How to Choose the Right Digital Asset Management Platform

Modern businesses, in the course of building their brands and creating marketing campaigns, regularly produce photos, videos, slides, documents, and others. These files are called digital assets, and they play an important role in the company’s operations.

Without central storage or a system to keep track of these assets, efficiency would suffer and resources will be wasted. Data silos, which refers to data sets that only certain groups can access, would proliferate in the organization. In this scenario, integrating the right DAM or digital asset management would be a big boon for your organization. Having a DAM platform to take care of your assets will be the linchpin that will hold your digital resources together.

It could promote and improve collaboration, get rid of data silos, make searching for assets easier, and automate certain tasks. Additionally, because your teams will have a common source for your assets, your campaign will be more consistent, and your marketing strategy more coherent. Choosing the right DAM platform for your company is therefore essential. It can play a huge role for your company, so you have to choose wisely.

Digital Asset Management Platform Overview

Simply put, a digital asset management platform gives companies secure storage that simplifies the organization of their created digital files. These files are stored in a centralized location, where the company’s staff can access or distribute them quickly and efficiently.

Many DAM platforms can easily integrate with various systems and tools, which is very helpful, especially for content marketers. For a company, selecting one can pose a challenge, so this article compiled a few suggestions to make it easier for you to pick the right one.

Choosing The Right DAM Platform

To help you decide, you can work with your team and determine what the platform can do for you. You also have to recognize what you want to accomplish, the kinds of assets that your company possesses, and others. Make sure also that the platform offers great options for your teams to choose from.

Below are a few suggestions on how to pick the right DAM that will fit with your company.

1. Take Stock Of Your Digital Assets

Before anything else, it would be a good idea to do an audit of your digital assets. It’ll help you get a better understanding of your content, find out the different ways on how to repurpose some of your resources, and get rid of assets that are either irrelevant or performing poorly.

Organizing your assets for an audit is pretty much straightforward; you can use either a free auditing tool template or any spreadsheet tool. It can be difficult to pick which content to discard, but you can make a list of what you want for your assets to make it easier to let go of the things you don’t need.

For example, you can remove those that are inconsistent with your brand and misrepresentative of your company. Also, if it’s not generating attention, search optimized, nor contributing anything to your objectives, delete them. You can retain content that supports and follows current trends and is also relevant to what you want to accomplish.

Once you have a clear picture of what you have, then you can use your assets to formulate your campaign strategy. You’ll also know what else you need content-wise and pinpoint any gaps in your inventory. Moreover, with your assets in place, you can make a functional blueprint for your campaign. You can also determine which DAM type is the best fit for your business.

2. Get A DAM That Your Staff Will Want To Use

Getting a DAM solution that connects with your employees and your company is essential. The software might be highly rated, but the high ratings mean nothing if it doesn’t ‘click’ with the end-users.

This means asking for their input and getting them involved at the start. Also, find out how they’ll be affected once DAM is implemented and what functionalities they’re going to need. Get them to talk about how they can do their tasks better. Communicate with how you’ll implement the DAM and how it will affect the workflow at your company.

Also, you should always know beforehand how much of a disruption the new system will cause and how to mitigate it. For a smooth integration, form a team that will manage the DAM implementation. They’ll make sure that everybody’s on board, conduct orientation, and work closely with the vendors to ensure that any concerns are put on the table.

3. Make Sure The DAM Will Work Well With Your Tools

Ensure that your DAM solution will work well with the existing technology used by your organization. You need to find out if the DAM dovetails with what you require, this time from a technological point of view. To ensure that this happens, you should think about bringing in consultants and internal SMEs (subject matter experts).

They could help guide you to the right DAM platform that can seamlessly mesh with your company’s infrastructure. At this point, you should have a good idea of your existing technology’s status and system setup.

Find out, too, the capabilities of the DAM system and know what you’ll be dealing with in terms of hardware and other tools. Do you feel you can use it for years to come with your current setup? Look for features that could be deal-breakers, as well as features that you think are critical for your operation.

For instance, a cloud DAM system is important to you, or you want a platform that offers strong data analytics, or a platform that supports your SEO image optimization.

4. Pick A Vendor You Can Work With

Your DAM vendor will play a huge role in the success of the platform’s implementation. They’re not just a product provider. You’ll be relying on their support during and after onboarding. Develop a working relationship with them is vital. At the end of the day, it’s not just about the technology. It’s about people.

So, when they’re doing a demonstration, pay close attention. Listen respectfully to their pitch, and don’t forget to ask questions. If you want to create a functional roadmap, give your full attention to the technology that’s being discussed. Pay attention particularly to the essential DAM features and functionalities during the demo. These should include metadata, asset actions, rights and usage, analytics, and others.

Further, guide new users to find value with your new platform by teaching them how to use it successfully, in order to meet their unique goals. The best way to do so would be to invest time in developing a flawless onboarding strategy. And Appcues’ user onboarding guide will most definitely do the trick for you.

Of course, you should also consider their pricing, customer support, professional services, and other intangibles. Again, don’t forget to ask questions.

Final Thoughts

A Digital Asset Management platform isn’t only a critical piece of software, but it’s also a business strategy. It can safeguard your digital assets and ensure that they contribute meaningfully to your company’s growth. That’s why choosing a DAM platform is a huge investment for any company. Choosing one, however, can be tricky.

The suggestions listed here are by no means exhaustive, but they should be enough to get you started and give you an idea of how to choose the right Digital Asset Management platform for your company.