Product Content Management

If your business sells physical products, you need a good product content management (PCM) system in place. Understanding the full product content meaning and learning about the PCM marketing meaning can transform the way you operate. It can improve your branding and marketing. It can boost sales and build brand loyalty. At the same time, it can also save you hours of work and hassle.

What Is the Purpose of Product Content?

Any digital files related to the products you sell are part of your product content collection. Product content examples include product photos, images of people using your products, promotional videos, product walkthroughs, and how-to videos. It includes audio files for sites such as Spotify. Files such as owner's manuals, assembly instructions, and product warranties are also important forms of product content.

What is the purpose of product content? Its main purpose is to sell your products. It's especially important if you run an online store. Virtual shoppers won't be able to view your products without high-quality visuals. However, even brick-and-mortar outlets can benefit from hiring a product content specialist to take photos and product videos for marketing purposes. These images can be used in printed marketing products and online marketing campaigns. They're also great for social media marketing and email marketing campaigns.

Why is product content important? Statistics show that posts with images have a 650 percent higher engagement rate than posts without visual content. Watching a product video increases the likelihood of a potential customer buying a product by 85 percent. Additional information such as an owner's manual or assembly instructions helps potential customers get to know your products to see if the items you sell will meet their needs. Giving customers all the information they need to make informed shopping decisions will make a good impression on potential clients even if they don't buy your goods right away.

What Is the Purpose of Product Information?

Product information is any information about a product. It includes product content as well as text content such as product SKUs, text descriptions, prices, product specs, dimensions, and benefits lists.

Product information serves two purposes. Its main purpose is to help you make sales. A good product description will showcase your product in the best possible light. It will also contain relevant keywords to help you earn a good rank in Google and other search engines. A list of features and benefits helps potential buyers see if your product will meet their needs. At the same time, product information enables you to stay organized. You can use product SKUs to track inventory and order goods on time. Product specs such as weight and dimensions help you calculate shipping costs.

What Is Product Information Management?

Product information management, or PIM as it's commonly known, is a system that helps you keep all your product information organized. It could be a filing cabinet. It could be a database program. Alternatively, you could use programs such as Amazon Web Services or Dropbox to store information and make it accessible to multiple employees in different locations. However, when most companies refer to PIM, they are talking about product information management software. This type of software has been specifically designed to help you keep product information organized while making it accessible in multiple locations. What's more, most PIM tools come with digital asset management (DAM) tools that allow you to store text information with product content. While other programs can allow you to view, share, and update information from multiple locations, it won't include a full suite of PIM tools. AWS, for instance, won't have filters, a change log, or tagging system. Dropbox can't automatically update your website or e-commerce product pages.

What is product content management? The PCM meaning is similar to the definition of product information management. However, product content management focuses on digital assets such as audio files, videos, and images rather than holistic management of all product information. It may also include the creation of such assets instead of simply the management and distribution of product information.

What Is a PIM Used For?

A PIM system's main purpose is to keep all your product information in a single location. This acts as a "source of truth" for your organization, so you'll always have a comprehensive, up-to-date list of all information pertaining to all your products. At the same time, PIM software comes with a huge array of product information management tools to boost your marketing.

PIM software can automatically update your website and third-party e-commerce platforms every time you add new products to your lineup or make changes to your current product line-up. For example, suppose you want to bundle certain products as a special offer or discount one of your product lines in time for the holidays. In that case, you just have to make the changes in your PIM system and the information will be automatically shared with the public. You can also use your PIM system to create and update a digital catalog and share digital assets on your social media platforms. A PIM system also has tools to offer custom product recommendations to online shoppers. When people view one of your products, they'll also see related accessories or product recommendations in line with their browsing and shopping history on your site. One study found that these recommendations account for over 30 percent of e-commerce website revenues. Another report found that almost half of consumers bought items they didn't originally plan on buying after viewing personalized recommendations.

Who Needs PIM Software?

Every single business that works with physical products can benefit from PIM software. Consider the following product content management examples:

• Company A sells arts and crafts supplies online. It uses a PIM system to keep track of items in stock, update online e-commerce platforms, and offer custom product recommendations to its customers. Employees can use the system to create online catalogs for specific product lines, answer consumer questions about products, and know when items are low in stock and need to be reordered. The system is also used to keep track of sales, enabling company management to see which items sell well and which do not.

• Company B is a small mom-and-pop boutique. It does not sell items online. However, the company's PIM system comes in handy for keeping track of products in stock and answering customer questions. It's also ideal for product content management because it allows the company's marketing manager to post digital assets on social media platforms right away.

• Company C manufactures tools and sells them to various vendors for resale. It does not interact with the general public. Even so, the PIM tool plays a vital role in keeping track of products and product components. It makes it easy for the manufacturing plant to keep its online catalog updated, so sales partners can place orders with ease. It also allows the manufacturer to share branded assets with sales partners. This ensures brand consistency, which generates brand name recognition and boosts brand loyalty.

What Is an Example of a PIM?

