It is no secret that the happenings over the last two years have caused an accelerated shift from traditional marketing channels to digital. In fact, the 2021 Gartner CIO Agenda showed that 83% of the respondents expect to increase their use of digital channels to reach customers. With this in mind, marketing teams are doubling down on digital technology to facilitate a positive digital experience for their customers.

But, with over 8,000 martech options, it can be challenging to understand what to prioritize and how they all interconnect. To help visualize how these technologies overlap and intersect, Gartner developed the Digital Marketing Transit Map. By connecting related solutions, the map provides a insight into the technology required to meet specific goals and achieve success.

DAM on Today’s Gartner Transit Map

Digital asset management (DAM) has landed on the radar of marketing leaders across all industries as a necessary platform to enable digital transformation. As a single source of truth that connects brand, content, and operational structure, a DAM helps organizations offer a consistent digital experience across all channels.

We have seen digital asset management placed all over the transit map the last few years. In fact, last time we wrote an update in 2016, DAM was found on the social and marketing management tracks, and prior to that, it was on the commerce track. Today, becoming more relevant than ever, DAM still holds a prominent spot on the social track and is very close to the heart of the customer experience (CX) track. Let’s dive into why we see DAM as a critical solution in these two areas:

DAM on the CX Track

Data continues to show an increased demand for personalized and consistent online customer experiences. This, in turn, is driving an exponential increase in the need for high-value visual content from the marketing and creative team. While a basic file sharing solution has been the platform of choice for many organizations looking to manage its assets, the pivot to visual content has demanded something more advanced. A DAM provides additional features, built with visual content in mind, including:

• Enhanced metadata, such as keywording, AI auto-tagging and custom attributes,
• Advanced sharing options, such as links, online web galleries and branded portals, and
• Additional security measures, such as watermarking, role-based permission options and enterprise compliance.

DAM is now central to the CX track as a critical piece of tech that ensures all visual content is consistent and on-brand. Plus, with integrations into critical tech like creativity, project management, and CMS tools, a DAM is able to feed on-brand assets directly into all systems and touchpoints.

DAM on the Social Track

In social media, governance is key for ensuring a company’s brand is consistent and mitigating the risk of damaging posts. As organizations grow, this becomes more challenging due to the wider net of people representing the brand on social channels. While social media management tools are effective for controlling what is being said through social, a DAM is a useful tool for clarifying what visual content is approved to be shared.

DAMs have become a more prominent technology on the social track due to its direct integrations with social media management systems, like Hootsuite. Through these integrations, employees can pull assets from the DAM within their social media platform, providing seamless access to all approved social media content. Not only does this allow companies to ensure only appropriate and approved visuals are being used at any given time, it also helps them get new campaigns and assets into market faster — making it indispensable on the social track.

Where is DAM Going Next?

Over the next few years, in addition to staying on the social and CX tracks, we expect to see DAM make its way back onto the Commerce track. High-quality visual content is now table stakes to performing well and staying competitive in the online commerce space - content that needs a secure home. This, along with the increasing number of integrations between DAM and product information management solutions (PIM) is enabling DAM to become a more valuable part of effective commerce strategies.

Progress with DAM

As DAM continues to act as the foundation for marketing teams' entire martech stacks, we anticipate we’ll see it play a more primary role on the Gartner transit map in the near future. If your organization is looking to provide a consistent digital experience across all channels, now is the time to invest in a DAM.

MediaValet was named a Representative Vendor in the December 2020 Gartner Market Guide for Digital Asset Management. Click here for complimentary access to the research.