Understanding how and when to use copyrighted materials like stock photography, logos, videos, and more can be a full-time job. Using a piece of content incorrectly could result in a fine or even a lawsuit. On the flip-side, there’s the possibility of someone using your materials without proper permission. Neither scenario is desirable — and without consistent copyright management, you might not even know it’s happening.

With new material being created at a rapid pace, having a single gatekeeper to keep track of everything is unrealistic — but you need some way to easily see how your content’s being used. That’s why many companies are turning to digital rights management tools to keep tabs on their digital content.

Brand storytelling is an increasingly popular approach to marketing that taps into the foundational human need to connect with others through story. It’s a method that centers your customer as the main character in the narrative, not your brand or your product. When you share relatable stories about life experiences that matter to your audience, you create strong emotional connections with your ideal customers.

Those connections build brand awareness, keep attention on your marketing channels, and establish trust. Not everyone agrees on the best approach to brand storytelling, but everyone knows it matters. Let’s examine why brand storytelling is so important, look at examples of best practices, and explore some ideas for getting started. But first, let’s agree on a clear brand storytelling definition.

The Portals application in Widen’s digital asset management (DAM) system allows you to share a curated selection of assets, in a beautiful, branded environment.

And not to toot our own horn…but portals are popular! There are over 45,718 active portals across our 780+ customer DAM sites — and they are used to share everything from brand guidelines and campaign assets to sales materials, and everything in between.

So we thought it would be fun to hold a portals contest (with prizes!) to inspire and delight our DAM community. All submissions will be shared on the Widen Blog, and five will be featured in our Portals Showcase Webinar — look for registration info in your inbox, soon!

We hope you’ll participate…read on to learn how.

Your brand is your company’s most important asset. It’s more than just words on a page or images on a screen ⏤ it’s how you communicate with and attract your audience. From your logo to every customer interaction, it’s the identity of your organization.  

To stand out in a competitive market, consumers need to easily understand who your company is and what you provide. Brand consistency helps consumers feel confident in their decision to become a customer because they know exactly what to expect from you with every interaction.

So, how do you ensure a consistent experience that builds brand loyalty? Develop strong brand guidelines.

Social media. Love it or hate it, it’s not going away anytime soon. So for marketers that want to meet their customers where they are, they need to embrace it. A strategic social media presence impacts your brand awareness and can provide value to both B2C and B2B businesses. 

A brand is more than a name on a label or a logo on a website; it’s an identity. It’s what companies use to distinguish themselves from every other business out there. Just as humans embrace a certain style, have a unique personality, and carry themselves in a particular way — everything a brand does, says, and conveys helps define who that company is and what they stand for. 

But brands are delicate. Consistency, quality, and the all-around experience a brand delivers impacts customer perceptions. One wrong step and a brand’s reputation is at risk. As a result, companies of all shapes, sizes, and caliber are adopting brand management practices to safeguard their identity and control their company’s narrative.

In this guide, we’ll provide a detailed overview of brand management — from basic principles and use cases to who needs it and overall benefits. But first, let’s start by defining what brand management is.

Visual content plays a critical role in modern marketing strategies. In fact, in 2020 74% of marketers reported that they incorporate visual elements in more than 70% of their content. That’s a lot of creative horsepower. But creating visual content can be expensive — so producing videos, planning an on-location photoshoot, or hiring a new designer, for example, can be a real challenge for marketing and creative teams. 

At Widen, we know that consumers expect accurate, coordinated, and compelling product content across every channel and touchpoint. And our customers agree:

Being organized is important because the retailers have spoken: strong product assets are no longer a luxury, they are an expectation.

Martin Hill, Director of Digital Sales at PRADCO Outdoor Brands

But bringing a unified and compelling experience to life is a complicated endeavor — especially as e-commerce continues to expand. It requires a clear strategy, cross-team collaboration…and the right technology. 

In our new guide, How to Prepare for Product Launches with DAM, we outline how Widen, our digital asset management (DAM) and product information management (PIM) solution, can help teams scale their product content workflows to keep pace with digital business — and accelerate time to market.  

One important reason that organizations invest in Software as a Service (SaaS) tools is that they are regularly updated. At Widen, we’re always working hard to deliver value-driven changes to our software solutions.

Sometimes these changes are obvious — like when we launch a new product, or make a visual change to the user interface (UI). Other times, changes are more subtle, like when we optimize the back end to support expanding customer utilization — which currently includes over 500 thousand downloads and 85 million embed code views per day. 

Because we value transparency, we want to share how we make software at Widen and are always working to provide you with the best solution.

There’s a lot that goes into the decision to invest in new software. Who will use it? What do you need it to do? How much will it cost? How long will it take to set up? And so much more. In fact, the average Software as a Service (SaaS) sales cycle typically ranges between three to six months — and that doesn’t include a company’s initial internal research and discovery phase. In addition, the way teams buy software has changed. 

Today, savvy consumers don’t want to be sold to. They do more research up front — before they even speak to someone at a software company. But you know that. That’s what you’re doing now. You’re on a quest to find the best digital asset management (DAM) software out there. That’s why we’ve created this guide to help you with your search for the best DAM solution. 

Since all software is not created equal, this guide covers five things to look for in order to find the best DAM solution for your organization. So let’s get started.