Teams have been working remotely for a while now. While many are venturing back into the office, it likely doesn’t look the same as it did three years ago. While COVID-19 prompted the swift switch, it appears that many are embracing working from home as the new normal. 

It’s likely teams have settled into a rhythm by now, but there are still opportunities to optimize your remote workflow, especially when it comes to digital asset management (DAM). With dispersed teams, it’s more important than ever before to have quick access to on-brand content that can be easily and safely used by teams across the company. That’s why many organizations are investing more in DAM and other marketing technologies (martech). 

Impactful visual imagery — from logos to mascots — is crucial to today’s brands. What would Nike be without the swoosh or Frosted Flakes without Tony the Tiger? Well, they wouldn’t be the brands we know and love. Marketers need to have easy, secure, and reliable access to these assets. And this is possible by using image metadata. But what exactly is image metadata?

In this guide, we explore what image metadata is, why it’s so important, and how to manage it. Let’s get started.

First off, if you’re researching digital asset management (DAM) for the first time, welcome to the world of DAM puns. You’ll have plenty of DAM meetings, DAM calls, and DAM work to do. It’s a DAM good time, we promise.

In all seriousness, though, you’re likely here because you’ve heard that a DAM platform provides benefits like increased brand consistency, improved productivity, and  accelerated time to market. But is that just marketing speak? We guarantee it’s not. 

In an earlier article, we walked through the essential abilities required of a DAM admin and what it takes to successfully manage a DAM system. In this article, we explore five core concepts that teams and admins use to deliver on the value of DAM. These foundations lay the groundwork for businesses to realize its benefits.

Let’s dig into what to look for in a DAM solution and how you’ll leverage these five foundational elements to drive a return on investment (ROI) for your DAM investment.

If you want to get somewhere in the quickest way possible, you map your course. The same is true for navigating your digital asset management (DAM) system.

Metadata powers search within a digital asset management (DAM) system. Without it, your assets become unfindable and, ultimately, unusable. But we know entering metadata can be time-consuming. So how do you ensure you’re entering metadata in the quickest way possible? Metadata mapping. 

Dashboard messages are a feature in Widen DAM that welcome users as they enter your digital asset management (DAM) system. You can use them to guide new users, highlight timely content, or notify users of changes. That’s why we’ve made it easy to create dashboard messages with no HTML or coding required.

Your brand’s next big marketing campaign is on the horizon, and your team isn’t prepared at all. You still need to ideate the campaign vision, create all the assets, finalize the designs, and get approval from the necessary parties. The sheer amount of work yet to be done is paralyzing, and your team is really feeling the pressure. And worse, you know that as soon as you’ve finished this project, it will all start again with the next one.  Does this sound familiar?

With omnichannel marketing becoming common practice, the need for all kinds of content is on the rise. There’s photography, graphics, videos, white papers, sell sheets — not to mention emerging content types like 360-degree images and interactive content like room builders. Let’s just say there’s a lot of content. 

Depending on the maturity of your brand and your content efforts, you may already feel the weight of these demands within your own organization. And as you know, content creation requires significant time, money, and resources, which are lost if you don’t have a plan for maintaining, improving, and storing your valuable assets. 

When it comes to managing your content, it really depends on what stage it falls into in the content lifecycle. For instance, your interaction with assets that are in high demand, like images from a recent photoshoot, is likely to be quite different than with low-demand assets, like last season’s digital ads. That’s why having a solid understanding of the digital content lifecycle will help you keep track of your content and ensure you get the most out of your investment.

In today’s content-centric world, many organizations are practically drowning in digital media assets. From video files, graphical elements, and other bits of rich multimedia content, the sheer volume of media being generated by enterprises large and small can feel overwhelming. Far too often, the search for the perfect asset through this sea of content can become a drain on time, productivity, and a team’s ability to hit deadlines. 

That’s where a media asset management (MAM) software solution can come into play – and often, be a lifesaver. But what exactly is media asset management? The term is often used interchangeably with digital asset management (DAM), but while the terms sound nearly identical, there are some important differences between these two concepts.

Regular maintenance is an important part of keeping your digital asset management (DAM)  system operating efficiently and driving user satisfaction. Unfortunately, most DAM admins need to manage these duties on top of other roles and responsibilities — which makes finding time for regular maintenance a challenge. But with a little planning and guidance from our experts, you can keep your DAM system in top shape. 

If you’ve thought to yourself, “how often should I update …?” then keep reading.