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 also 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 (DRM) tools to keep tabs on their digital content.

Go to a Major League Baseball game and you’ll be hard-pressed to make it out of there without a bag of peanuts (allergies permitting) and the familiar jingle of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” playing through your head. Talk to any digital asset management (DAM) vendor and you may not get snacks and a catchy tune, but you will hear at least one member of the vendor team proclaim in a singsong voice that “no two DAM implementations are alike.” And it’s true. 

Your organization’s structure, bandwidth, workflows, assets, and technologies will factor into your unique implementation experience and strategy. That said, there is one major characteristic all DAM system implementations share — and that is their importance in driving the long-term success of DAM within an organization. So given their monumental importance, how do you ensure your DAM implementation is a success?

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.

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.

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

It’s no secret that today’s brands run on imagery: logos, company photos, product imagery, social media assets, and so much more. Brands use this content to tell a unique, compelling story about their company’s mission, products, and services. Without these images, this story is a lot harder to tell. That’s why it’s critical to store all of these visual brand assets in a secure and easy-to-access location, but what does that look like?

Just as people have relied on physical libraries for centuries to access, organize, and manage physical content, digital libraries exist to do the same for digital content. Without a central source it becomes much harder to keep track of brand assets, putting teams at risk of wasting time, money, and resources to recreate or track down the content they need to use to tell their story. That’s where image management comes in.

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. 

When you’re reporting on your creative team’s work, what do you share? The quantity of content created, hours scheduled versus hours spent, and total cost of a project all frame up your creative team as a cost. So, if that’s all you’re reporting, you’re not positioning your team as the value-creating operation it is. Cost is only part of the story. You need to get at the root of how creative work makes an impact.

As a marketer, it’s your job to get to know the people you’re trying to reach. You likely know a lot about them already, and that’s valuable. But audiences are complex. 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. 

So let’s learn more about what your customers want from you now. Here are six not-so-complicated ways to get to know your complicated audience.

You know how important it is for potential and existing customers to feel good about your brand. Their impression of it creates expectations around the quality and value of your offering and how it will feel to use your product or service. Create positive expectations, and your customers will buy from your brand before they think of others in your market — that’s branding 101.

To create that kind of brand loyalty, every business needs to tell a memorable story about who they are, what they stand for, and why that’s valuable. Once you’ve got this story down, you’ve got to tell it consistently across all touchpoints to foster a clear, reliable, and strong recall of your brand story and its value.

That’s where your brand style guide comes in. It’s a branding checklist that bundles up all the information and resources your internal and external teams need to represent your brand. With clear instructions on how to use all your brand assets, you can create and maintain brand consistency.