5 things to look for in your first DAM
Those well-acquainted with the world of digital asset management no doubt have a basic understanding about what to expect from a DAM—what features are needed to cover which use cases, and roughly how much it should cost.
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However, for those new to DAM, choosing the right one for your team can be quite intimidating. The market is flooded with various options, and understanding which one fits your requirements can be overwhelming. How do you pinpoint the best solution for your needs? What key issues should it address? Moreover, once implemented, how can you ensure your team consistently uses it?
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Regardless of the scale of your first DAM investment, it is crucial to consider it thoroughly. Just like any other investment, you want it to yield a strong return and become integral to your organization.
That’s why it’s important to scope out your project plan for implementing a DAM and outline how your company plans to make use of it—what value do you expect a DAM to give your team, and how much are you willing to invest in it? It is, after all, an investment, and one you’ll want to make sure pays dividends for years to come.
So to make sure your first DAM is perfect for your team, you should keep in mind the following five benchmarks when browsing the market.
1. Onboarding and consulting
Each DAM provider will approach the onboarding and consultation process slightly differently, but these tips should apply all the same.
- Make sure your onboarding package is comprehensive and there’s expertise on the other end of the phone.
- Ask the provider what their net and gross retention rates are to gauge how likely customers are to renew their contracts.
- There’s no shame in not knowing everything your first time around, so don't scrimp on the questions!
2. Intuitive UI & UX
More often than not, implementing your first DAM means coming off a whole host of other digital platforms—each with their own interfaces and user experiences. After all, one of the key benefits of a DAM is its ability to be an all-encompassing system for your file-managing needs.
To get everyone on the same page (sometimes literally), it’s crucial that the DAM can adapt to how your different users want to work, and therefore meet the needs of each job role. Otherwise, you may find that the DAM is failing to 'stick', i.e. be used by colleagues.
So what does that mean for a platform specializing in the organization of digital files? More than anything else, it means being search-driven and visually-oriented. Things to keep in mind:
- Adoption spells success in digital asset management, and the only way to ramp up adoption within your team is through usability.
- Implementing a DAM can feel daunting your first time round, because chances are the large majority of users have never used one, so they might not be familiar with terms like "metadata", "light editing" or "boolean search". You’re going to want something without a steep learning curve, that looks and behaves more like Google and not like a clunky IT system from the 90s.
3. Shareability
Having your digital assets stored and organized in one central place is a great way to cut out the chaos of managing your content; a quality DAM should almost act like an 'internal Google' for your team to find what they need, when they need it. But the file-sharing capabilities are equally important when assessing a DAM, so it's important to think about how your own team shares content, and whether the DAM meets those needs.
Think of all the bad behaviors surrounding file-sharing you’ve seen with your own brand’s digital assets, and make it a goal to correct them with this project.
- Who are the stakeholders that are typically involved in sending and receiving digital assets? (i.e. marketing, communications, sales, partners, agencies, etc.)
- What do you want them to be able to do in the DAM? Mapping out who should ideally do what with assets is a huge step forward. Which of your stakeholders should have the ability to upload, and which should only have access to view and download?
- What do you want to make "public"? Making assets public allows them to be accessed via a shared link, with no login credentials needed.
4. Version control and maintenance
Version control over your assets is a key ingredient to a quality digital asset management system, as defined in the DAM Maturity Model by the DAM Foundation. So it's a good idea to think about how your team would use this functionality and how much control the DAM gives you over your asset as it makes its way through the content lifecycle. What you'll want to look for:
- Assurance and confidence that the content your team is accessing, editing and sharing is approved and up-to-date.
- Same file, different version: keep up with the pace of always creating more content. Adding a new version to the same asset (as opposed to uploading a new file) means that the collections and links that the asset is associated with will update automatically as well.
People don’t store files on their desktop anymore. They just login to the page and get what they need. Even if they have downloaded it and stored it on their desktop, when we update an asset they receive a notification next time they login saying it was updated.
Addy Procter
Product Marketing Specialist at Monotype
5. The right price
It’s always tempting, but evaluating the price when choosing your first DAM should not just be a race to the bottom. The key is not to seek out the lowest price, but the most suitable price that checks off the above 4 characteristics in meeting the needs of your team.
A DAM is a long-term investment that reaps rewards for your team over time, and should scale with the growth of your brand. So don’t be afraid to invest a little more if it’s going to save you time and money in the long-run.
To help you build a business case for implementing a DAM at your own organization, check out our article on building a business case for DAM: How to become an Influencer.
