Over the last couple of years, digital asset management systems (DAM) have landed on the radar for many marketing teams shifting toward remote work and dispersed teams. This new digital-first, content-focused environment has contributed to challenges for marketing and creative teams. Namely, proper management of their massive amounts of digital assets.

A Forrester report found that 64% of global software technology decision-makers are adopting DAM in order to mitigate these challenges and work more efficiently.

Why are teams leaning into a DAM implementation to help them make the most out of their current situation? Here's why DAM is an important and necessary investment for marketing teams in the coming year.

A New Marketing Environment

As we are all well aware, 2020 was an extremely transformational year, in more ways than one. For marketers, in particular, it was the year they were challenged to shift their mindset and experiment with new budgets, new channels and new initiatives. Even now, almost 3 years later, we are still seeing the impact.

As teams begin planning for the new year, there are four driving trends contributing to this new environment to be aware of:

1. Reprioritization of Digital

While some industries have been slow to make the move from traditional channels to digital, the happenings of the last year have forced their hand. Traditional channels, like events and billboard ads became less viable as customers stayed at home. Organizations were forced to experiment with digital channels - and were pleasantly surprised with the ROI they achieved. Into 2023, many of these marketing leaders are reprioritizing their spend commitments to pure-play digital channels.

2. Adoption of eCommerce

The global number of digital buyers increased from 1.32B in 2014 to 2.14B in 2021, due to factors like increased access to the internet, convenience, and a global pandemic, of course. Even brick-and-mortar experiences are being increasingly influenced by online channels, with many customers using their mobile phones to review products and price compare – right in the store aisles. This boom in ecommerce means that companies who want to stay competitive will need well-performing, responsive, attractive websites. Key to this is accurate product imagery, descriptions, pricing etc. It also means that marketing teams need to invest more in creating content to ensure purchase confidence and prevent returns.

3. Increasingly Distributed Teams

As many organizations are forced to experiment with working remotely from home, there is no guarantee teams will be collaborating with each other in the same office anytime soon. Marketing teams will need to find new ways to work efficiently and effectively regardless of location. This makes it even more important that projects can be handed off seamlessly. As a result, leading organizations are reevaluating their existing processes and technology to ensure everyone on the team is supported, no matter where or when they’re working.

4. Fewer Resources

2020 led to massive budget cuts within many organizations - with the marketing department being the first to see a reduction in spending. Despite expectations, the latest Gartner research has shown that this team will continue operating within their newfound budget - well into the future. As a result, marketing teams are reevaluating how to do their jobs with fewer people, capital and resources.

The Annual DAM Trends Report

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What Does This All Mean?

Marketing teams need to find ways to address this difficult situation - they need to create more content for more channels...but with less resources. Specifically, they need to find ways to:

• Create more media to enrich additional channels and initiatives,
• Ensure their technology stack can address global teams, and
• Make the most out of every marketing dollar they spend.

Given all of the challenges that marketing teams now face, there is no better time to implement a system to help organize, protect and maintain their content in order to maximize efficiency and achieve success as a company.

How a DAM Can Help

As mentioned above, marketing teams are investing more than ever in content for digital media, whether it be online ads, product imagery, videos, or website content. But, with a reduced budget, it’s critical to ensure that each of these assets are used to their full potential. Even more important is that they're kept safe, yet accessible for those that need them. A digital asset management solution does just that, centralizing high-value media into a secure cloud-based library.

Specifically, a DAM addresses these five areas:

1. Centralize everything in one, easy-to-access location

As organizations globalize, it’s critical to ensure teams can access the branding and content they need to perform their jobs – regardless of their location. A DAM gives seamless access to these assets – from anywhere with an internet connection.

2. Ensure all content is organized and discoverable

When you’re working with less budget, it’s critical to ensure that every photo, video, graphic and other piece of content is used to its full potential. A DAM helps make rich media content more discoverable by enhancing them with additional metadata. In addition to storing assets in relevant categories, DAM users can also enrich assets with AI-created auto-tags, keywords and attributes (such as photographer name, campaign, etc.)

3. Give each person customized access

While everyone needs easy access from anywhere, opening up all of your assets to your entire organization poses a huge security risk. A DAM offers comprehensive and customizable permissions. This allows organizations to decide which categories any given user can access, and what actions they can perform, such as downloading, deleting, and sharing. They can even set permissions to enable users to download – but only with a watermark. A DAM enables you to gain the benefits of opening assets up to others, without compromising on security.

4. Enable easy distribution to digital channels

As marketing teams experiment with more digital channels and rich media, it can become more challenging to ensure seamless project hand-offs with agencies and coworkers. It can also be more difficult to distribute that content to relevant teams and distribution channels, without creating siloes. A DAM puts relevant content in everyone’s hands, from the social media team to web developers. Out-of-the-box integrations also enable these teams to access final assets from within the tools they already love (such as CMS, CRM and PIM).

5. Archive content for reuse and reference

When working on so many campaigns and channels, recreating the wheel every single time isn’t an option. After an initial project is done, a DAM keeps the source, WIP and final files safe for reuse down the line. A DAM ensures maximum ROI from any given project, photoshoot, etc.

As marketing teams need to be able to do more, with less, they also need to be able to maximize the ROI on all content by optimizing the use and reuse of those digital assets. Getting creative with how each asset is (and can be) used is exactly where a high-quality DAM comes into play.

Get Ahead with a Digital Asset Management

It is evident that marketing teams are struggling to perform in regard to the ongoing challenges of these unprecedented times. It's clear that a DAM can help teams mitigate these challenges and to perform to the best of their ability. By simplifying processes and centralizing all high-value media into a secure cloud-based library, a DAM will help teams maximize success in 2023.

The benefits that a DAM can provide to your team, however, do not end here. Learn more about how a DAM can help your organization by scheduling a demo with us today.

MediaValet is a leader in cloud-based digital asset management that helps organizations manage, organize and share their digital assets, improving productivity and increasing ROI.