platform. For example, using a CMS helps you answer questions such as where an image has been distributed and how many people viewed it.

Of course, both CMS solutions and DAM software can greatly benefit from being integrated with each other. For example, data from your CMS solution gives marketers insight into how their campaigns are performing.

4. Single Interface

Despite the many advantages of using them, DAM solutions are only a single part of your enterprise software applications. Your organization may already be using software for workflow management, project management, distribution and tracking, and more.

The best DAM software is capable of interfacing with and enhancing your existing applications. Your choice of DAM solution should provide a single coherent user interface, without the need to constantly log in and log out, that’s well-suited to how employees will actually use it. In doing so, you’ll see a dramatic effect on your DAM adoption rates.

5. Access to All of Your Content

DAM software provides increased visibility and oversight of your marketing workflows and processes, including connections with other software applications.

For example, project managers may want to see whether the images for an upcoming marketing campaign have been approved yet, or whether the retouching process is finished. Managers and employees should be able to easily view data from the DAM system within another interface, instead of having to sign into the DAM software.

6. Saving Lots of Time

Like any other enterprise software application, return on investment should be one of the primary concerns when buying a DAM system. Unfortunately, many companies mistakenly believe that DAM solutions are internal-facing software that isn’t worth the investment. However, the statistics refute this claim: 4 out of 5 organizations believe that DAM platforms have increased revenues by 10 percent or more.

The ROI of DAM software is expressed in many ways. Employees spend less time hunting for the right assets and avoid duplication of effort. This allows them to work on more campaigns at the same time and bring campaigns to market more quickly.

In addition, DAM software can track the amount of time you spend at each stage of a given process. This helps you identify the bottlenecks in your processes, such as documents sitting on a manager’s desk waiting for approval, and work to reduce them.

7. Improved Marketing Campaigns

Not all digital assets are created equal—some of them are better-suited for different marketing campaigns. Feature-rich, sophisticated DAM software can be part of your marketing analytics strategy by tracking how many people have seen a particular asset and how they responded to it.

There are many different concerns when launching a marketing campaign; certain assets and products might perform better in different demographics, locations, or languages. This data needs to be funneled back into your internal systems so that marketing can have a look at it. For every campaign, you should aim to have a never-ending cycle of distribution, feedback, and analysis so that you can continue to make improvements.

Final Thoughts

Nearly every organization has something to gain from using a modern digital asset management system. From easier sharing and collaboration to making smarter data-driven marketing decisions, DAM software gives your business the features and functionality to compete in an increasingly digital landscape. 

To learn more about improving your digital asset management and increasing the efficiency of your processes, read our free guide: Future-Proofing Your Digital Asset Management and Creative Production.