PIM software examples aren't hard to come by. Some of the best-known platforms on the market include Plytix, Pimcore, Salsify, Catsy, Inriver, and Lumavate. Features and amenities vary depending on the platform you pick. Even so, most PIM platforms offer both product information management and digital asset management tools. Lumavate goes one step further than most other platforms and includes a digital experience platform (DXP) as part of its PIM software program.

WhatIis the Difference Between PIM and CMS?

What does a content management system do? A content management system (CMS) is a platform you can use to create, edit, and publish content online. Popular choices include WordPress, Joomla, WooCommerce, and HubSpot. You can use these platforms to build a website, create microsites, set up an e-commerce store, and more. However, you can't use them to update product pages on third-party e-commerce platforms, send information to social media channels, and keep track of product information. That's why even companies that have content management systems still need a PIM tool.

What Is the Difference Between PIM and PCM?

What is a product content management system? Product content management platforms are designed to help you store and share digital assets such as audio files, images, and videos.

What is PCM software? PCM company options include Akeneo, ThetaRay, and PCM Products. Some of these companies also offer PIM systems as a separate product.

PCM software may be sufficient for companies that offer services rather than physical products. However, companies that sell physical goods will find that a PIM tool with DAM functionality includes the same features and amenities you'll find in PCM tools.

Why You Need More Than a PIM

Any business that sells physical goods can benefit from having a PIM platform. It's a central storage point for all your product information. It enables you to share this information with sales partners and potential customers. It also helps you keep track of product sales. Unfortunately, most PIM systems don't offer all the tools you need to use your product information to its fullest potential. Rather, they provide product integrations with third-party software programs or even require customers to build their own integrations with commonly used platforms. For example, if you want to use the information in your PIM system to create a print catalog, you'd need to pick a system that can integrate with the catalog creation program of your choice. If you're creating a new website from scratch, you'll need not only a PIM system but also a content management system to build and edit your site. This means you'll need to spend more money on additional IT program subscriptions, which lowers your net profits. More importantly, continually copying and pasting information from one program to another can increase the odds of human error. Even a small typo or price mistake can cost your business thousands of dollars in lost revenue and decrease consumer confidence in your brand.

Lumavate stands out from other PIM systems because it includes a digital experience platform as part of its PIM program. The digital experience platform has over forty integrations with popular programs but also offers the full functionality you need, so you won't have to use multiple platforms in your sales and marketing campaigns. Do you want to create a digital or print catalog? Lumavate's PIM has the tools and free templates for the job. Do you need to make microsites for certain product lines? The Lumavate PXM platform has a full suite of content management system tools to save you time and money. There's also a form builder for companies that want to collect consumer information for a marketing campaign. What's more, Lumavate has a user-friendly, "what you see is what you get" (WYSIWYG) platform, so you don't need to learn how to code to take advantage of all Lumavate has to offer. Many first-time users find they're able to build catalogs and other sales tools within a few hours of purchasing a Lumavate subscription.

What Lumavate Offers

Lumavate is a three-in-one package that includes product information management, digital asset management, and product experience tools. Its PIM system has unlimited storage and can handle an unlimited number of product entries. An unlimited number of users can access the system and the platform is customizable to allow you to make adaptations that will meet your exact needs. There is a change log, so you can keep track of updates. There is also a filter and tagging system to allow you to find entries with ease. Digital asset management tools allow you to store audio files, images, videos, and text documents with your text information. It also empowers you to share your digital assets on the platforms of your choice. Finally, Lumavate's DXP has the tools you need to use all your information to its fullest potential. It comes with a free form builder. It can help you create websites and keep them updated. You can use it to build print or online catalogs, and it can also keep your digital catalog updated. You can even use it in your email marketing campaigns and to send text messages to subscribers.

What's more, Lumavate offers an efficient onboarding process to make it easy for you to focus on marketing rather than IT work. Most PIM companies require you to send in your business information in order to receive a custom price quote. Once you purchase the program, the company's IT technicians will start the process of getting the program set up on your IT system. This process can take days or even more than a week, and you have to pay extra for expert IT assistance. If you need to upgrade or downgrade your program, you'll need to call in the company's IT experts again to get the job done. With Lumavate, you simply need to pick the price plan of your choice, sign up, and start using the platform. We have IT technicians available to offer expert assistance, but most companies don't need help due to the user-friendly nature of Lumavate's platform.

Lumavate is also very reasonably priced. In fact, it is up to 75 percent cheaper than most PIM platforms on the market. Furthermore, Lumavate regularly adds updates and integrations to its platform to ensure you get your money's worth.

How to Get Started with Lumavate

Lumavate has three price plans. The Starter Plan is $499 a month. The Growth Plan is $999 a month. The Enterprise Plan is $4,999 a month. All plans come with unlimited product entries, unlimited storage, and unlimited digital experiences. However, text message limits and unique digital experience visitor limits vary depending on the plan you pick. Once you choose a subscription plan, you gain full access to the platform of your choice, and you can start using all the tools and features right away. If you want to upgrade or downgrade plans, just click on the new plan of your choice.

Are you ready to take your sales and marketing campaigns to the next level? Would you like to benefit from all a reliable, comprehensive product information management and product content management system can offer? If so, get in touch with us to find out more about our plans, or to schedule a free demo at your convenience.