Metadata is the lifeblood of your digital asset management (DAM) platform. With hundreds or thousands of visual assets pumping through your DAM system, you need healthy metadata that’s accurate, organized, and relevant to how users search. Otherwise, folks will be hard-pressed to efficiently and effectively find the digital assets they need.

In this post, we’ll discuss how controlled vocabulary lists (CVLs) can improve your metadata. Plus, we’ll walk through a quick exercise to show you how to turn your existing metadata into hard-working CVLs.

Digital asset management (DAM) software has been helping marketing teams organize their content for decades. This technology first emerged in the 1990s to help print and publishing companies manage their photos and videos, and has since evolved to be an essential platform in marketing technology (martech) ecosystems.  

Today’s DAM marketplace is packed with vendors offering similar features and functionality across these 10 core characteristics. But not all systems are equal, as many have unique offerings that support specific workflows or business goals. So let’s take a look at some areas of technical or operational focus that often differentiate one DAM platform from another.

You’ve taken the plunge. You’re on a quest to find the best digital asset management (DAM) software out there. But the sheer volume of options and information can be overwhelming. How do you even know where to start? 

Well, you’ve come to the right place. We’ve compiled a list of tips and resources to help you whittle down your options and find the DAM system that suits you. 

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.

Not too long ago, artificial intelligence (AI) was just a concept from science fiction movies. But today, AI is changing the status quo of entire industries — including marketing technology (martech). When it comes to digital asset management (DAM), image recognition software has a valuable and growing role in metadata creation by automatically tagging assets during the upload process.

Every year Forbes publishes a list of the world’s most valuable brands. These companies span a wide range of industries, products, services, and solutions. But one thing they have in common is that they all have mastered the art of branding.     

Branding is the creation and coordinated use of names, logos, slogans, designs, and other attributes associated with a company or product. Brands also use emotional elements, like photography and videos, to establish and nurture relationships with their consumers. The better the relationship, the better the brand recognition.

Digital files are a fact of life for any modern business. In marketing, every product launch, event, and campaign is made possible through the creation and use of a myriad of digital files. Keeping it all organized can be an overwhelming challenge!

That’s where file management comes in. File management is the process of storing and organizing digital data so it’s easy to find and use. It ensures that information is stored safely, and creates efficiencies across workflows. Let’s learn more about the benefits of file management, and how to choose a system that’s right for your business needs. 

Smart businesses of every kind know that they need a content strategy to create a stellar customer experience and succeed in today’s information-overloaded world. They need a guiding beacon, a grand vision that’ll steer the development, delivery, and management of their content.

Your digital asset management (DAM) solution is one tool you can use to support your content strategy. Here’s how!

Marketing organizations today are in constant competition to deliver the absolute best customer experience possible. But in a mad dash to achieve excellence, many businesses fall short. They are focused more on speed for the sake of speed, rather than ensuring their teams, assets, and processes can move more nimbly — and therefore more quickly when their customers need it most.

Back in 2011 when we first published this article, referencing “the cloud” still felt fresh and cutting edge. Almost a decade later, cloud-based solutions are standard for collaboration, communication, project management, and many other business needs. Digital asset management (DAM) is no exception.

The very nature of DAM – management, organization, and distribution of digital assets from a central content hub – is a perfect match for the cloud. Businesses rely on content that comes in many forms, and has countless sources and destinations. To facilitate that flow of information, you need a scalable, secure, and cost-effective system.