Do you know how much your feedback shapes what the Widen Collective looks like and does? Your experiences and expectations using Collective influence the design and development direction we take. Your input even gives us ideas on what should be included in new apps that we create from scratch.

Which trends are marketing-driven organizations focused on in 2018? Inquiring minds want to know! If you said artificial intelligence, actionable data, customer experience, and building the right technology mix, you’re spot on. Connecting digital asset management (DAM) to these trends needs to be a priority for all marketing teams who want to maximize content value, create deeper emotional connections with their audiences, and improve the overall customer experience.

Creating engaging videos that support business objectives is a challenge. And working with videos doesn’t get any easier after they are finished.

Videos are massive files which makes sharing and viewing them using email attachments essentially impossible. Cloud-based DAM systems like the Widen Collective® support video storage, sharing, and viewing. But treating videos just like images and other assets doesn’t provide the best experience for these powerful assets.

“Some of the verbiage and nomenclature that I take for granted in my department doesn't make any sense for someone working in research and development, for example. So, really get a broad consensus and keep it simple. You can introduce complexity along the line if you need to, but it's only going to be harder to manage it first.” — Richard Carlson, Behr

Getting the right content to the right people at the right time is tough, especially when you need to meet the unique needs of audiences and teams spread across the globe. You must create compelling, on-brand content with consistent messaging, but also flex to accommodate different language, regional, and cultural demands. The scale alone can send you into complete and utter panic mode.

Are you using DAM to its greatest potential? Our survey says there’s more you can do.

Marketing technology is moving at dizzying speeds. From one day to the next, new platforms, trends, and digital asset management demands bubble and rise to the surface. With such speed, it’s tough to know how to harness the power of it all. That’s where our 2018 Marketing Technology Survey comes in. Now in its fifth year, our survey gets to the heart of the matter, exposing the greatest DAM opportunities for content-driven organizations like yours. Here’s how to apply our findings!

Somebody in the creative department uploading it [an asset] may tag it differently than somebody in sales. My job is to look at these things from a higher, 30,000-foot view and find out all these different ways to make these things accessible to people in different roles with different mindsets.” – Megan Peck, YETI

In episode four of the Widen Implementation podcast, host Bill Banham and guest Megan Peck chat about YETI’s adoption of digital asset management. As a manufacturer of outdoor lifestyle products, it’s important for YETI’s DAM system to support easy access to creative content but prevent use of unreleased products and photographs.

As a marketer, it’s your job to get to know the people you are trying to reach. You likely know a lot about them already, and that is valuable. But, audiences are complicated. Over time, they grow and evolve. Their wants, needs, goals, and pain points change right along with the environment around them. And, while it’s tempting to rely on audience assumptions that have taken hold over the years, you need to know what content and information they need from you today. To get you started, here are six not-so-complicated ways to get to know your complicated audience!

Founded in 1948, Widen is an anomaly in the software space: a family-owned plate engraving business that reinvented itself into a global technology company. Widen’s history demonstrates how companies can adapt and thrive through technological disruptions.

In 1948, Emily and Arthur Widen founded Widen Engraving, a company that engraved plates for newspaper presses. Under their son, Mark Widen, the company expanded into additional prepress services, evolving from plates to film negatives and color printing. In 1985, Widen invested $3 million in color scanners and Scitex equipment not realizing how soon they’d have to divest.

I've learned that proper delegation will actually get you across the finish line a lot faster and a lot better than if you try to do it all yourself. – Mike Michonski

In episode three of the Widen Implementation podcast, Mike Michonski shares his experiences of rolling out and maintaining the Widen Collective®. Mike is a national production director at Total Traffic & Weather Network, the leading provider of traffic, transit, news, and weather information in the United States. TTWN plays part in the daily lives of more than 120 million people!