Modern businesses of all sizes use digital assets in their marketing campaigns, website design, and website copy. These digital assets are electronically stored files that provide value and come with the right to use. Examples are numerous—think images, PDF white papers, logos, webinars, and technical documents.
Digital assets are only useful when web professionals can access them at all times and use them for their various purposes. As the number of digital assets grows, managing and organizing them in an efficient way becomes more complex and people can’t find assets when needed.
Read on to find about DAM solutions, which can help out with effectively managing assets. You’ll find out what DAM software is, its benefits, example solutions, and some challenges and best practices for using this type of software tool.
A Digital asset management (DAM) solution is a special type of software designed to help businesses store, organize retrieve, and monitor their digital assets and associated usage rights.
A 2019 report predicted the global digital asset management market to reach a value of $.1 billion by 2024 (from $2.5 billion in 2017). This estimated growth reflects huge numbers of digital assets at the average company’s disposal and increased reliance on online marketing.
Some examples of DAM software are:
Pimcore open source DAM Cloudinary digital asset management solution WordPress combined with plugins can function as a basic DAM solution.
DAM software works by building a centralized, organized media library and associated metadata. Users can quickly find, modify, save, and share digital assets in a DAM system.
There are many reasons to consider DAM software and here are some of them:
- Brand consistency—everyone on your marketing team has access to the same updated marketing materials (assets). This means delivering consistent branding across different campaigns.
- Usability—search functions, easy sharing of assets, and the ability to track different asset versions combine for a much smoother digital asset workflow.
- Improved productivity—reduced time spent searching for assets and going back and forth between different teams means greater productivity and efficiency.
- Reduce litigation issues—it’s likely your business has some assets from third-parties, such as stock images, which come with usage rights. DAM software tracks these usage rights and reduces the chances of litigation issues due to misuse.
- Better security—digital assets are valuable files, which means they are targets for digital theft and other forms of cybercrime. DAM solutions improve digital asset security using encryption, controlled user-access to files, and multi-factor authentication. Keep in mind that DAM solutions do not replace network security. Rather, DAM provide capabilities dedicated to the data that moves in and out of the system.
DAM software has many benefits, however, using it also brings some new challenges, including:
- Selecting the right vendor—it’s imperative to opt for a solution that best suits your specific business needs.
- User adoption—with any new tool, there’s often an initial struggle as business users become frustrated trying to get used to the software.
- Managing user access—setting permissions and managing user access is complex, particularly in a large enterprise.
- Storage scalability—DAM tools should be able to introduce extra storage locations for growing asset libraries without the need to move existing assets and impact on business users.
Here are some tips and best practices for choosing and using DAM software.
Perform Thorough Due Diligence
The DAM marketplace is becoming increasingly crowded and thorough research is recommended. There are open source choices, enterprise-grade tools, and DAM as-a-service solutions.
Your research needs to include things like how well the vendor meets business needs, the level of security provided by the tool, and how well it supports cross-functional collaboration.
Be Smart with Metadata
Metadata is information about files and it is what drives the indexability and searchability of assets in a DAM solution. Be smart with your metadata by always entering the most important information about each asset into the system.
It should be DAM company policy to enter metadata into your chosen DAM as soon as a team member uploads a new asset. See this resource for more DAM metadata tips.
Don’t Forget Usage Terms
DAM software can track usage permissions for assets and prevent copyright issues, but only when you specify the usage terms in the metadata. Do not forget this critical step for rights-managed assets.
Train Business Users
To avoid frustration and make for a smoother transition to the new system, you should train business users in using the software before it goes live. Even a brief half-day course can provide enough familiarity to avoid those initial teething problems.
Have a Dedicated DAM Admin
Your DAM system needs an administrator if you are going to properly manage user access. The admin can assign role-based permissions to various digital assets. Administrators also create and remove users from the system as needed.
Choose Good File Naming Conventions
A good file name is easy to understand and makes the asset easy to retrieve from the DAM system. File names should be consistent and accurate across your media library. In file names, use unique identifiers, dates, and concise descriptions. Avoid using special characters, and don’t use spaces as separators; use underscores or hyphens.
Use DAM Analytics
Most enterprise-grade DAM solutions give you a ton of useful analytics that can influence what assets you procure and create in the future. The data can identify the type of assets used most, when the assets were last used, and what purposes they’ve been used for. You can audit existing assets and decide to move away form infrequently used asset classes to focus more on the types of assets that deliver the most ROI.
DAM software is essential for properly managing the growing number of digital assets that modern businesses use. Use these tips and best practices as a guideline for successful DAM use, and remember that the tool is only as good as the information you feed it and how you use it.