Is Your Company Ready for Digital Asset Management? 5 Signs to Look For
And as the need and general appetite for digital media grows, different services have sprung up to help manage our expanding media libraries. Perhaps you’re interested in investing in one of these services for your company. Maybe you’ve realized that your current asset management system just isn’t cutting it.
In this article, we’ll explain exactly what digital asset management is and five signs you should look for when evaluating your company’s need for this kind of service. Let’s get started!
What is Digital Asset Management?
Before we can answer that, we first have to outline what a digital asset is. Digital assets are all of the media files you use to help communicate your company’s brand: photos, videos, b-roll footage, logos — the list goes on.
So digital asset management, also known as digital media management, is a system that allows its users to easily store, organize, relocate and distribute these important assets when needed — all from one centralized content hub.
A proper digital asset management system (DAM for short), can increase company efficiency and productivity levels, ensure consistent branding, and help to secure more media placements. In the next section, we’ll discuss how to know if your organization is ready for DAM or not.
5 Signs Your Company Needs Digital Asset Management
Are you considering an investment in DAM? Here are five telltale signs that your organization is ready for this kind of service:
1. You Spend too Much Time Looking for Specific Files
This is generally the first and most common sign that a company is ready for digital asset management. If you and your team are consistently spending 10 minutes or more looking for specific files, you’ll love the boost in productivity a DAM service provides you.
According to our research, marketing and PR teams typically save 15 hours or more each week after investing in DAM. Why? Because this kind of tools allows you to store all your company’s brand assets in one place, organize them effectively, and relocate them with intuitive search features.
Once you make DAM a regular part of your workflow, you’ll never have to wonder, “Where did that file go?” ever again!
2. You Get a Lot of Media Requests for Brand Assets
Does your company receive media requests for brand assets on a regular basis? For example, those in the hotel industry often see their establishments featured in various blogs and YouTube videos related to travel. This is great news!
But every time a writer or reporter contacts the hotel asking for images and logos, the marketing team has to spend time finding the right files and sending them over. That’s bad news — especially if the hotel’s marketers already have a mountain of work to get done.
Most DAM services offer a “galleries” feature, also known as a “brand portal”. A gallery is simply a read-only, public-facing media library that DAM administrators can add digital assets to. They can then send links to these galleries to media professionals who can peruse the assets themselves and request access to the files they need for their stories.
This system is better for both marketing and PR teams and the media folks they regularly interact with. Marketing professionals won’t have to spend time searching for the right files every time a media request comes along. And media personnel can quickly find the exact assets they need on their own, with much less hassle.
3. You Wonder if You’ll be Able to Send Large Files
Email is a wonderful tool — except when it comes to sharing large files or multiple assets at the same time. If you’ve ever wondered if an email containing high-res photos will go through or thought, “How in the world am I going to send that b-roll footage to Bob in our Atlanta office?”, you’re probably ready for DAM.
At CleanPix, we give our users two ways to easily share large files: the galleries features mentioned above, and download links.
A download link is a standard link that can be sent to any person. Once clicked on, the recipient of a download link will be taken to a secure webpage and given the opportunity to download specific files set aside by the DAM administrator. And the best part? Recipients don’t need to enter passwords (unless you want them to) or create an account to download files!
4. You Need to Ensure Consistent Branding Across the Web
Your company’s brand is a valuable asset. Unfortunately, it can be difficult to protect and keep consistent across the web. If different blogs, news outlets, and social media users publish outdated versions of your company’s logo, for example, your audience might become confused and your branding could start to lose its effectiveness.
What’s the solution? You can use a DAM service to create public-facing galleries (mentioned above) and make sure every news outlet, blogger, and social media connoisseur has access to your company’s latest brand files at all times.
5. You Regularly Juggle Requests for Files In Multiple Formats
And finally, if your company regularly receives media requests for brand assets, you’re probably familiar with another common problem: multiple file formats. Mr. Blogger wants a JPEG while News Channel 1 needs a PNG. Oh, and Jimmy, your company’s resident artist and design wiz? He needs all graphics stored as vector files.
A DAM service will give you plenty of space to store each of your files in multiple formats and organize them effectively. But a DAM like CleanPix will go the extra mile and automatically convert any asset you upload into multiple formats. That way you always have the right file when you need it.
Invest in the Right Digital Asset Management Service
So, has your company experienced any of the six problems listed above? If so, you may want to seriously consider an investment in digital asset management. The right DAM service will enable you and your team to quickly find important files and share them with both media outlets and colleagues. It will also allow you to maintain a consistent brand image and save time by storing assets in multiple formats.
When you’re ready to take the plunge and purchase a DAM for your company, we recommend CleanPix. Our system is powerful, intuitive, cost effective, and highly rated by our many users. So why not try our service — free of charge — right now for 14 days? We’re confident you’ll love the convenience it offers you and your team!
– Jacob Thomas