What Is the Benefit of Digital Asset Management?

Without question, digitally forward brands have more staying power and brand authority in today's digitally-dominated consumer landscape. However, when a business operation involves extensive reliance on digital assets, managing those assets can become an overwhelming endeavor.

Even the most well-positioned brands can struggle to maintain a systematic, effective effort to organize and manage digital assets like website graphics, business presentations, and brand images. Digital asset management (DAM) software provides a much-needed solution for the marketing team. Find out more about the true benefits of using digital asset management tools, who should consider digital asset management, and more below.

What Are Examples of Digital Assets?

There are many types of digital assets that an organization may own, use, and distribute as a brand. These assets are not physical or tangible, as they only exist in digital form. Nevertheless, digital assets are exceptionally valuable and important for everyday operations in a digitally-forward operation. Investopedia defines a digital asset as an item that "has the potential to create value in that it can be used in a manner that generates value for the owner." A digital asset refers to any content or media stored in a digital format, such as images, videos, documents, or audio files.

Some of the most common types of digital assets include:

• Images - Brand logos, storefront or product photos, product illustrations, and other images.

• Documents - Customer files, manuscripts, licensing agreements, contracts, and other valuable business documents.

• Video Files - Brand-related marketing animations, promotional videos for commercial use, and other videos.

• Audio Files - Digital brand music, marketing recordings, etcetera.

• Content - Website blogs and pages, metadata, product press releases, and other digital content.

Who Needs a DAM?

A Digital Asset Management (DAM) solution gives a company a way to effectively manage all digital assets from one easily accessible and centralized location. These digital asset management software platforms also make it possible for all brand-approved and affiliated digital assets to be accessed and used by only approved departments or partners. Therefore, when a digital asset is needed, an employee, partner, or approved marketer can go to one repository to collect and use the digital asset as needed. Most companies that rely on a DAM solution report that doing so significantly boosts productivity and saves time.

What Is the Benefit of Digital Asset Management?

From a marketing perspective, there are many benefits of digital asset management. First and foremost, brands have a centralized location where digital assets are managed and accessible. Regardless of what department or employee in the business needs those assets or which assets are needed, the access process is the same. Other benefits of digital asset management include:

• Organization - Digital assets can be organized and tagged according to type or usage to make them easy to find.

• Searchability - The library of assets is easily searchable by team members; they can quickly pinpoint the precise asset they need.

• Automated Updating - Assets updated within the collection can be automatically updated across digital experiences, such as the brand's website or online catalog.

• Consistency - Centralized DAM supports branding consistency because assets are easy to recollect as needed for brand-driven marketing initiatives.

• Cost-Efficiency - Lost digital assets can require unnecessary investment in new assets. For example, if a video file for an instructional product guide is lost, the production of that video would have to be repeated and cost the company money.

Beyond the benefits provided within the business and to all team members, the best DAMs offer the capacity to create select brand portals targeted to certain groups. Companies can curate a specified collection of assets to share with specific people who are granted access. For example, if only video and audio files should be accessible to certain team members, you can set up a portal that provides access to only those assets. This capability can be especially valuable when there is a need to share digital assets with outside marketing agencies or channel partners.

What Does a Digital Asset Company Do?

Digital asset management companies offer a DAM solution, either in the form of downloadable software or a cloud-based platform solution. In either case, the company offers a DAM solution that creates the potential to centrally manage, store, and share data files internally or externally with brand partners or agents.

While DAM companies offer a similar service, the digital asset management tools offered by these companies can be varied depending on the company. Therefore, it is important to look for a DAM company that has a reputation for offering the best DAM systems and tools. For example, Lumavate DAM can support all data file types, is known to be 75 percent more cost-effective than other solutions, and can support varied brand portals for different users.

Are you ready to find out how Lumavate can transform how you manage your brand's digital assets? Contact us today to see Lumavate in action.