How to Buy a DAM in 2025

A digital asset management (DAM) system is a critical aspect of your organization’s tech stack – but when it comes time to buy a DAM, finding the right one can be tricky.

So we’ve built out the essential 7 steps you need to follow to determine the scope and objectives of a DAM project and find the right DAM vendor for your organization.

Following these 7 steps, you can successfully get your DAM project off the ground, communicate its value across your organization and determine your needs.

Learn how to buy a DAM, accelerate your DAM project, and find the right vendor to partner with, long-term.

How to Buy a DAM Step 1

Your Objective: Understand your organization’s specific needs and the objectives for implementing a DAM system.

Here are some key examples of how a DAM can deliver:

• Simplified access to on-brand assets for departments (Internal and External)
• Reduce resources spent on reproducing work
• Increased creative efficiencies
• Better brand consistency
• Streamlined GTM campaigns and faster time-to-market

And some other considerations to help understand the scope of your DAM project:

• How much content will the DAM need to store?
• Are there systems that will become redundant when we implement a DAM?
• We have multiple internal and external users – how will we support and manage them all?

PS. Reviewing your security requirements is critical!

You should have a clear grasp on how vendors comply with regulations, their data breach history, and their data center reliability. Learn more about MediaValet’s security offering here.

How to Buy a DAM Step 2

Your Objective: Identify who needs to be involved and gain buy in from all departments and teams that will use the DAM.

Cross-functional teams have become integral to the tech acquisition process and so, securing consensus is more complex than ever.

It’s crucial to navigate through the complexities of stakeholder approval and achieve unanimous buy-in for your DAM initiative, but first, you need to identify key players in the buying group:

• CMO
• Head of IT
• CFO
• Head of Sales Enablement

How to Buy a DAM Step 3

Your Objective: Discover various DAM solutions available that could meet your needs.

It’s time to weigh up your DAM vendor options against each other and find out which digital asset management system fit your organization.

There are several ways to dig into research but for unbiased, reliable feedback on a vendor, the best place to start is third party review sites like G2.

If a vendor is rated over 4.5 stars – that’s considered a great rating! You can check out the G2 DAM Vendor Comparison guide here.

How to Buy a DAM Step 4

Your Objective: Build a short list of roughly 3 to 5 DAM vendors worth moving forward to the demo phase with.

Each vendor that makes the short list should meet (at the very least) your desired functionalities, integration capabilities with your existing tech stack, and budget constraints.

It’s also time to decide on your demo group.

Are you going to do one or two rounds of demos, and will there be multiple stakeholders involved or just you? When 2 or more people are involved, it can help to streamline the process.

How to Buy a DAM Step 5

Your Objective: Plan for a comprehensive demonstration of the DAM system.

Take the time to develop scenarios or use cases that you want the vendor to demonstrate.

Your questions should revolve around the system, its features, accessibility, integrations, scalability, security, and support.

Ask if there is a DAM Specialist available to help you work through taxonomy and other DAM best practices!

And above all, ensure that the vendor can offer your team sufficient support – throughout onboarding and the rest of your lifecycle!

Interested in seeing a DAM in action? Check out this self-guided tour of MediaValet:

How to Buy a DAM Step 6

Your Objective: Consider all cost factors involved in implementing and maintaining the DAM system.

Buying a DAM system is a long-term decision. It’s important to choose carefully and ensure that the technology you’re integrating into your operations can enhance collaboration across departments, and safeguard your digital assets against ever-evolving security threats, and ultimately, prove to be a worthwhile investment.

You need to build an informed cost analysis to ensure you prove the value of your DAM system and secure appropriate funding.

Start with how much the DAM system subscription will cost and ensure you cover everything in between that and the potential costs saved against software you will no longer need or use.

How to Buy a DAM Step 7

Your Objective: Work with the vendor to plan for migration, training, and ongoing support.

Once you’re sure your vendor can meet your technical requirements, you need to ensure they are experienced in and capable of fostering adoption through effective partnership.

Make a detailed plan for:

• Onboarding
• Migration Plan
• Training
• Support

Why is MediaValet the Premier Choice in DAM?

Accelerate Impactful ROI

80% of our customers achieve ROI in just 18 months, and according to G2, MediaValet customers achieve ROI 3.2 months faster than our competitors’.

How? We implement MediaValet and onboard customers to facilitate a 57% faster go live time than our competitors. This manifests in:

• Saved money on asset creation for 76% of MediaValet customers and
• Stronger brand consistency for 100% of enterprise DAM customers.

“With MediaValet in place, our team can now better perform. [The DAM] helped improve productivity and the ROI of our assets!”

Dennis Washington, TD Industries

Rest Assured with Premier Security

MediaValet is the #1 DAM Vendor on the market for security as rated by SecurityScorecard.

MediaValet is:

• SOC 2 certified by PwC,
• GDPR, CCPA and PIPEDA compliant, and can assist customers with DPA (Data Processing Agreement) requirements,
• HIPAA compliant and able to assist with any BAA (Business Associate Agreement) requirements, and
• Built on Microsoft Azure, which is compliant and/or certified with more than 90 regulatory standards.

“As a massive organization, we have very strict procurement guidelines and security requirements for vendors… MediaValet stood out immediately as a front runner.”

James Carter, Experian

Achieve More with Top Tier Support

Your success is our success. Our customers rate us higher than our competitors for support. In fact, according to G2 reports, we score 95% for support – ahead of the average 91%.

• We offer unlimited product support,
• a comprehensive training program, and
• resident DAM experts to help you achieve your goals.

“The quality of support at MediaValet has been game changing . . . small issues we report are addressed by the end of the day!”

Emily Hegranes, US Naval Institute

Scale, Cost-Effectively,at your Own Pace

Our solution meets you where you are today and will be your partner in growth as you progress on your DAM journey.

• Add unlimited users at no extra cost
• Build a DAM without restrictions with unlimited categories and tags

“MediaValet was an easy sell – it costs way less, does way more, everybody can access it, and it’s easy to use.”

Cori Canady, Community Associations Institute (CAI)

Are you interested in learning more in-detail steps on how to buy a DAM? You can download the full DAM Buying Guide here to find more in-depth information on each step! Alternatively, reach out to find out how MediaValet can help your organization!