Once you know that DAM is the next great step for your brand, download our DAM comparison guide to further your evaluation.
5 things to look at when considering a DAM solution
The pandemic has forced brands to go digitally native. Adopting the digital-first approach while also maintaining a strong foothold offline for when things go back to normal is anything but simple. Every brand with a multitude of channels to target, both online and offline, face a challenge to be consistent with their brand storytelling.
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When it comes to campaigns aiming at reaching the right target audience, the assets not only include final images and videos but also endless versions of them, campaign briefs, style guides, etc. Especially from a retail perspective with added product images to manage, it’s crucial to have the right DAM solution. At the outset, effective management of digital assets is pivotal for major brands in improving their business bottom line.
The importance of digital asset management solution
As the presence of the brand expands, there are more customers, stakeholders, data, brand, and digital assets to deal with daily. This will result in an unprecedented amount of imagery, product descriptions, videos, podcasts, and documentation where DAM solutions become highly relevant. By 2024, the digital asset management market is expected to reach $8.1 billion according to statistics.
Why does your brand need a DAM solution?
The purpose of a digital asset management system for any brand is three-fold. First, it helps to keep track of existing digital and brand assets, followed by collecting significant life cycle data of assets for effective tracking and finally, advanced solutions help in calculating financials including costs, risks, forecasts, and budgets.
No matter how big or small the brand, for teams running creative campaigns at scale, a DAM solution is inevitable. But, it needs proper consideration in terms of ROI. There is no match to the customer satisfaction obtained through campaigns that are on-brand, on-time, and have a clear understanding of customer expectations.
Now that we’ve established the importance of a DAM solution, it’s time to break down the factors you should weigh in while choosing a DAM solution for your brand.
5 things to consider to pick the right DAM solution
There are different types of DAM solutions
Approach a DAM solution provider who offers a thorough onboarding and consultation process. Look for expertise that ensures the long-term benefits of integrating the solution with your system. Consider if you may scale significantly in the future, and ensure the available IT support, features, and most importantly, the budget aligns with the chosen DAM solution.
Integrations
Imagine your web designers creating pages in your CMS but unable to access assets from your DAM system. This lack of end-to-end creative lifecycle support could result in redundancy in tasks and unproductive utilization of creative minds.
Your DAM solution should be at the core of your digital ecosystem, connected with both upstream creative processes and downstream customer experience tools. Ensure that the DAM solution you select supports integrations to collaborate across teams using the latest version of assets. Collaboration tools like Slack or Trello, project management tools like JIRA or Asana, and several marketing tools like HubSpot may already be in use. Choose a solution that can bring them all onto one platform for smooth operation from creation, collaboration, review, to distribution.
Multiple vendors offer marginally different types of integrations. Evaluate the workflows of your organization and identify opportunities to connect your tools to minimize redundancy of tasks and enhance visibility of assets across teams.
Automation and Rich media
The highlight of any DAM solution is its automation capability, enabling the team to work faster. However, automation often leads to duplication of generic content not targeted at a specific audience. Modern-day solutions have personalization at their core as customers demand more individualized experiences. Therefore, combining automation with personalized rich media is the way forward for brands.
Security & Permissions
Given the vast amount of brand assets, maintaining proper on-brand creatives usage according to set brand guidelines is crucial for version control. A brand could potentially have thousands or millions of licensed assets with unique expiration dates and usage rules. Managing all of these annually can seem impossible. Hence, when seeking a DAM solution, ensure that it includes workflow features such as expiration, permissions, and approval to moderate risks and misuse of any asset.
Analytics and Insights
To close the loop on your marketing cycle, your DAM should provide insights to determine if the deliverables are valuable. Detailed data about assets, such as brochures, can give granular insights into the asset's effectiveness. Ultimately, your DAM should offer insights that can be translated into tangible action points. With these analytics, you can steer your marketing budget by understanding customer needs and reevaluate your strategy.
Incorporating insights on engagement rates, best times, and channels to post online into your marketing strategy can significantly impact your company sales.
Ease of use
Finally, it comes down to how easy the software is to use. What’s the point of implementing top-notch software if your team doesn’t use it? Ensure that the DAM solution is intuitive so that your team doesn’t require extensive training to adapt. Every team member should be able to access the DAM platform, easily search through, discover, edit, and download assets without hassle.
Conclusion
It’s time to transform the way your brand manages its digital assets. Having complete control and access to the full lifecycle of your digital assets will help your team function smarter and faster. Make the most out of the DAM solution you choose to maximize your brand visibility and consistency.
Vineetha
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