Selling is hard. The roller coaster of wins and rejections alone is enough to make the most seasoned sales professional consider running for the door some days. But ups and downs aside, there’s a lot of “stuff” standing between a salesperson and their sale. 

Competition is fierce. There are internal dynamics to navigate. And with so many channels and touchpoints, sales has to work extra hard to shape positive and consistent buyer experiences. Plus, they have to communicate really well. They must tell their brand’s story using content that’s compelling, convincing, and relevant to buyers at each and every stage of the customer journey. It’s no easy feat, especially if marketing and sales teams aren’t totally aligned.

The use of marketing collateral is not a new strategy. Yet, the concept and execution itself is worth revisiting every now and again. Like most things, it’s not static. Business environments, new technologies, and consumer trends all play a role in how customers respond to marketing collateral and how businesses use it. So what better time than the present to rewrite definitions, reassess best practices, and re-evaluate if you’re really getting the most out of your efforts? 

In this day and age, we seem to have more of everything. As consumers, we have more gadgets, products, and services than we know what to do with. As businesses, we rely on more and more content than ever before to communicate with our audiences. And the data, ohh the data! Keeping digital experiences updated with on-brand materials, relevant content, and accurate information is enough to drive anyone in circles. 

With all this “more” piling up, how do you keep your content and information organized and accessible for the people, teams, and partners that need it most?

It’s no secret that what happens behind the scenes at an organization impacts the experience a customer receives on the front end. Any operational flaw — be it an inefficient workflow, disorganized content library, or lack of data transparency — affects the speed, quality, and consistency of a customer’s experience with a brand. Now, of course, no organization is perfect (and getting the right marketing technology (martech) stack in place certainly takes some work), but it’s often the organizations that leverage marketing resource management (MRM) tools that have the advantage.

Consumers today expect relevant, meaningful, consistent experiences at each and every intersection with a brand. If a buyer purchases a product via an Instagram ad, they don’t want an email days later pushing the same item. They want smart communications, personalized content, speed, and an all-around reliable and cohesive brand experience. 

The problem is this caliber of experience isn’t easy to deliver. Marketing technologies address different pieces of the omnichannel puzzle, but stringing solutions together to work as a cohesive, data-driven marketing technology (martech) stack is often a challenge. That’s why industries and user types of all kinds are turning to the next generation of marketing technology — the digital experience platform (DXP). 

When it comes to digital asset management (DAM), there’s not a one-size-fits-all solution. Your business has different needs, workflows, priorities, budgets, and resources than your neighbor, so finding the best solution comes down to what is right for your organization.

Before getting too far in the evaluation process, take some time to understand what you need out of a DAM solution. Only then can you figure out which DAM delivery model will best help you achieve your goals.

E-commerce wouldn’t exist without product information; plain and simple. The problem is there’s a lot of quality information needed to support a single product. A digital buyer can’t take a product off the shelf, feel its weight, and experience it in the same way they can in person. They rely on the information they read, see, and hear about a product online — the product’s specs, text about its benefits, how-to videos, images, and so much more. 

Organizations need accurate, robust, up-to-date, compelling product information to compete (and ultimately win) in the digital arena. Managing all of this information is challenging without the help of product information management (PIM). Today we’ll discuss what PIM entails and how it’s helping a wide range of organizations and roles harness the true power of their product information to find greater e-commerce success. 

These days, you can do some pretty impressive things with content. However, you’re not the only one using content to win the attention and mindshare of audiences. Thanks to the success that content marketing has seen over the years, there’s a lot (and we mean a lot) of competition out there. For example, there are over 4.2 million blogs written each day. Pair that with the nearly 1.8 billion websites out there — and you have a lot of content to contend with.   

To break through the noise, you need to add some horsepower to your content marketing efforts by incorporating visual content. To help you do this effectively, it’s important to know the what, why, and how behind it.

Implementing a DAM system can feel like a big undertaking. For many organizations, this process is uncharted territory! But have no fear. Many others have been in your shoes, wrestling with the complexity of it all, and lived to tell their stories. In fact, they have some pretty sound advice. Check out what these nine implementation survivors have to say about the key to a successful DAM implementation.

Being able to leverage your content from a centralized location is one thing, but being able to optimize it based on how it’s being used is another. This ability extends the value of your digital asset management (DAM) system and ensures your teams can collaborate, coordinate, and control your brand across its entire content lifecycle — from creation to archive. 

Data-driven decisions are one of the key DAM success factors and should be leveraged to maximize your DAM investment. These decisions are also pivotal to your brand’s success. Informed by the right DAM metrics, you can foster a more mature brand that excels across all five brand management pillars: strategy, people, process, technology, and impact. 

So how can you reap the benefits of your content data? It starts with understanding exactly what it is, where it can take you, and how to use it.